Graf’s father, who also served as her coach, encouraged her to take up tennis. She became the second-youngest player to ever receive an international ranking at the age of 13. She defeated Czech-born American Martina Navratilova at the French Open in 1987 to win her first Grand Slam match. She won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, making history as the third woman to win all four Grand Slam events (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open) in a single calendar year. This remarkable achievement came to be known as the “Golden Slam.”
Graf was renowned for her intensity, quickness, and strong forehand. By the 1990s, she had established herself as one of the top players in the world, winning numerous singles championships at the Australian Open (1988–90 and 1994), U.S. Open (1988–89, 1993, and 1995–96), and French Open (1987–88, 1993, 1995–96, and 1999). In the open era, her seven Wimbledon victories (1988–89, 1991–93, and 1995–96) were second only to Navratilova’s nine. Graf, who had a history of injuries, left the game shortly after losing in the Wimbledon finals in 1999.
Graf remained in the public eye even after retiring. She wed the renowned tennis player Andre Agassi in 2001, and the two of them were active in a number of humanitarian endeavors, such as Children for Tomorrow, a charity that Graf had established in 1998 to support children and families impacted by disasters and war. In 2004, Graf received her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
