Home » Sports » Women's Tennis » The resurgence of 'Fraulein Forehand'

The resurgence of 'Fraulein Forehand'

© Michael Cecilio

What a buzz in women's tennis!!! First of all, the Chase Championships are due to take place on November 16, with Jana Novotna defending her title and with surprise package, Steffi Graf, qualifying for the tournament this year. Secondly, the buzz is about the "Chase" for the #1 ranking at the end of the year. Certainly, with the way things are panning out, Lindsay Davenport looks set to end the year as the #1 player for the first time in her career. However, don't discount the efforts of #2 Martina Hingis, who reached the Chase final two years ago and lost to Steffi in an epic five set thriller!! Thirdly, and perhaps the biggest buzz of all, is the resurgence of fifteen year 'veteran' Steffi Graf. In what was a season filled with various injuries and consistency problems, it seems Steffi has capped off her season in the fashion which saw her dominate the tour for most of the decade. And she looks set to dominate again!

Steffi wowed her audiences by winning the tournament in Leipzig, her first tournament since undergoing wrist surgery. In doing so, she broke the record for the highest prize money earner for any female sports star in history. Now she's wowed her audiences once again in Philadelphia! Not only has she qualified for the Chase Championships in this tournament (with only having played twelve tournaments), but she has now shut the critics up, who believed that she was washed up and ready for retirement. If they had thought that, then Steffi certainly proved them wrong! In an era of women's tennis where youth seems to be the winning factor, Steffi has shown that she can not only play with the best of them, but she can beat the best of them, because she is the best that there was, and perhaps, is.

She leads the tour in prize money, the most weeks at #1, the most titles and grand slam titles among active players, and so on and so forth. No doubt, she has been the life force of women's tennis for the past fifteen years. The only ones who have come close to stealing the show were Monica Seles (only God knows what Monica might have accomplished had she not been stabbed), and Martina Hingis (who could only dominate the tour outright for a year). Regardless of what has happened in the past, what could have been, or what should have been, Steffi is now in the present, and she wants to say to all the doubters that she is still a force to be reckoned with. The thing is, she doesn't have to say it.....she has already shown it.

The copyright of the article The resurgence of 'Fraulein Forehand' in Women's Tennis is owned by Michael Cecilio. Permission to republish The resurgence of 'Fraulein Forehand' in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.