1998: The Season In Review - Page 5© Michael Cecilio
Page 5
Dec 7, 1998
Surprise Package of the Year: STEFFI GRAF
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine Steffi Graf re-entering the Top 10 after some dizzying spells of inconsistency in the beginning of the year. Never would I have thought that she would, once again, become the hottest player on the tour after several injuries. And never would I have suspected her of achieving this all in a matter of three weeks!
Steffi Graf showed promise of returning to her old form early in her season when she won at New Haven. In the process, she had cooled off the hottest player on the tour at the time, Lindsay Davenport, and also kept her winning record alive against Jana Novotna in the New Haven final. But it was after wrist surgery in September when she began to show promise of dominance once again. Following her fourth round loss at the US Open to Patty Schnyder, Steffi underwent surgery, only to return to the tour a month later with a "bionic hand" and went on to win two back-to-back titles, keeping alive an amazing 12 match winning streak! Winning at Leipzig, where she is incidentally undefeated, she moved on to Philadelphia to win the title by defeating the Top 2 players in the world, Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. All this brought her into good stead for the Chase Championships, where she surprisingly and luckily qualified for the 16 player field. Not only did she defeat defending champ Jana Novotna but she was written into the record books for having defeated the Top 3 players in the world in the shortest amount of time (a span of 4 days). In what was the match of the year, Steffi clashed with her long time arch-rival Monica Seles to record a hard-fought three set victory, which displayed some awe inspiring tennis from both parties. Her run came to a close at the hands of Lindsay Davenport in the semis, but she has now been placed in good stead for the opening of the 1999 season. Expect her to battle for supremacy along with Davenport and Hingis.
Struggling Player of the Year: MARY JOE FERNANDEZ
She entered the year ranked #10 in the world, but by year's end, fell to #76. This was mainly due to injuries which kept her out of regular competition for most of the year, and which affected her match toughness. Mary Joe could only manage to play 8 tournaments this year, and was an early round loser in 7 of those tournaments. Her best showing was in the New Haven quarterfinals when she recorded big wins over Dominique van Roost and Sandrine Testud. Her biggest win of the year was her 6-1 6-1 routing of Mary Pierce at Montreal. But it was clear that her lack of match play would hinder her success in other tournaments, compiling only 8 wins against 8 losses. However, the most heartbreaking thing for Mary Joe this season was losing in the doubles of the Fed Cup semi final against Spain. With the doubles deciding the outcome of the Fed Cup rubber, Mary Joe and Lisa Raymond managed to take it to three sets before losing out very narrowly and rather horrendously to seasoned campaigners Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez.
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