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A Tribute To A Living Legend - Page 3

© Michael Cecilio

But Graf had her own off-court problems. If it was not the tax evasion scandal which landed her father in jail, it was her various physical and health woes which would also cause her a great deal of distress. Like the professional player she is, she would rise above her problems and keep on winning. At the height of all of her problems, Steffi would win the 1995 US Open over Monica Seles in what was the American's first Grand Slam since the 1993 Australian Open. Steffi called it the biggest win of her career.

Steffi dominated the tour in 1995 and 1996, winning six of the eight majors on offer. 1997 would be a completely different story. Her year began in upsetting form, losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Amanda Coetzer. Amanda Coetzer would continue to give her problems throughout 1997, losing to her three times including her worst defeat since her debut season on the tour (a 6-1 6-1 drubbing at the German Open). But it was not Amanda Coetzer who would usurp Steffi's crown as the queen of the WTA tour. That title belonged to Martina Hingis.

1997 was the year which saw Steffi Graf take an eight month absence from the tour because of a recurring knee injury which required surgery and rehabilitation. During this time, Martina Hingis was clearly dominating the field, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, coming ever so close to achieving what Graf achieved in 1988 - the Grand Slam. A lot of people questioned the legitimacy of Hingis's clear-cut reign at the top. Hingis seemed to benefit from Graf's sidelining, Seles's off-court traumas regarding her father's illness, and the under-development of Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters at that time.

She would return to the tour in mid 1998, however she would find herself losing to a lot of players she used to just hit off the court. It was a trying time for Steffi, who could never be happy with less than perfection. Working her way back to form, Steffi would finally get her just desserts when she slaughtered the field during the indoor carpet season, winning back-to-back titles at Leipzig and Philadelphia (the first time she won tournaments as an unseeded player), and reaching the semi finals of the season-ending Chase Championships. She would finish the year ranked #9, having defeated four of the top 6 players in the world (Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis, Jana Novotna and Monica Seles) in a period of two weeks.

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