It was a terrific match- and I was laughing and cheering the whole time. Hingis was being her typical bratty self- making all kinds of faces and mocking Steffi's forehand and backhand all match long. After Hingis won the second set- Steffi took a 3 minute injury time-out and left the court to have her quad re-taped, and Hingis was shaking her head and pouting and complaining- then Graf came back out and dusted her clock in the third set without dropping a game!
The best thing about that tournament was the fact that the players came out of the lounge quite often and sat right next to where we had tickets. I got Graf's autograph during that tournament, and got to talk for a few minutes with Janella Rochelle, who was Graf's exclusive photographer for a while back then.
martina said later that she lost because was tired while she just had a break for 4 weeks and steffi came from germany and a tough match the day before
all this makes a certain other match so much more sweeter
That 1999 match couldn't have been sweeter. I remember following the score on the French Open web site (it wasn't live, as NBC claimed it was), and I remember almost throwing my computer out the window when there was this long pause when Steffi was serving for the match at 5-2, and nothing changed for what seemed like hours. I couldn't tell from watching the score what was wrong (it turned out to be the famous controversy over the under-handed serve that was a few feet out and Hingis complaining she couldn't hear)
Martina played horrible tennis that tournament. She was unmotivated and didn't seem to care. It was 1998.
The best Steffi matches I have seen on tv, quality-wise, would have to be 1993 AO and 1992 Wimbledon finals. She played impeccable tennis in both of them.
Unfortuantely, I never got to see Steffi in person.
Another match where she played out of her tree was the Acura Classic a few years back- again, dusting Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in straight sets. It was comical, because Sanchez Vicario made the remark during the award ceremony afterward "I think maybe Steffi don't like me!" and brought the house down (including Steffi)
poor steffi. that trainer hitting on her back in the montreal final is the worst steffi moment on court I ever saw worse then australia 97 since it only came clear afterwards how dangerous it was
What year was that? I always get those finals confused at the Acura Classic- Graf def. Conchita Martinez the one year, and then Sanchez Vicario the next, I think.
poor steffi. that trainer hitting on her back in the montreal final is the worst steffi moment on court I ever saw worse then australia 97 since it only came clear afterwards how dangerous it was