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Steffi Graf Admiration Thread Vol 2

864K views 6K replies 140 participants last post by  Michael! 
#1 ·
This is a great idea to start this topic...
I shall dedicate this thread to the player who made me notice tennis and follow it eversince I saw her play.....

Steffi Graf!
:bounce: :bounce:
 
#5,856 ·
Graf can't evade controversy - Tennis star's tax scandal leaves her German fans divided
The Dallas Morning News
Friday, November 10, 1995
Gregory Katz, European Bureau of The Dallas Morning News

BERLIN - Tennis star Steffi Graf, a national hero in Germany for more than a decade, has suffered a dizzying fall from grace as details of a spreading tax scandal emerge.

Graf has not been arrested or charged with any crime, but her father, Peter, has been jailed since early August on charges that he concealed millions of his daughter's winnings from German tax authorities.

The German public is divided over whether they believe the tennis star is guilty, and the issue is being played out on talk shows, tabloid front pages and magazine covers. "Prison: It Would Be Terrible" was the headline on one magazine cover that showed Graf wiping a tear from her eye.

"She has been a fairy-tale figure to the Germans," said Hans-Joachim Noack, who has been covering the scandal for the German weekly news magazine Spiegel. "The Germans are very emotional about her. Before this happened, you could have imagined her as president."

But a recent national poll revealed a small majority of Germans believed Steffi should serve some time in prison if found guilty of massive tax evasion.

To compound her troubles, the world's top-ranked woman player lost a $1.2 million sponsorship deal with Opel, the German carmaker. And in her only tournament action since winning the U.S. Open in September, Graf suffered a humiliating defeat to a South African player ranked 54th in the world.

The allegations have entered the realm of German politics. Peter Graf says government officials - anxious to keep Steffi from leaving Germany for a tax haven in another country - agreed to let her pay virtually no taxes on her huge income, which local politicians have estimated at roughly $70 million.

A formal parliamentary board of inquiry was needed because of Peter Graf's claim that regional tax officials offered to give the tennis star special treatment, said Reinhard Buetikofer, a member of the regional parliamentary committee investigating the matter.

"There are documents that suggest she received extra privileges," he said. "I think this happened because respect for her was so high that nobody really paid that much attention to what the father was doing."

Peter Graf is accused of setting up dummy corporations in other countries so that millions of dollars of income could be concealed from German tax authorities. Tax inspectors have interrogated Steffi - one issue is whether she signed the tax returns - but have not formally accused her of wrongdoing.

Last week, the tennis star's lawyer said a big part of her missing fortune had been found and $14.3 million had been deposited with tax authorities.

Quoted by the German sports news agency SID, Peter Danckert said the "largest part" of the missing money had been recovered and $10.7 million of it had been deposited against future tax bills.

In addition, $3.6 million from Graf's accounts was deposited with the authority in Schwetzingen, Germany, that deals with her taxes, Danckert said.

*

There is enormous sympathy for Graf, a hard-working, gracious woman of 26 who is seen as having been victimized by a domineering, unethical father who gave her a tennis racket at age 3 and pushed her to compete.

"He has exploited his own daughter, and he is very greedy," said Angelika Streich, who has watched Steffi since she was a rising star on Germany's junior tennis circuit. "Now that the sponsors are leaving her, she hasn't got anybody to hold on to, not her father, not the sponsors, nobody."

Streich is representative of many Germans who believe that Steffi has broken the rules that govern Germany's well-ordered society and should not be placed above the law. Nonetheless, she does not want her heroine to fall.

"She was so cute when she started, we always kept our fingers crossed for her," Streich said. "From a sports point of view, everyone is backing her, but on the political side, we all have to pay our taxes and she should have done that. If I didn't pay, they would be after me."

Gunnar Wolters, another tennis fan, said it is important Graf receive a heavy fine. But he also does not want her career to end.

"I think she knew about it, so she must be punished," he said. "But I don't necessarily think she should be sent to prison. She is a great sportswoman, and she has done a lot of good for Germany. I've still been rooting for her whenever she plays."

The national attachment to Graf is rooted in her teenage days, when she rocketed to world fame by beating the likes of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. While other German athletes such as Boris Becker left because of Germany's high taxes, she earned praise for staying home.

Although Germans often use formal titles when discussing people, Graf is known simply by her first name. In conversation, she is usually described as "our Steffi" as if she were a national treasure.

Devotion to Graf even caused a deranged fan to stab her chief rival, Monica Seles, during a tournament in Germany three years ago. The attacker said he wanted to end Seles' career so Graf could be No. 1 again.

The corporate world, which has provided the lucrative endorsement contracts that have allowed Graf to amass a fortune believed to surpass $100 million, is divided over whether her image has been permanently ruined or only temporarily damaged.

While Opel dropped Graf because of unhappiness with the way her finances had been handled, adidas and several other important sponsors announced plans to stick with her.

"The tax situation is not an issue for adidas," said company spokesman Peter Csanadi. "She is a model for all women who are interested in tennis or interested in fitness. She is an all-round athlete and personality, and she already belongs to sports history."

He said there have been no discussions about dropping Graf, who is paid roughly $1.4 million to endorse adidas products.

And some Germans are blaming the media for ruining the reputation of a woman who has brought honor to Germany.

"The press needs a scandal, so this is handy for them, especially because Steffi had never done anything wrong before and now they can blot her image," said Diemo Seiffert, 17, a fan of the tennis star. "I think the whole thing has been exaggerated."

He said he would not be upset if it is proved Graf was allowed by government officials to avoid the taxes that most Germans pay.

"People should be glad she stayed in Germany and paid the little taxes she did," he said, "even if she didn't pay it all."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 
#5,857 ·
I've still thought we (here in France) had no equivalent to Steffi, Schumi (even if I don't put them in the same bag), etc...
I mean Zidane is very highly respected and admired, and everybody loves him.
But first he is the only one I can think of (in this league), and it never went to the level it was in Germany for the sport heroes. He is a sportsman and "nothing more".
We never had to hear from him in the news on a DAILY basis (I had german tv in the 90's even before the tax affair, it was daily news, even to say nothing lol), and very very very rarely saw him on yellow press.
That's why I found the article so interesting ;)
 
#5,858 ·
What about Yannick Noah? (Before your time, I know.) He complained about how terrible the media attention and expectations/pressure were in France, as did Henri Leconte. Of course, people have varying degrees of sensitivity to media attantion and expectations/pressure, and Noah and Leconte seemed to be "sensitive guys."

I also think a country's "media culture" has something to do with it. If I recall correctly, there were 385 daily newspapers, 43 weekly newspapers, and 6570 periodicals in West Germany back in the mid to late Eighties. That really was A LOT for the size of West Germany. With a population so "news hungry" and so many publications fighting for space on the newsstand and/or part of the people's discretionary spending, it would make for a very "predatory" environment -- which was compounded by the lack of "exceptional" German personages at the time. So when Steffi as an international champion and girl-next-door-philosopher suddenly dropped into their lap, they all went into a frenzy.
 
#5,861 ·
Come on, people! Steffi is hilarious!

Graf, McNeil complete the cycle
Delaware County Daily Times
Primos - Upper Darby, PA
Sunday, November 12, 1995
DENNIS DEITCH, Of the Times Staff

PHILADELPHIA -- The Civic Center must have been paradise yesterday afternoon for every tennis fan who also happens to be a motorcycle enthusiast.

All three of 'em.

In a scheduling quirk so culturally twisted it brought some humor to a traffic snarl of epic proportions, the semifinal match of the Advanta Tennis Championships between Steffi Graf and Zina Garrison-Jackson coincided with -- this isn't made up -- a 25,000-motorcycle fundraising parade which circled around the Children's Hospital, directly across the street from the Civic Center.

Outside, there was a bevy of Japanese luxury cars attempting to dodge the Harley-Davidsons which lined the sides of the road, 10-deep in some spots. Inside, the top-seeded Graf was cruising to her eighth final of the year, defeating a tired Garrison-Jackson, 6-1, 6-3.

Graf needed just 56 minutes to reach the final, where she will play unseeded 31-year-old Lori McNeil, who knocked off defending champion and seventh-seeded Anke Huber in a marathon, 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (12-10) in the other semifinal match held last night.

Even though Graf won in overwhelming fashion, the action outside added its own special blend of spice to the air. Graf lists among her hobbies impressionist and modern art, reading, playing cards ... hmm, no motorcycle riding, at least not anymore.

"I love motorcycles,'' said Graf. "I was excited to see them here. I've tried to ride them on a couple occasions without a lot of success.''

Graf then went on to tell a couple of motorcycle horror stories from the 26-year-old's "younger days,'' including one where she slid on gravel in Spain and missed a tournament because of abrasions to her hand, and another incident where whe lost her balance going over a bridge and nearly ended up in the water.

"I only ride on the back since then,'' Graf said.

Once Graf got past the sea of leather and chrome outside, she performed her own, personal tuneup on Garrison-Jackson in her most impressive match of the tourney.

"This was my most consistent match so far,'' said Graf, who lost just 11 points on her serve, two on double-faults. "I was returning serve very well and being very patient.''

In fairness to the 31-year-old Garrison-Jackson, who had contemplated retirement earlier this year, her already slim odds against the rejuvenated Graf grew even slimmer when her quarterfinal match against Irina Spirlea of Romania went three sets Friday night.

The 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory took nearly two hours, then, after an hour break, Garrison-Jackson was back on the court, this time with doubles partner Katrina Adams for a quarterfinal doubles match. It was 10 minutes into the 11 o'clock news by the time Garrison-Jackson and Adams dropped a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) decision to Chanda Rubin and Maria [sic] Shriver, and a spent Garrison-Jackson had a long drive through Hog Heaven and a healthy Graf to look forward to the next day.

Considering Graf was 7-0 on hard courts against Garrison-Jackson before yesterday and Garrison-Jackson's last win against the top player of the world was in the 1990 Wimbledon semifinals, those caught in the mayhem outside had to wonder whether they would get a chance to at least see the players shake hands at the net following the match.

If they were lucky, they did.

"I kind of wish I did have a Harley and was riding around out there,'' said Garrison, who advanced to the quarterfinals by way of a 6-3, 7-5 win over Mary Pierce. "It's tough for anyone (playing five sets the night before). I was a step slow moving to the ball. It was definitely unlucky for me to have that schedule, but I guess someone has to have it.

"Steffi was serving very well today. She really didn't miss very much.''

In the evening match, McNeil recorded her first victory in five tries against Huber. Despite her weak record against Huber, McNeil had been closely matched in the past. This was the fourth time the pair had played three sets and the third time the match boiled down to a third-set tiebreaker.

Not only did McNeil have to overcome her history agianst Huber, but also come painful cramps late in the second set.

"It was just sheer determination of wanting to reach the final,'' said McNeil. "I got off to a good start and I wanted to continue it the rest of the match.''

NOTES: In semifinal doubles play, Wayne resident Lisa Raymond and her doubles partner Rennae Stubbs fell to the second-seeded tandem of Meredith McGrath and Larisa Neiland, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals.

ADVANTA TENNIS

Singles Semifinals

Steffi Graf (1), Germany, def. Zina Garrison Jackson, Houston, 6-1, 6-3.

Lori McNeil, Houston, def. Anke Huber (7), Germany, 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (12-10).

Doubles Semifinals

Meredith McGrath, Midland, Mich., and Larisa Neiland, Latvia, def. Lisa Raymond, Wayne, and Rennae Stubbs, Australia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
 
#5,862 ·
Steffi rode only as a passenger precisely because she did NOT need to be in control all the time and recognized her limits.

GRITTY VICTORY EARNS MCNEIL BERTH IN FINAL AGAINST GRAF
THE TOP SEED WILL BE RESTED AFTER AN EASY SEMIFINAL. THE UNSEEDED MCNEIL FOUGHT OFF PAIN TO WIN A 3-SET MARATHON.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, November 12, 1995
Diane Pucin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

For 2 hours, 43 minutes, Lori McNeil and Anke Huber pummeled each other, befuddled each other, finessed each other. The tennis was fast and furious at times, clever at others, occasionally sloppy but always intense.

Huber was the 20-year-old defending champion of the Advanta Championships, seeded No. 7 this year. She had the young legs and the heavy, punishing ground strokes. McNeil, 31, was ranked No. 63 in the world, the lowest-ranked player to get into the main draw. She fought cramps and a strained muscle and exhaustion, squandered five match points, and then, somehow, got herself a sixth.

This time, kicking a second serve wide and high, McNeil forced Huber into a wild, wide, forehand service return. McNeil might have jumped for joy, except she was too tired to celebrate this 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (12-10) semifinal win last night at the Civic Center.

For her trouble, McNeil earned herself a shot at a rested and confident Steffi Graf, the top seed, today at 1 p.m. in the final.

It took Graf all of 56 minutes to beat Zina Garrison-Jackson, 6-1, 6-3, in the afternoon semifinal of the $800,000 tournament. Graf had time to schmooze with the patrons in a sponsor's tent, watch the first set of the night match, have a lovely dinner and a good night's sleep. And McNeil had to play a doubles match after she had finally limped away from her singles match last night.

"Sheer determination and really wanting to win," was how McNeil explained her ability to play through the pain of a strained and cramping left thigh.

It was warm and humid inside the Civic Center. Many in the crowd of 6,106 were fanning themselves with programs and napkins, and by the middle of the first set, McNeil's skirt and shirt were drenched.

After McNeil had missed two match points, on her own serve, in the ninth game of the second set, and after she had struggled through a terrible tiebreak, she called for a trainer and had her left thigh taped. The trainer also left a pile of bananas on a table and a pile of sports drinks at McNeil's feet. The problem was, the taped thigh made McNeil cramp even worse.

She won the first three games of the third set, then barely seemed able to move while losing the next four.

"I didn't think she would make it," Huber said. "It seemed like she couldn't move at all, and then, suddenly, she was playing normally, like she did in the first two sets. It was very difficult."

By the time the third-set tiebreak began, Huber was grunting loudly on every ball and McNeil was wincing after every point. Huber had three match points herself in the tiebreak, two on McNeil's serve and one on her own. But Huber was pressing too much now, going for the lines but missing them.

"I was just trying to keep the ball in play," Huber said, "but I think I played a little too defensive."

Graf had a big smile on her face after she finished off Garrison with a winning backhand volley, of all things. It hasn't been often the last two months that Graf has felt comfortable and relaxed, either with her tennis or with her life. But after a week in Philadelphia, Graf spoke of riding motorcycles, and of crashing twice. And she offered a movie review of Mighty Aphrodite. Woody Allen would not be pleased.

Graf was feeling frisky enough to sometimes come to the net and volley, to try the topspin lob once in a while, and even to hit over her backhand instead of sticking with her traditional slice.

Most of all, Graf could sit in a chair, lean back and look people in the eye. For the moment there are no questions about tax problems or her father, who is in jail in Germany. There have been no German reporters camped in front of her hotel. There have been only quiet dinners and Knicks games on TV, tennis practices in front of her coach and her mother, and time to find her own brand of dominating tennis, which has been in hiding since she conquered Monica Seles in the finals of the U.S. Open in September.

Yesterday, Graf was relentless. Garrison, 31, had spent much of the summer wrestling with the idea of retirement. Just before the U.S. Open, Garrison realized she wasn't ready yet to quit playing competitively, and in this tournament she had been playing enthusiastically.

But Garrison had also played two matches Friday night, a three-set singles quarterfinal and a long, two-set doubles match that ended at 11:10. Garrison said she was "a step slow," and that is a step back you don't want to take against Graf.

Garrison never even had a break point against Graf in the 20-minute first set, which many fans didn't get to see. About 25,000 motorcyclists converged on the street in front of the Civic Center just about the time Graf and Garrison were warming up. The motorcycle riders were doing a charity stop at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia across the street, but it meant that all the roads around the Civic Center were blocked.

After Garrison had been throughly whomped, she said that she had wished for a Harley and a place in the motorcycle parade instead of a spot in this match.

Graf had noticed all the bikers, too, when she arrived at the Civic Center. Asked if she had ever ridden a motorcycle, Graf giggled and said yes. Once, she rounded a curve too quickly, wiped out, ripped up her right hand, and missed a week of tennis. Once, she was at a lake, skidded at the shore, wiped out, and knocked off the bike's mirror, but didn't hurt herself. After that, Graf has only been a passenger.

Graf needs to be in control. That is what a tennis court is for.
 
#5,863 ·
An earlier variation of the above. I don't know who wasn't paying attention to the "weekend entertainment" section of the news, but it sure seems like the tennis patrons should have been advised to arrive early or the semis should have been scheduled to start earlier or perhaps somebody could have asked the DOT not to close off all traffic routes around the hospital. Sure, playing Santa for sick kids is nice and all, but beyond the inconvenience to the tennis fans, I bet someone who was desperately trying to get in to the hospital to see a very sick relative/friend was cursing the traffic snarl, too.

Graf's life on court is rolling along fine - TENNIS
Southern Illinoisan
Sunday, November 12, 1995
Diane Pucin, Knight-Ridder

PHILADELPHIA - The tennis is coming along nicely, that Steffi Graf is sure of.

It took Graf 56 minutes to beat Zina Garrison-Jackson, 6-1, 6-3, Saturday in the semifinals of the $800,000 Advanta Championships at the Civic Center. Graf was feeling frisky enough to occasionally come to the net and volley, to try the topspin lob once in a while, and even to hit over her backhand sometimes instead of sticking with her traditional slice.

The win moved Graf, who is the No.1 seed and the top-ranked player in the world, into her first tournament final since the U.S. Open. to-day at noon at the Civic Center, Graf will play the winner of last night's late semifinal between Anke Huber, the No. 7 seed and defending champion, and unseeded Lori McNeil.

After Graf had finished off Garrison with a winning backhand volley of all things, Graf had a big smile on her face. Her coach, Heinz Gunthardt, smiled in the stands. Graf's mother, Heidi, was smiling too. It hasn't been often the last two months that Graf has felt comfortable and relaxed, either with her tennis or with her life. But after a week in Philadelphia, Graf spoke of riding motorcycles, and of crashing twice. And she offered a movie review of ''Mighty Aphrodite.'' Woody Allen would not be pleased.

Most of all, Graf could sit in a chair, lean back, and look people in the eye. For the moment, there are no questions about tax problems or her father, who is in jail in Germany. There have been no German reporters camped in front of her hotel. There have been only quiet dinners and Knicks games on TV, tennis practices in front of her coach and her mother, and time to find her own brand of dominating tennis, which has been in hiding since she conquered Monica Seles in the finals of the U.S. Open in September.

Saturday, Graf was relentless. Garrison, 31, had spent much of the summer wrestling with the idea of retirement. Just before the U.S. Open, Garrison realized she wasn't ready yet to quit playing competitively, and in this tournament she had been playing enthusiastically.

But Garrison had also played two matches Friday night, a three-set singles quarterfinal and a long, two-set doubles match that ended at 11:10. Garrison said she was ''a step slow,'' and that is a step back you don't want to take against Graf.

Garrison never even had a break point against Graf in the 20-minute first set, which many fans didn't get to see. About 25,000 motorcyclists converged on the street in front of the Civic Center just about the time Graf and Garrison were warming up. The motorcycle riders were doing a charity stop at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia across the street, but it meant that all the roads around the Civic Center were blocked.

''I've had tickets to this match for six months,'' an angry fan was shouting at police. ''Too bad,'' said the policeman. After Garrison had been throughly whomped, she said that she had wished for a Harley and a place in the motorcycle parade instead of a spot in this match.

The statistics say that Garrison had beaten Graf only twice in 13 previous meetings and that both those wins had come on grass. ''If I don't jump on her early,'' Garrison said, ''I don't have much of a chance.''

Finally, in the fourth game of the second set, Garrison actually had a break point on Graf's serve. In order, Graf hit a blazing forehand deep that Garrison could only flail at and send way long; an ace, and a cleverly disguised crosscourt forehand winner. That gave Graf a 3-1 lead in the second set, and the rest of the set, Graf was experimenting. Once, after hitting a backhand service return, she grabbed at her back and winced.

''The pain just hit me at that moment,'' Graf said. She is cursed with this back that will probably ache as long as she continues playing. She says she doesn't expect to be playing as a 30-year-old, but on an afternoon like this, when she is running freely and making the ball move around the court as if she is handling the controls of a pinball machine, not a tennis racket, it seems as if she could play forever.
 
#5,864 ·
Graf vs. fatigued, ailing McNeil in today's final
The Times
Trenton, NJ
Sunday, November 12, 1995
DAVID PORTER, Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA -- Somewhere in the city this morning, Steffi Graf is smiling. Probably not too demonstratively, since that isn't her style. But the No. 1-ranked German, easily the class of the field at this week's Advanta Championships, received an even bigger boost for today's (2 p.m., Channel 3) championship final after last night's second semifinal match left its winner, Lori McNeil, physically drained and cramping in both legs.

McNeil, at No. 63 the lowest-ranked player in the main draw, got by No. 7 seed Anke Huber, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (12-10) in a match that approached three hours in length and featured a total of nine match points, too many service breaks to count and almost as many momentum swings. And Graf? She punched in and out in less than an hour in her semifinal match earlier in the day, decimating Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-3.

(Oh, yes -- McNeil played a late doubles match last night after her singles match).

McNeil had never beaten Huber in four tries before last night, but the two had played earlier in the year in Tokyo when McNeil held five match points before losing in three sets. Last night's script also featured a muscle cramp suffered by McNeil early in the third set that brought the trainer on the court to wrap her left thigh, a remedy that lasted only two games before McNeil removed the wrap.

''I FELT a strain in my leg while I was serving, and after she taped it, both of my legs began cramping on my serve,'' McNeil said.

At that point, McNeil had already wasted two match points at 5-4 in the second set, both times on winners by Huber from the forehand side. Visions of a repeat of Tokyo began to play on McNeil's mind at that point, she admitted later.

''That went through my mind. I got off to a good start in the third set and then I played a couple of bad games and she played a couple of good games. And from then on it was a battle.''

As the crowd began to choose sides and both players started haranguing the linespeople, the tension rose in the Civic Center. After McNeil took a 3-0 lead Huber fought back and tied the set, and was two points from the match at 6-5 before McNeil held serve to force a tiebreak.

THE MINI-SET was a classic. Neither player led by more than two points, and McNeil wasted her third and fourth match points before Huber forged a 7-6 lead, only to blow a forehand wide on her first match point.

Huber missed two more chances to win the match, at 9-8 and 10-9, the latter on an ace by McNeil that Huber protested by crumpling to the court and lying motionless while the crowd roared.

McNeil finally ended the match when her first serve at 11-10 elicited a weak backhand return by Huber that floated wide.

''Right now I'm just dazed,'' an exhausted McNeil said. ''I was just trying to finish the points quick and conserve as much energy as possible, not show any emotion out there, just put my head down and move on to the next point.''

Graf double-faulted on the first point of her match, and that was about as close as Garrison got to the No. 1 seed the rest of the way. By the second set, the crowd was applauding when Garrison held her serve, a sure indication that it just wasn't her day.

Graf was probably more distracted by the thousands of motorcyclists rallying outside the arena for an annual toy giveaway at nearby Childrens' Hospital. Defeating Garrison Jackson, however, seems to come as easy as riding a bike for Graf, who has now done it in 12 of their 14 career meetings.

Come to think of it, the riding part may be more difficult.

''I tried riding (motorcycles) in my early days and I didn't have too much success,'' Graf said before recounting some misadventures in Spain earlier in her career.

Graf had one scary moment in the second set when she felt a twinge in her lower back while hitting a backhand. But it passed. ''It just hit me at that moment,'' she said. ''I couldn't move for a few seconds, but then it loosened up.

''I've been dealing with it for the past two years, so I'm sort of used to it.''

Garrison Jackson was left wishing she'd been able to use some other method of movement to counteract Graf's stinging forehand.

''I felt a little sluggish. I wasn't moving as well as I'd like to have been,'' she said. ''I wish I'd had a Harley out there today.''

Results

Singles

Semifinals

Steffi Graf (1), Germany, def. Zina Garrison-Jackson, Houston, Tex., 6-1, 6- 3; Lori McNeil, Houston, Tex., def. Anke Huber (7), Germany, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 7- 6 (12-10).

Doubles

Semifinals

Meredith McGrath, Midland, Mich., and Larisa Neiland, Latvia (2) def. Lisa Raymond, Wayne, Pa., and Rennae Stubbs, Australia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
 
#5,865 ·
NO. 1 GRAF ADVANCES TO 8TH FINAL OF YEAR
The Stuart News
Sunday, November 12, 1995
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - Despite a couple of bad experiences on motorcycles, Steffi Graf didn't let the sights and sounds of about 25,000 bikes distract her at the $800,000 Advanta Championships at Philadelphia.

Graf, the top seed, rolled over unseeded Zina Garrison Jackson 6-3, 6-1 to reach her eighth final this year Saturday, while outside of the Civic Center a convoy of leather-clad bikers was delivering toys and games to a children's hospital.

"I love motorcycles and I was excited to see them," Graf said. "Even though I haven't had much luck with them."

The world's No. 1 player said she had rented motorcycles twice in Spain "in my younger years." The first time Graf spilled, injured her hand and couldn't play for a week. The second time she almost went off a bridge into a lake.

"That was it for me," she said.

Her match was over before many fans could maneuver through the traffic.

Garrison Jackson, who reached the semifinals by defeating Fabiola Zuluaga, then upsetting Mary Pierce and Irina Spirlea, looked exhausted after playing both a singles and doubles quarterfinal 15 hours earlier. The 31-year-old lost to Graf for the 12th time in 14 meetings.

"I was a step slow,'' Garrison said. "You can't give Steffi that step because she's too quick. She's too good.''

Graf, who never faced a break point in her 55-minute victory, will meet either fellow German Anke Huber, the defending champion, or Lori McNeil in Sunday's title match.

Graf has defeated Huber, the No. 7 seed, all nine times they have faced each other, dropping just one of 19 sets. The last time Graf faced McNeil was in the first round at Wimbledon in 1994 when McNeil won in straight sets, making Graf the first No. 1 seed to lose an opening match.

Graf, who beat Amy Frazier and Meredith McGrath after a first-round bye to reach the semifinals, has a 42-2 match record this season.

"They play different games,'' Graf said. "Lori takes every chance she can to approach the net. She keeps the ball low and forces you to pass her. She's tough. Anke plays the baseline, and plays with a lot of power.''

The winner of the Advanta Championships gets $148,500 and the runner-up receives $66,500.

Newsworthy

STOCKHOLM OPEN: Thomas Enqvist served to near perfection and routed Richey Reneberg 6-2, 6-1 Saturday night as he became the first Swede in four years to reach the Stockholm Open final.

Enqvist, a Stockholm native seeded second and ranked eighth in the world, will play Arnaud Boetsch in today's final at the Royal Tennis Hall.

Boetsch, the No. 5 seed, struggled to a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 victory over David Prinosil in the other semifinal.

Enqvist, who last week clinched the last berth in the ATP Tour World Championship starting Tuesday in Frankfurt, hit 12 aces on the medium-fast Plexipave court during the 53-minute match against Reneberg.

The tall Swede made 68 percent of his first serves, an impressive number.

Enqvist will go for his fifth singles title of the year. Three of his four previous wins came in America, including a final victory against Michael Chang indoors in Philadelphia.

Boetsch, ranked 16th in the world, gained his second ATP final of the year. He started the year by reaching the title match in Adelaide, Australia, losing to Jim Courier.

KREMLIN CUP: Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic upset top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia 7-6 (10-8), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) Saturday in the Kremlin Cup semifinals.

In the other match, Carl Uwe-Steeb of Germany beat two-time Kremlin Cup winner Marc Rosset of Switzerland 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
 
#5,866 ·
Ouch! It's Time For WTA's Tourney
ROBIN FINN
The New York Times
November 12, 1995

What if you invited 16 top women players to a world championship tennis tournament that offered $2 million in prize money and nobody came?

You panic in private, but in public you assure your new sponsor, Corel, whose chief executive wanted to bat some practice balls around with the likes of Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, that there is nothing to worry about.

Officials of the WTA Tour Championships, which begins a weeklong run at Madison Square Garden tomorrow, were anxiously sorting through their R.S.V.P.'s right down to the wire this weekend. How could so many medical complaints arise in a field of just 16 elite players, all of whom have the best and brightest in training and healing methods at their beck and call?

For starters, there was Seles's touchy knee, an existing condition that this past Thursday, complicated by a recently sprained ankle, forced the Comeback Player of the Year to beg off from competition on Tuesday night, which had actually been renamed "Welcome Back Monica Night" in her honor.

Her withdrawal meant that for the third consecutive year, the championships would have to do without Seles, who captured the event's title for three consecutive years before her stabbing in Hamburg, Germany, in April 1993.

Too, Seles's last-minute decision not to compete left the tournament with a field that includes just two former champions in Graf, who won in 1987, 1989, and 1993, and the defending champion Gabriela Sabatini, who also won in 1988.

But the presence of even two former champions here is, of course, dependent on Graf's ability to continue coping with the iffy backache that confined her competitive season to just 10 events in 1995. Graf, who yesterday reached the final of the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia, recently said she was using the prospect of a long vacation as a carrot to get her through the final two weeks of the circuit.

Graf had also been using the possibility of a year-end clash with her co-No. 1, Seles, the player she defeated in the United States Open final, as a championships carrot.

"Monica was the one to look out for at the championships," said Graf, who will look elsewhere for motivation. Possibly the prospect of a first-round encounter at the Garden with the scrappy Amanda Coetzer, one of just two players to defeat her this year, will provide Graf with sufficient incentive.

Coetzer squeaked back into the WTA Championships as the 16th player, courtesy of Seles's decision not to exercise her wild-card privileges. Had Seles played, Coetzer, pushed into 17th place and out of contention, would have had to settle for $30,000 in "step-aside" money, the amount equivalent to a first-round loss.

Instead, that consolation purse has been funneled back into the overall purse, which offers $500,000 to this year's champion and $250,000 to the runner-up. Due to the Tour's bare-bones operating expenses in its second season without a sponsor, there was no million-dollar bonus pool available this year. That may change next year due to the presence of Corel, the Canadian software firm that has a three-year, $12 million contract with the tour.

Besides Seles, several other players on the championships' invitation list -- including the only first-timer in the field, Chanda Rubin -- have been plagued by injuries recently.

Mary Joe Fernandez and Lindsay Davenport, who was last year's runner-up, both withdrew from their tuneup last week in Philadelphia because of back trouble, the same reason Rubin gave when she pulled out of an event in Quebec two weeks ago. Iva Majoli dropped out of the Philadelphia event with a pulled stomach muscle and spent last week at home in Zagreb, Croatia, resting.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, citing mental fatigue, hasn't played a match since September. And second-ranked Conchita Martinez wasn't kidding when she complained about pain from a broken fingernail in the course of a quarterfinal loss to Lori McNeil in Philadelphia.

According to Sanchez Vicario, who fell to Julie Halard in the first round of the championships last year, "It's not fair to say that it's only Steffi and Monica that you have to worry about at the championships."

"Right from the very beginning, it's tough," said the Spaniard, who will face Natasha Zvereva in the opening round and is intent on making her seventh consecutive appearance in the championships the one that brings her its title.

"Right now I'm really feeling better than I have all year," Sanchez Vicario said.
 
#5,867 ·
WTA SEASON FINALE GIVES GRAF TROUBLE
The Miami Herald
Sunday, November 12, 1995
MERI-JO BORZILLERI, Herald Sports Writer

For Steffi Graf, the game's top-ranked player, November in Madison Square Garden has often yielded unpleasant surprises.

Her history in the year-ending WTA Tour Championships has been an all-or-nothing affair. She has won the event three times in her 10 appearances. Only once -- in 1986 -- has she finished runner-up.

Last year, hampered by an aching back, Graf lost in the second round to Mary Pierce. Monica Seles won titles three straight years, from 1990-92, when Graf was nowhere to be found on the tournament's final day.

The showdown between Graf and Seles -- the only active players with three WTA Tour Championship titles -- was expected to provide the exclamation point for 1995.

The sentence will end with ". . ." instead. As in "wait until next year."

Seles, who received an unprecedented -- and controversial -- wild card into the draw, withdrew from the tournament last week because of a nagging knee injury.

No question Graf is the world's best female player in 1995. She won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

But in 1988, when Graf completed the "Golden Slam" -- winning the four majors and an Olympic gold medal -- she lost to Pam Shriver in the semifinals of the championship. Once again, at the 25th WTA Tour Championships, it's Graf against the world.

As the top seed, Graf will face either Irina Spirlea or Amanda Coetzer (the 16th player in the draw) in the first round, then will meet the winner of No. 8 seed Mary Joe Fernandez and newcomer Chanda Rubin.

Graf, who has played two tournaments since the U.S. Open, could meet third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the semifinals. Conchita Martinez is the No. 2 seed.

Challenges could come from defending champion Gabriela Sabatini, the only other woman besides Graf in the draw who has won here. Pierce, the fourth seed, also could figure in the mix. So could Martinez or a hot Magdalena Maleeva, who beat Fernandez two weeks ago.

But you get the feeling Graf has had enough surprises.

WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS

* What: $2 million WTA Tour Championships.

* When: Monday through next Sunday.

* Where: New York.

* Defending champions: Gabriela Sabatini (singles), Gigi Fernandez-Natasha Zvereva (doubles).

* Format: Single elimination; top 16 players (singles), top eight teams (doubles). Singles final is best three-of-five sets.

* Singles field: Steffi Graf, Conchita Martinez, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Mary Pierce, Gabriela Sabatini, Kimiko Date, Magdalena Maleeva, Mary Joe Fernandez, Chanda Rubin, Natasha Zvereva, Lindsay Davenport, Jana Novotna, Anke Huber, Iva Majoli, Brenda Schultz McCarthy. Final spot: Irina Spirlea or Amanda Coetzer.

* Doubles field: Gigi Fernandez/Zvereva, Novotna/Sanchez Vicario, Meredith McGrath/Larissa Neiland, Nicole Arendt/Manon Bollegraf, Katrina Adams/Zina Garrison Jackson, Lori McNeil/ Helena Sukova, Martinez/Patricia Tarabini and another team TBA.

* Purse: $500,000 (singles); $200,000 (doubles per team).

* TV: Mon., 1 a.m.; Tues., 11:30 p.m.; Wed. 1 a.m.; Thurs., 2:30 a.m.; Fri., midnight; Sat.; TBA (early rounds) -- Sunshine, taped. Sun. 1-4 p.m. (final) -- ABC, live.
 
#5,868 ·
Graf's tax troubles divide German opinion
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Sunday, November 12, 1995
NESHA STARCEVIC, Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany - Was Steffi Graf an innocent victim of her father's murky tax-evasion schemes? Was Germany's tennis star ignorant of the machinations? How much did she know?

Germans seem to be about evenly divided on the issue of Graf's innocence, as the tax affair slowly unravels.

In rare television interviews, Graf, 26, has said that she thought her financial and tax affairs were being handled by experts and that she never really knew how much she was worth.

Her father and his tax adviser are in jail, on the orders of a judge who thought they might flee the country to avoid prosecution, and the investigation is spreading beyond the tennis star's circle.

A commission is investigating whether local politicians gave Graf privileges and allowed her to pay lower taxes.

In a nation with one of the heaviest tax burdens, where high income earners can end up paying more than 50 percent in taxes, such dispensations would be highly unpopular.

The case has contributed to questions about other prominent Germans, especially athletes, and their tax bills.

"The affair has caused deep anger about special tax regulations for stars, especially since normal people pay fines just for being late filing tax returns," wrote the weekly Die Woche.

Some news media defended Graf. The conservative Bunte asked whether Germany had become ungrateful and forgotten everything Graf had done for the country.

Others were less forgiving.

"Once built up, Steffi Graf is now being dismantled. She has disappointed expectations that she did not raise herself. She is paying the price for having to be someone else than herself. She was used: by the greed of her father and the greed of the market," Die Woche said.

A survey conducted for Die Woche in October showed Germans evenly split on whether Graf knew about the reported tax-evasion schemes.

But two-thirds still thought she was good for Germany's image, and three-quarters thought she didn't belong in jail. A majority considered her father the main culprit in the tax affair.

Her father, Peter Graf, has been in investigative custody since Aug. 2. His tax adviser, Joachim Eckardt, was arrested in September. Steffi Graf was interrogated twice.

Peter Graf has never enjoyed a good reputation in Germany, where he is seen as a greedy, ambitious, domineering father, who drove his daughter hard. Accusations have come from former associates that he also abused Steffi, beating and kicking her during practice.

Since his arrest, stories have described Peter Graf carrying away large sums of cash in plastic bags - appearance money given under the table to his daughter.

Steffi's earnings from sponsorship deals were allegedly spread through several shell companies based in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, according to leaked details of the investigation.

Prosecutors believe that more than $35 million of Steffi's earnings were shunted into foreign accounts.

Unlike many other German sports stars, Steffi did not move her official residence to a tax haven abroad. Formula One champion Michael Schumacher lives in Monte Carlo, tennis star Michael Stich in neighboring Austria. Boris Becker, another tennis star, only recently moved his official residence from Monte Carlo back to Germany.

Authorities recently cracked down on a number of soccer players who used a loophole to live and pay lower taxes in neighboring Belgium while playing for German clubs.

Some media reports have said that Graf was given tax allowances after her family hinted several years ago that she might move abroad. Lawmakers in her native state of Baden-Wuerttemberg are investigating whether local authorities allowed the Grafs to pay a lump sum in taxes, far below the amount due on the star's real earnings.

During her career, Graf is believed to have earned more than $120 million.

As a result of the tax case, Graf lost the sponsorship of Opel, General Motor's German subsidiary. But other sponsors have stood by her.

Graf, who currently shares the No. 1 ranking with Monica Seles, won the French and U.S. opens and Wimbledon this summer, then skipped several tournaments and lost in the first round in Brighton last month.

She has always looked uncomfortable in the public spotlight and since the tax affair has kept a low profile in Germany.
 
#5,870 ·
That's right, Steffi didn't serve-and-volley more because it was just not as much fun.

Graf has to give it her all to avoid upset by McNeil
Delaware County Daily Times
Primos - Upper Darby, PA
Monday, November 13, 1995
DENNIS DEITCH, Of the Times Staff

PHILADELPHIA -- Steffi Graf entered this week's Advanta Championships having played just one tournament since the U.S. Open, as the No. 1 player in the world had been nagged by both physical and personal problems.

Lori McNeil came to the Philadelphia Civic Center with just three first-round victories in her last eight tournaments and her lowest professional ranking -- No. 64 -- in nearly a decade.

Both players needed this final tournament of the season to refresh their games. By the time Graf and McNeil faced each other in the championship match yesterday afternoon, they appeared to be in Grand Slam Tournament form.

And their thrilling, three-set battle yesterday carried a Grand Slam electricity along with it, as Graf needed to pull out all stops to derail McNeil's attempt for her first singles title in nearly 18 months, knocking off the 31-year-old, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in front of 5,321 satiated fans.

"Lori has always been very high on my list (of difficult opponents). I'm not just talking in this tournament, but the past six or seven years,'' said Graf, who had lost her previous two meetings with McNeil, the last defeat coming in the first round of the 1994 Wimbledon, Graf's only first-round Grand Slam defeat since she was 14.

"She has so much talent.''

However, McNeil had been struggling to find her ability in recent weeks, After starting the season ranked 17th in the world, she had plummeted to 64th coming into this tournament.

"Unfortunately, this is the end of the season,'' said McNeil, whose inspirational effort was further embellished by the fact she was involved in a three-set semifinal singles match and a two-set doubles match the previous night. "I wish we had another week and another tournament to play.

"I thought I had some chances, but I thought she played well, too.''

The pivotal moment in the match came in the eighth game of the final set. After Graf had taken a 3-0 lead, McNeil broke serve in the fourth game and was trailing, 4-3, when she received a pair of points off unforced errors by Graf to go up 15-40 in the eighth game. However, on the next point McNeil charged the net and allowed a passing shot to go by, thinking it would go out. It didn't, and on the next point McNeil would sail a backhand long to send the game to deuce from where Graf took that game and the next to win the Philadelphia title a second time.

While Graf has had to overcome back and foot troubles all year, not to mention the much-publicized tax investigation involving her and her father, she maintains 1995 was a fruitful tennis season for her.

"This has been my best year; better than 1988 (when she won the Grand Slam),'' said Graf. "The competition is so much better this year.''

Yesterday she received a taste of that competition.

In the early going, it appeared Graf would steamroll McNeil as she had Meredith McGrath and Zina Garrison-Jackson in the previous two rounds. Graf broke McNeil's is two serves and jumped to a 5-0 lead on her way to taking he first set.

"She really didn't play well in the first set,'' said Graf, who went over the $2 million earnings mark for the year with the win. "But after that she started to play more aggressive and didn't make as many mistakes.''

A big part of McNeil's comeback is her maturity. The Houston native turns 32 next month, an age close to paleolithic in the era of teenage titlists and 14-year-old pros. But McNeil is in terrific condition and her game of charging the net doesn't require the spryness of a teen as much as the savvy of a veteran.

"I don't feel the effects (of playing) so much,'' said McNeil. "When I woke up this morning I felt fine, I felt ready to go.''

"A player with her type of game can stay longer,'' said the 26-year-old Graf, who said it's "been a while,'' since the last time she took the court pain-free. "I know playing that way would make it easier for me to continue playing, but I just don't get as much pleasure out of it.''

Considering last night was her 94th career title, there doesn't seem to be much reason to change.

ADVANTA TENNIS

Results yesterday from the $800,000 Advanta Championships at the Civic Center (seedings in parentheses):

SINGLES Championship Steffi Graf (1), Germany, def. Lori McNeil, Houston, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

DOUBLES Championship McNeil and Helena Sukova, Czech Republic, def. Meredith McGrath, Midland, Mich., and Larisa Neiland (2), Latvia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
#5,871 ·
She had been the hero-protagonist all along and the tennis community was just starting to figure that out.

Once again, Graf proves she is a champion
The Times
Trenton, NJ
Monday, November 13, 1995
DAVID PORTER, Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA -- The last year or so has served as a sort of reluctant coming-out party for Steffi Graf, an athlete famous for her carefully cultivated lack of a public persona.

The various forces of turmoil surrounding Graf's personal life have shined a sliver of light into the personality of one of the sport's enigmas. Yet while the human, off-the-court side of Graf has been revealed over the last year, no instruction booklet on how to defeat the No. 1-ranked German on the court has been included.

Yesterday, in the final of the Advanta Championships, Graf defeated unseeded Lori McNeil, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 for her eighth tournament title of 1995. Astoundingly, Graf has won every final in which she has played this year, including the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

THIS WEEK, she heads back to New York, the city she increasingly calls home, for the year-ending WTA Championships. There is no reason to believe she will not unseat defending champion Gabriela Sabatini and make it a nine-for-nine '95.

Even barring that, Graf conceded yesterday, it has been a year to remember.

''It's been such an incredible year already. It's the best year I've ever had, even better than in '88 when I won the Grand Slam,'' she said. ''The competition is better now. There were difficult tournaments, difficult circumstances this year.''

Ah, those circumstances. They are well-known by now, but bear repeating if only to magnify Graf's accomplishments on the court: The obsessed fan of Graf's who stabbed Monica Seles in 1993 in a twisted attempt to help Graf's rankings; the tax investigation that landed her father, Peter, in jail and still threatens her financial affairs; recent allegations by a family friend that her father physically abused her early in her career; assorted injuries that have dogged her for nearly two years.

Through all this has emerged the Steffi Graf that always lurked behind those vicious forehands and backhand slices, but rarely crept to the surface.

''I always tried to keep my private life and my feelings away from the court. People didn't matter as much, what they thought of me,'' Graf said. ''But I think maybe people see that there is more of a person behind me.''

CERTAINLY, THE talent and sheer will that have driven her to the top of her sport are undiminished.

''She's a champion,'' McNeil said yesterday. ''I don't think her determination ever went away. She's had a lot of things going on and she'd only played one match since the Open, but with each match here she gained her confidence back.''

The last clause could also apply to McNeil, who entered the tournament at the tail-end of year in which her ranking had slipped to 63, its lowest level in nearly 10 years. She caught a break when No. 6 seed Mary Joe Fernandez was a late scratch, and beat Fernandez's replacement, Shaun Stafford, in straight sets in the first round, then beat Lisa Raymond, No. 2 seed Conchita Martinez and No. 7 seed Anke Huber.

Yesterday, McNeil could have used the tournament scheduling as an excuse -- after playing for nearly three hours against Huber Saturday night, she played a doubles match and finished at 11:30, while Graf had played her semifinal in the early afternoon. But she refused to do so.

''It didn't affect me that much,'' she said. ''I woke up feeling pretty good, ready to go. Once you get in a tournament, you just go on adrenaline, anyway.''

After a 15-minute delay in the start of the match while Graf was changing wraps for a sore left foot, Graf blew through a 6-1 first set that appeared to foreshadow a repeat of her semifinal victory over Zina Garrison Jackson, a 6-1, 6-3 romp in 56 minutes.

BUT MCNEIL is a serve-and-volleyer whose style frequently takes the measure of baseliners like Graf.

''She's always been near the top of my list of players who give me trouble,'' Graf said. McNeil fought back with service breaks in the eighth and 10th games of the second set and squared the match.

Graf then opened the third set with service breaks in the first and third games, aided in the latter when McNeil blew an overhead on game point. Graf retained the advantage to the end of the match, when McNeil missed an easy volley on the second match point.

Afterward, the same Graf who would have mumbled her way through the post-match interviews, politely but not terribly insightfully, was relaxed and at ease, even when asked if she could recall the last time she was free of the physical maladies she seems perpetually burdened by.

''It's been a while,'' she said. ''There will be a couple of days where you feel good, when nothing hurts, but it's hard to get a stream of those days together. Sometimes you don't remember how good things were at certain times.''

Results

Singles

Final

Steffi Graf (1), Germany, def. Lori McNeil, Houston, Tex., 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles

Final

Lori McNeil, Houston, Tex., and Helena Sukova, Czech. Republic, def. Meredith McGrath, Midland, Mich., and Larisa Neiland, Latvia (2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
#5,872 ·
TENNIS / ADVANTA BELONGS TO GRAF
The Press of Atlantic City
Monday, November 13, 1995
Dave Ivey, Associated Press

Steffi Graf, given a hard time yet again by Lori McNeil, won 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in1 hour, 47 minutes Sunday to capture the $800,000 Advanta Championships.

"She has always been a tough opponent for me," Graf said. "Lori has so much talent and is difficult for many players, including me, to handle."

In tuning up for this week's season-ending WTA Tour Championships in New York, Graf won her eighth title of the year and improved her match record to 43-2 this season.

In her only other tournament since winning her fourth U.S. Open crown two months ago, the world's top-ranked player lost to a qualifier in the first round in Brighton, England. After a first-round bye this week, she beat three unseeded Americans to reach the finals: Amy Frazier, Meredith McGrath and Zina Garrison Jackson.

Struggling with a back injury and her father jailed in Germany on tax-evasion charges, Graf acknowledged she has been unable to maintain her focus on tennis.

"It has been an incredible year," said Graf, who has won 94 tournaments in her career, trailing only Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. "There have just been so many difficult tournaments and difficult circumstances."

Graf has a 9-2 record against McNeil, but had lost their last two matches in dramatic fashion. At Wimbledon in 1994, Graf was the first defending champ to lose in the first round, falling to McNeil in straight sets. In 1992, McNeil became the lowest-ranked player (then No. 18) to beat Graf since the German star was 15, in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships.

McNeil, now ranked No. 63, had her opportunities Sunday. In her first service game, she led 40-30 but lost on the first of five double faults.

Graf broke in the third game and in the fourth, McNeil led 40-15 but lost her serve again.

In the next set, McNeil broke three times and Graf, who had led 4-3, dropped just her eighth set of the year.

In the third set, McNeil was ahead 40-30 but mis-hit an overhead and went on to lose the game and trail 3-0. Then down 4-3, she missed another overhead leading 15-40, then lost the game. McNeil's backhand volley hit the net cord at championship point and Graf had another title, and $148,500.

McNeil, who will be 32 next month, had been ousted in the first or second round of her last eight tournaments. She reached the finals with wins against Shaun Stafford, Lisa Raymond, No. 2-ranked Conchita Martinez, and the defending champion, No. 7 seed Anke Huber.

The Houston player also played in the doubles final Sunday. After playing nearly four hours of tennis Saturday night - counting singles and doubles - she looked fresh against Graf.

"I woke up and I felt fine," said McNeil, who earned $66,500. "I guess that the adrenaline was keeping me going."

McNeil and Helena Sukova, who won together last week at Oakland, faced McGrath and Australia's Larisa Neiland in the doubles final at the Civic Center. McNeil has won 10 career singles titles and 31 doubles titles.

"It was a good week for me, obviously," McNeil said. "Unfortunately it is the end of the year for me."

Graf, the top seed, faces Amanda Coetzer in her first match at the WTA Tour Championships, which start at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Results

PHILADELPHIA - Results Sunday from the $800,000 Advanta Championships at the Civic Center (seedings in parentheses):

Singles Championship

Steffi Graf (1), Germany, def. Lori McNeil, Houston, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles Championship

Lori McNeil, Houston, and Helena Sukova, Czech Republic, def. Meredith McGrath, Midland, Mich., and Larisa Neiland (2), Latvia, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
#5,873 ·
GRAF ADDS PHILLY WIN TO REMARKABLE SEASON
Philadelphia Daily News
Monday, November 13, 1995
Bill Fleischman, Daily News Sports Writer

All those 94 career tournament titles won by Steffi Graf over 14 years cannot be memorable. But Graf will remember her second Philadelphia championship.

Her 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory yesterday over unseeded Lori McNeil in the Advanta Championships final at the Civic Center is a jewel in what the top-seeded Graf called "the best year I've ever had."

Graf's 1995 file includes a perfect three-for-three in Grand Slam events, eight total titles and a 43-2 match record.

Rating '95 her best year was surprising since she recorded a rare Grand Slam sweep in 1988.

"The competition is so much better this year," Graf said, adding that the "circumstances" are different.

What she meant was, seven years ago her father, Peter, wasn't in prison in Germany facing tax-evasion charges. And Germany wasn't divided on how aware Graf was that she owes millions in back taxes.

Her Teutonic tax headache was off limits to questions from the media all week, but following the entertaining, 1-hour, 48-minute final, Graf did address the new compassion she is feeling from the public, particularly in the United States. Even though she maintains her all-business face on the court, many people sympathize with the turmoil she is enduring. The feeling is: She trusted her father to manage her finances, and he allegedly has managed to turn them into a mess.

"You always feel better if somebody is nice to you," the four-time U.S. Open champion said. "Sometimes you don't have an eye or an ear for it.

"People seem a lot more open to me. I've never been an open person. A lot of people thought different about me, which didn't really matter because I needed to put a certain part of my life away from the public. (But now) people realize there's more of a person behind me."

The start of the final was delayed about 30 minutes while trainers retaped Graf's left foot. The bone irritation that troubled her two months ago during the U.S. Open flared up during the Advanta tournament. She was ready to walk onto the court yesterday when she realized that she couldn't play well because of the way the foot was taped.

Although Graf said the foot bothered her "at times" during the match, she started fast, tearing through the first set in 28 minutes. Graf led, 4-3, in the second set, but then faltered, losing her serve twice.

A match-influencing shot occurred in the third game of the final set. With McNeil trailing, 2-0, and serving at game point, she slammed an overhead into the net. McNeil then netted a backhand half-volley. At break point, Graf stroked a crosscourt backhand winner.

Referring to the overhead, McNeil said, "I'd like to have that one back. It was coming down, and I didn't really reach up to it. It was really high: I should have bounced it (and) gotten in better position."

Trailing Graf, 3-0, in a final set is taking the hard road to victory, but McNeil continued battling. Graf's service troubles helped McNeil: Graf was broken in the fourth game. Ahead 4-3, Graf fought off two break points. After serving a winner on the second break point, Graf pumped herself up.

Another service winner and a long backhand half-volley by McNeil gave the six-time Wimbledon champion a 5-3 advantage.

McNeil opened the final game with an unreturnable, sharply angled backhand, but then she dropped three consecutive points. She saved one match point on an unforced error by Graf, but on the next point McNeil netted a high backhand half-volley.

The crowd of 5,321 would have understood if McNeil had requested a lengthy timeout midway through the nearly two-hour final. Her 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (12-10) semifinal win over Anke Huber on Saturday night lasted 2:43. Later, she and Helena Sukova won their doubles semifinal.

"I felt pretty well," the 63rd-ranked McNeil said. "I had my chances, but she came up with some really good shots at crucial times."

McNeil, an upset winner over No. 2 seed Conchita Martinez in the quarterfinals, is now coached by Jim Dempsey. Until a few months ago he was the traveling coach of Lisa Raymond, whom McNeil beat in the second round. Dempsey said he has worked on fine-tuning McNeil's tennis basics.

"Her techniques were off a little," Dempsey said. "It's like a figure skater's compulsories: We just worked on basic things. Lori could easily have thrown in the rest of the year. She showed she's a real professional and stuck with it."

McNeil and Sukova defeated Meredith McGrath and Larisa Neiland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the doubles final. McNeil-Sukova are in the Corel Women's Tennis Association Tour championships in New York City starting today. Graf is the No. 1 singles seed in the season-ending tournament.

Graf, a 6-1, 6-3 semifinal winner over unseeded Zina Garrison Jackson on Saturday, left for Manhattan in an exuberant mood. Frequently somber during interviews, she smiled through yesterday's session. Her $148,500 winner's check that gives her more than $2 million in winnings this year wasn't even foremost in her mind.

"It's good to win this tournament," said Graf, who also won the 1992 Virginia Slims of Philadelphia championship. "I was hoping to get a few matches. It feels very good at this point, going into New York. I'm very happy about it. This is not just another tournament."

Graf, 26, also is happy that McNeil is not playing singles in New York. Graf owns a 9-2 career record vs. McNeil, but the 31-year-old Texan had won their last two meetings. McNeil's last decision was a shocking, straight-set victory in the first round at Wimbledon a year ago.

"There aren't that many players that come in constantly, and keep the ball low," Graf said. "She's always very high on my list (of troublesome opponents)."

NET NOTES

Attendance for the week was 43,208, up 204 from last year's gate at the Convention Center . . . McNeil and Sukova split $44,500 for winning the doubles title. McNeil's runner-up check for singles was $66,500.
 
#5,874 ·
ADVANTA GOES TO GRAF OVER MCNEIL
The Morning Call
Allentown, PA
Monday, November 13, 1995
MONICA DEEB, The Morning Call Staff Writer

She's ranked only 63rd in the world but Lori McNeil gave Steffi Graf all she could handle yesterday.

But like she's done so often in her illustrious career, Graf simply played the big points better and defeated McNeil 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in the final of the Advanta Championships at the Civic Center.

"She came up with some really good shots at crucial times," said McNeil, who had beaten Graf in their last two meetings.

"Things could have been different; it was just a few points here and there."

Graf broke McNeil's serve for the seventh time to end the exciting three-setter in 1 hour, 48 minutes in front of 5,321 fans.

Graf set up double-match point with one of her many forehand down-the-line winners. Graf committed an unforced error that eliminated one match point, but McNeil missed an easy volley on the next one.

"It feels good to win this tournament; there were a lot of good players who were in it," said Graf, who has had to deal with all kinds of physical and personal problems this year.

"It's always good to just play matches. You always hope to win the tournament but I wasn't looking ahead. I feel confidentgoing into New York."

Graf and the rest of the top players (minus the injured Monica Seles) will compete in the Women's Tennis Association's Championships at Madison Square Garden which begins today.

But Graf likely won't be 100 percent healthy for the the event. Yesterday's match was delayed about 30 minutes so her left foot could be re-wrapped because of bone spurs.

"I've been having problems the last few days with my foot," said Graf, who also admitted that her foot bothered her at times during the match. "I was going to try to play no matter what. I practiced this morning and it wasn't too bad."

Yesterday, however, McNeil probably made Graf's foot ailment feel even worse.

After Graf won the first set 6-1 and led the second 1-0, McNeil picked up her game, which was subpar at best up to that point.

"She didn't play well in the first set, so I expected something more to come, and that's what happened," Graf said.

McNeil broke Graf's serve four times, three times in the second set alone. And on other occasions, McNeil dictated play with her effective serve-and-volley game, mostly in the second set. She also held her own from the baseline for awhile.

"I think our styles match up well together," said McNeil, 31.

McNeil trailed 4-3 in the second but won the next three games. When Graf sailed a forehand long, the sets were 1 all.

But hold on. Graf is, well ... Graf. She's won 94 career singles titles, including 18 Grand Slams. So, a little pressure didn't unnerve the 26-year-old German, who has won 43 of 46 matches and three Grand Slam titles this year.

"I don't think her determination ever goes away; she's a champion," McNeil said. "She's had some injuries. But everyone needs to play matches; that gives you confidence."

Since losing in the first round of a tournament in Brighton, England, Graf hadn't played a match until she beat Amy Frazier in three sets to begin her Advanta run.

She was too busy being grilled by the German authorities regarding her jailed father and his tax improprioties to do much else.

"Winning in New York would be a very nice ending, but this is the best year I've ever had no matter how it ends," Graf said. "When I won the Grand Slam in 1988, it was a totally different time. The competition was so much better this year.

"Under difficult times and difficult circumstances, this is the best year I've ever had."

Graf raced to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but suprisingly McNeil found energy to come back and break Graf's serve for the final time and then hold her own serve to trail 3-2.

McNeil didn't get off the court Saturday until close to 11 p.m. Her singles semifinal with Anke Huber went 2 hours, 43 minutes and ended at 9:53 p.m. She then teamed with Helena Sukova to defeat Chanda Rubin and Pam Shriver in a doubles semifinal.

"I don't feel that affected me so much," McNeil said. "I was cramping a little in my singles match on Saturday, but I got a lot treatment. I woke up today and felt fine and ready to go.

"In a tournament, once you start playing you go on adrenaline."

After both players held serve, Graf went up 5-3 as McNeil sent a volley long. McNeil had two break points in the game but couldn't convert either. Graf broke serve the next game to win it.

"There aren't that many players around who are going to come in constantly, keep the ball low and try to force you to pass," Graf said.

"Lori has so much talent, and she's so difficult for most of the top players to play against. She had some difficult losses and lost her confidence this year. She needs to have confidence in her game, and I hope she comes back strong next year."

Graf pocketed $148,500, while McNeil took home $66,500.

McNeil did win one title yesterday. She and Sukova defeated Meredith McGrath and Larissa Neiland 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
#5,875 ·
Headline unavailable
USA TODAY
Sunday, November 12, 1995
CHRIS MACIEJEWSKI, Gannett News Service

Just a few feet from the net, Lori McNeil stood gazing at the ceiling of the Civic Center, waiting to put away an easy overhead.

It was a game point for McNeil, a chance for her to hold serve and cut Steffi Graf 's third-set lead to 2-1. It was also one of the few times during this week's $800,000 Advanta Championships the top-seeded Graf was out of position and almost defenseless.

Somehow, the 31-year-old Texan let the opportunity slip away. Instead of slamming a clean winner, McNeil slapped the ball into the net. Instead of closing Graf's lead, McNeil fell into a hole she never climbed out of as Graf claimed her eighth title of the year Sunday with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win before a final crowd of 5,321.

"I'd like to have that one back," McNeil said of what seemed an easy overhead. "It wasn't that I didn't see it. I just didn't reach up to it as it was coming down."

The win earned Graf, the world's top-ranked player, her second Philadelphia title and the $148,500 winner's check. McNeil took home $66,500 for reaching her second final of 1995.

McNeil, ranked No. 63 in the world, bumped No. 20 Lisa Raymond, No. 3 Conchita Martinez and No. 12 Anke Huber from the tournament with endless rushes to the net behind low, slicing approaches.

McNeil's tactics took some time to affect Graf, who blazed to a one-set lead in just 27 minutes. The '92 Philly champion then allowed McNeil some breathing room during an error-plagued and service-break filled second set.

The 26-year-old German paid for her tentative play.

Looking remarkably fresh despite playing nearly four hours of tennis and suffering leg cramps the night before, McNeil won the final three games of the second set, two on service breaks, to even the match.

"The thing is, she really didn't play well in the first set," Graf said. "So I was expecting something, and I let her back into the match."

Graf began the third set as she did the first. She kept McNeil away from the net with penetrating groundstrokes. Still, McNeil wouldn't relent. She matched Graf forehand-for-forehand and then passed her with another forehand to hold serve and close to 4-3.

Then, McNeil put up her final stand. She held two break points and raced to the net behind a Graf second serve. Graf sliced a backhand winner and followed with a service winner. Two McNeil errors ended the threat.

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour season ends with next week's Tour Championships in New York. Despite an up-and-down 12 months, Graf spoke highly of 1995.

"It's been such an incredible year," she said. "It's been the best year I've ever had, even better than when I won all four Grand Slams (1988). Everything's been more difficult - the competition, the circumstances."
 
#5,876 ·
ANOTHER TITLE IN GREAT YEAR FOR GRAF
THE GERMAN SUPERSTAR TOPPED LORI MCNEIL IN A TOUGH FINAL AT THE CIVIC CENTER FOR HER EIGHTH CHAMPIONSHIP OF '95.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Monday, November 13, 1995
Diane Pucin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

After Steffi Graf had whipped through a 24-minute first set and seemed invincible, and after Lori McNeil had willed herself into nearly errorless tennis for another hour, and after Graf had finally conquered the game but exhausted McNeil in the final of the Advanta Championships yesterday, Graf had an emotional assessment of this year.

"It has been my best ever," she said.

It was not just winning the $800,000 tournament by beating McNeil, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in a 1-hour, 48-minute match at the Civic Center that made Graf so exquisitely happy.

It was her match record of 43-2, plus the championships in all three Grand Slams she had entered and in eight of the 10 tournaments she had played overall. And it was doing all that winning with a fragile body and a battered psyche.

In 1988, Graf swept all four Grand Slams and won an Olympic gold medal, too, and the feat was dubbed a "Golden Slam." It was something never accomplished before.

And this year has been better, Graf said.

"Everything was so easy in 1988," Graf said after collecting a check for $148,500 and thanking the 5,321 fans for being supportive and friendly. "Now the competition is much harder, and there have been the injuries and the other problems."

The "other problems" have been well-chronicled. Graf's father, Peter, is in a German prison, charged with tax evasion over his handling of her money, and Graf herself has been questioned twice about her taxes.

And those injuries are always present.

The top-seeded Graf arrived in Philadelphia uncertain about how her chronically sore back would hold up, and then she caught a cold. So yesterday, when the start of the match was delayed 20 minutes because, it was whispered, Graf wasn't feeling well, there was speculation: Was it the back? Was it the cold?

It was neither. It was the left foot.

Graf has problems with bone spurs and her arch, and the foot must be taped. But after it was taped yesterday, she couldn't walk well, much less run, so the taping had to be done again.

McNeil, 31, an unseeded player who had arrived in Philadelphia ranked No. 63 in the world, had played singles for almost three hours Saturday night, then played doubles, too, and she was doubled over with cramps and a strained thigh that night.

The expectations for great tennis from these two hobbled women were not high. Then the match started.

Graf ran away with the first set, as she had so often in her career, with a dominating serve and vicious ground strokes that kept McNeil off-balance.

But McNeil didn't lose her confidence. Though Graf owned an 8-2 career edge over her, she had beaten Graf the last two times they'd played, including a stunning first-round upset at Wimbledon in 1994.

Graf said McNeil had "always been very high on my list" of players she feared. In the second set, McNeil showed why. She began getting more first serves in. When she did, Graf either couldn't get her returns on the court or would hit floating shots that McNeil could volley for easy winners. That wasn't unexpected, for McNeil had always played serve-and-volley.

The more pressure McNeil applied, the more tentative Graf became. McNeil won the second set in flamboyant fashion, breaking Graf's serve by hitting two wonderful service returns and then forcing the German into a forehand error on set point.

In the third set, there were two telling points.

The first came in the third game. McNeil was already down by 2-0. Serving at 40-30, she maneuvered Graf well by hitting forehands to both corners. Graf finally hit a high, short ball that McNeil had several seconds to wait for. McNeil smashed the overhead right into the net, and Graf went on to win the game.

"I would have liked that one back," McNeil said afterward.

In the eighth game, with Graf serving and McNeil having two break points to get to 4-4, Graf saved the second with a scrambling, lunging forehand winner. McNeil swung so desperately at that shot that her racket went skidding right off the court. Graf wound up holding serve to lead by 5-3, then broke McNeil in the last game.

"I had my chances," said McNeil, whose computer ranking should climb to about 40th this week, after her upsets of Lisa Raymond, Conchita Martinez and Anke Huber in this tournament.

Graf now is looking forward to the season-ending WTA Championships, which begin at Madison Square Garden today. She is No. 1 seed and the favorite. But, she said, win or lose, it doesn't matter.

"It has been such an incredible year already," she said. "I don't think anything could ruin that now."

NOTES. McNeil did not go home without a title. She and Helena Sukova beat second-seeded Meredith McGrath and Larisa Neiland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the doubles final. . . . In the first round of the WTA Championships today, No. 6 seed Kimiko Date will play Jana Novotna and No. 4 seed Mary Pierce will play Huber.
 
#5,877 ·
Graf looks to end year on winning note
UPI NewsTrack
Sunday, November 12, 1995
MARTIN LADER

Without the incentive of a possible showdown against her biggest rival, Steffi Graf must look elsewhere to psyche herself for one last week of work. Foremost is the opportunity to complete a near-flawless year by adding the WTA Tour Championships to the three Grand Slam crowns she won. Too, the half-million dollar top prize can prove helpful in paying back taxes.

Equally important to Graf's weary mind is the realization that her year's work will be all but over following this tournament and she can pamper herself with a long vacation, while at the same time ponder her father's imprisonment in a German jail on tax evasion charges.

Unfortunately, the magnet of a Graf-Monica Seles five-set final was dashed when Seles pulled out of the tournament with tendinitis in her left knee compounded by a sprained right ankle. The two top women in the game have played only once since Seles was stabbed in the back in April 1993, Graf winning a three-set final at the U.S. Open two months ago.

''I'm surprised,'' Graf said when she learned of Seles' decision. ''I could see her not playing Oakland (two weeks ago), but I expected her to be able to play. She'd bring excitement to the tournament. It's a big loss.''

With the absence of Seles, Graf will be a big favorite for the seven- day competition that begins Monday in Madison Square Garden. She won the event three times when it was known as the Virginia Slims Championships.

In Monday night's opening two singles matches, sixth seed Kimiko Date will play Jana Novotna, followed by No. 4 Mary Pierce against Anke Huber. Pierce, winner of the Australian Open last winter and the losing finalist at the French Open, was upset by Zina Garrison Jackson in the second round of last week's Advanta Championships in Philadelphia.

Between the singles matches Monday, eight-time tournament champion Martina Navratilova and four-time winner Chris Evert will preside at an awards ceremony for Corel, the new WTA sponsor.
The doubles also begins Monday with top seeds Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva facing Garrison Jackson and Katrina Adams, and Conchita Martinez-Patricia Tarabini playing Arantxa Sanchez Vicario-Jana Novotna.

Following Sunday's 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Lori McNeil in the Advanta Championships, Graf has a match record of 44-2 this year, winning eight of 10 tournaments while yielding merely 11 sets.

But she, too, is vulnerable to unsettling situations, both on and off the court. During her semifinal victory over Garrison Jackson at the Advanta, Graf suffered sudden pain in her chronically sore back after hitting a backhand service return. ''It just hit me at the moment,'' said Graf, who knows her career is held hostage by her back.

Oddly, Graf's only two losses of 1995 were inflicted by South Africans in opening round matches. She lost to Amanda Coetzer in Toronto and to a qualifier, Mariaan de Swardt, in Brighton, England. As the luck of the draw has it, Graf's first opponent in New York will be Coetzer, and Coetzer is playing only because she claimed the spot that Seles vacated.

Although the schedule hasn't been finalized, it is expected they will play Tuesday. The other first-round pairings, to be played Tuesday and Wednesday, are: second seed Martinez vs. Iva Majoli, third seed Sanchez Vicario vs. Zvereva, No. 5 Gabriela Sabatini vs. Lindsay Davenport, No. 7 Magdalena Maleeva vs. Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and No. 8 Mary Joe Fernandez vs. Chanda Rubin.

Sabatini is the defending champion, beating Davenport in three sets last year. The final, which will be televised live by ABC next Sunday afernoon, marks the only occasion during the year when women are required to play a best-of-five set final.
 
#5,878 ·
GRAF NOT TAXED IN WTA TUNEUP
BY AL PICKER
The Star-Ledger
Newark, NJ
Monday, November 13, 1995

NEW YORK -- MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT. STEFFI GRAF MAY BE THINKING QUITE A BIT ABOUT HER OFF-COURT PROBLEMS WITH GERMAN TAX AUTHORITIES BUT HER MIND IS CLEARLY FOCUSED ON THE ELITE STARS OF THE WOMEN'S TENNIS GAME IN THE WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT START TODAY AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.

GRAF SHOWED THAT YESTERDAY BY WINNING IN PHILADELPHIA WITH A 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 DECISION OVER LORI MCNEIL FOR HER EIGHTH TITLE OF THE SEASON. THE 26-YEAR-OLD STAR WILL CARRY A SPARKLING 44-2 RECORD FOR THE 1995 SEASON TO THE GARDEN.

BUT NOTHING CAN BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED, AS WAS SHOWN LAST YEAR WHEN MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, IN HER FINAL TOURNAMENT APPEARANCE, WAS BOUNCED OUT BY GABRIELA SABATINI IN THE FIRST ROUND. GRAF WENT OUT IN HER SECOND MATCH, LOSING TO MARY PIERCE.

SUCCESS THIS WEEK WOULD CAP A MARVELOUS SEASON FOR GRAF, WHO MISSED THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN AT THE START OF THE YEAR BUT THEN SWEPT THE BIG THREE GRAND SLAMS OF THE YEAR -- THE FRENCH OPEN, WIMBLEDON AND U.S. OPEN.

GRAF, BESIDES GETTING ON TRACK IN PHILLY AFTER AN UPSET LOSS A MONTH AGO TO MARIAAN DE SWARDT IN BRIGHTON, ENGLAND, DOESN'T HAVE TO CONTEND WITH HER TOUGHEST FOE, MONICA SELES, WHO WITHDREW FROM THE TOURNAMENT LAST THURSDAY DUE TO A LINGERING KNEE INJURY.

"THIS TOURNAMENT HAS THE BEST PLAYERS (MINUS SELES) AND I EXPECT TOUGH MATCHES," SAID GRAF, WHO HOPES THAT BACK PROBLEMS DON'T FLARE UP BEFORE THE WEEK CONCLUDES. SHE HAS A FIRST-ROUND ENCOUNTER WITH AMANDA COETZER, WHO HANDED GRAF HER FIRST DEFEAT OF 1995 LAST AUGUST IN THE CANADIAN OPEN. THE WORLD CHAMPION REBOUNDED TO BEAT COETZER IN THE FIRST ROUND AND SELES IN THE FINAL AT THE U.S. OPEN TWO WEEKS LATER. GRAF IS 7-1 AGAINST COETZER.

SPANISH STARS CONCHITA MARTINEZ AND ARANTXA SANCHEZ VICARIO MAY NOT BE AT FULL STRENGTH. MARTINEZ, SEEDED NO. 2, HAS BEEN COMPLAINING OF PAIN FROM A BROKEN FINGERNAIL AND NO. 3 SANCHEZ VICARIO HASN'T PLAYED THIS FALL DUE TO MENTAL FATIGUE.

TODAY'S OPENING-ROUND PROGRAM FEATURES TWO SINGLES, NO. 4-SEEDED PIERCE VS. ANKE HUBER (HUBER LEADS, 3-1) AND NO. 6 KIMIKO DATE VS. JANA NOVOTNA (NOVOTNA, 2-1), SANDWICHED BETWEEN A PAIR OF DOUBLES MATCHES, NO. 1-SEEDED GIGI FERNANDEZ-NATASHA ZVEREVA VS. ZINA GARRISON JACKSON-KATRINA ADAMS AND NO. 2 SANCHEZ VICARIO-NOVOTNA VS. MARTINEZ-PATRICIA TARABINI.

THERE'LL BE AN EARLIER MATCH ON TAP, BUT THAT'S NOT FOR THE FANS. IT WILL BE A QUALIFYING DUEL FOR THE FINAL DOUBLES SPOT, AN AFTERNOON BATTLE BETWEEN THE TANDEMS OF GABRIELA SABATINI-BRENDA SCHULTZ-MCCARTHY AND JULIE HALARD-NATHALIE TAUZIAT.

THE MOST COMPETITIVE FIRST-ROUND SINGLES MATCH WILL PAIR SABATINI AGAINST LINDSAY DAVENPORT IN A REMATCH OF LAST YEAR'S GARDEN FINAL WON BY SABATINI IN STRAIGHT SETS.

TONIGHT'S OPENING CROWD WILL BE TREATED TO SPECIAL APPEARANCES BY FORMER WORLD CHAMPIONS CHRIS EVERT AND NAVRATILOVA, WHO WILL CO-HOST THE WTA TOUR AWARDS CEREMONY. GRAF IS IN LINE TO RECEIVE HER SEVENTH "PLAYER OF THE YEAR" TROPHY, WHILE FERNANDEZ-ZVEREVA SHOOT FOR A THIRD STRAIGHT VICTORY IN THE "DOUBLES TEAM OF THE YEAR" CLASSIFICATION.

TOP PRIZE IS WORTH $500,000 WITH THE RUNNERUP EARNING $250,000. TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL SESSIONS. FOR TICKET INFORMATION, CALL 212-465-6500.
 
#5,879 ·
Woulda thought that some decision-maker type might have gotten the idea that maybe an 11-month playing season was not a good idea.

GARDEN NO EDEN FOR TOP WOMEN
New York Daily News
Monday, November 13, 1995
LUKE CYPHERS

On the women's tennis tour this time of year, everybody hurts.

But with the notable exception of Monica Seles, the top players in the world will drag their weary bones to Madison Square Garden this week, vying for the top spot in the $2-million Corel WTA Tour Championships.

Seles pulled out last week, complaining of knee and ankle problems.

Besides putting a crimp in tomorrow's planned "Welcome Back Monica Night," Seles' injury set the tone for the tourney, the final event of the year.

Much of the rest of the field also is bruised, but unlike Seles, it's unbowed.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf contended with back and foot problems this season, not to mention her father's tax-evasion case in Germany. She even declared Seles the player to beat two weeks ago.

But Graf, the world's No. 1 player, has emerged as the clear favorite this week with Seles out.

Graf did nothing to change that yesterday, beating Lori McNeil, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, to win the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia.

The victory pushed Graf's 1995 record to 44-2, and marked her eighth win in 10 tournaments.

Graf's first-round opponent at the Garden is Amanda Coetzer, who has become a familiar face across the net.

Coetzer, who made it into the field of 16 when Seles dropped out, is one of only two women to beat Graf this year.

The scrappy South African ousted Graf in the second round of the Canadian Open, then gave her a stern test in the first round of the U.S. Open before falling.

Another member of the walking wounded is the No. 2 seed, Conchita Martinez, who hasn't played well since August. She has had some leg problems and got dropped in the quarterfinals in Philly.

Third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario took two months off, citing exhaustion, but may be on the mend. Still, like Martinez, she hasn't played well since Wimbledon.

Even the two players most likely to produce an upset, Chanda Rubin (bad back) and Iva Majoli (pulled stomach muscle), have battled injuries lately.

Fifth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini is hale, hearty and the defending champ, but she has a tough first-round draw, meeting last year's runnerup Lindsay Davenport.

That leaves Mary Pierce, the No. 4 seed. But she, too, has a tough opener, against hard-hitting German Anke Huber.

Though Pierce is rated higher and has made it to the semis here two years running, Huber owns a 3-1 edge in head-to-head competition.

The two promise to trade barrages of heavy baseline strokes all night.

The Pierce-Huber match is the highlight of tonight's action, which features four matches beginning at 5:30.

Sixth-seeded Kimiko Date plays Jana Novotna in the other singles contest, while doubles play features the top-seeded team of Gigi Fernandez and Natalia Zvereva against Zina Garrison-Jackson and Katrina Adams.

The evening also includes the WTA Tour awards presentation, held for the first time at the Garden. Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova will host.
 
#5,880 ·
ODD ARE, GRAF WILL GRAB WTA
New York Daily News
Monday, November 13, 1995
LUKE CYPHERS

Steffi Graf, even: Lower back pain and tax problems can't beat her. With no Seles around, who can?

Mary Pierce, 4-1: Strokes to die for, but frequent brain vacations cost her. And Huber's a tough first-round test.

Gabriela Sabatini, 7-1: Defending champ loves New York, and it loves her. But Graf's on same side of the bracket.

Iva Majoli, 12-1: Young Croatian sensation, if healthy, can call higher ranked foes on the carpet.
 
#5,881 ·
Sabatini, Graf Share Spotlight
Stacy Y. China
Newsday
November 14, 1995

The surface is hardcourt instead of hardwood; David Dinkins, not Spike Lee, has a courtside seat; and Martina Navratilova's banner hangs high over Madison Square Garden. It must be time for the WTA Tour Championships.

This year's event features the top 16 women in the world sans co-No. 1 Monica Seles, who withdrew last week because of a nagging knee injury. Seles won the WTAs (formerly the Virginia Slims Championships) from 1990-1992, beating Navratilova in '91 and '92, and Gabriela Sabatini in 1990.

The tournament provides a healthy dose of drama without her, however, as No. 5 seed Sabatini defends her 1994 crown and No. 1 seed Steffi Graf attempts to break through her professional and personal demons and end her year on an up note.

In addition to nursing an ailing back, Graf also is dealing with the imprisonment of her father, Peter Graf, for tax evasion. Graf was questioned, and her German home was searched, but she has not been threatened with arrest. However, the scandal motivated Corel, lead sponsor of the WTA Championships, to not renew Graf's spokesperson contract [sic]. But despite the outside worries, Graf has won eight titles this year, including the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (she did not play at the Australian Open).

Graf also was the top seed at the WTA championships last year but was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Mary Pierce, 6-4, 6-4. Sabatini will face last year's finalist, Lindsay Davenport, in the first round and Graf will take on Amanda Coetzer. Graf is coming off a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Lori McNeil in the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia Sunday, and will play her first match at the Garden today. She has a 7-1 lifetime edge over Coetzer.

In other matches today, No. 7 seed Magdalena Maleeva will play Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Chanda Rubin will meet No. 8 seed Mary Joe Fernandez. McNeil and Helena Sukova will play Nicole Arendt and Manon Bollegraf in the doubles nightcap.

Sabatini will meet Davenport tomorrow. That's when first-round competition will conclude, with Iva Majoli meeting No. 2 seed Conchita Martinez, Natasha Zvereva playing No. 3 seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Sabatini and Schultz-McCarthy meeting Meredith McGrath and Larisa
Neiland in doubles.

The WTAs kicked off last night with doubles action, as Gigi Fernandez and Zvereva beat Katrina Adams and Zina Garrison-Jackson, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Sabatini and Schultz-McCarthy beat Julia Halard and Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 6-4, in a qualifying match.

Sixth-seeded Kimiko Date needed three sets and two match points before beating Jana Novotna, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Last night's late match provided the tournament's first upset as Anke Huber defeated the fourth-seeded Pierce, 6-2, 6-3, in exactly one hour. "I have beaten [Pierce] three times before," Huber said. "So I went out there feeling confident and Mary Pierce had 28 unforced errors."

It also was awards night at the WTAs, with Navratilova and Chris Evert acting as co-hosts and bringing the crowd of 9,422 alive. Graf was named Player of the Year for the seventh time. "I'm proud of what I've been able to accomplish this year," Graf said in acceptance. "See you later this week, and I hope to perform well for you."

Fernandez and Zvereva were named Doubles Team of the Year, a sophisticated-looking Martina Hingis won Most Impressive Newcomer, and Rubin won Most Improved Player for her No. 13 world ranking. Rubin also accepted the TDI Newcomer's Award earlier in the evening.

Coetzer won the sportsmanship award and Seles was named Comeback Player of the Year. Evert also presented Seles a new award - Most Exciting Player, which was selected by a vote of the fans. "I was looking forward to competing here this year," Seles said as the fans cheered. "I wish I was playing this week, but hopefully, I'll get to play next year."
 
#5,882 ·
AT THE TOP OF HER GAME
The Star-Ledger
Newark, NJ
Tuesday, November 14, 1995
BY AL PICKER

NEW YORK -- STEFFI GRAF HAD A UNIQUE TENNIS SEASON IN 1988.

GRAF JOINED THE SHORT LIST OF PLAYERS WHO SWEPT ALL FOUR GRAND SLAM EVENTS IN A SINGLE YEAR. AND SHE STARTED HER OWN LIST, THE ONLY PLAYER EVER TO WIN THE GRAND SLAM AND ANB OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL IN THE SAME YEAR.

BUT THAT "GOLDEN SLAM," AS IT HAS BECOME KNOWN, DOESN'T COMPARE TO THE 1995 SEASON. WHO SAYS SO? GRAF.

"WINNING IN NEW YORK WOULD BE A VERY NICE ENDING," SAID GRAF, WHO IS THE FAVORITE THIS WEEK IN THE $2 MILLION WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT STARTED LAST NIGHT AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN.

"BUT THIS IS THE BEST YEAR I'VE EVER HAD NO MATTER HOW IT ENDS. WHEN I WON THE GRAND SLAM IN 1988 (THE ONLY OTHER GRAND SLAM WINNERS ARE DON BUDGE, MAUREEN CONNOLLY, MARGARET COURT, AND ROD LAVER, WHO DID IT TWICE), IT WAS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT TIME. THE COMPETITION WAS SO MUCH BETTER THIS TIME.

"UNDER DIFFICULT TIMES AND DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS IS THE BEST YEAR I'VE EVER HAD."

EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE AWARE OF THE PROBLEMS GRAF HAS FACED IN 1995. SHE'S BEEN UNDER HEAVY INTERROGATION FROM GERMAN TAX AUTHORITIES FOR TAX EVASION, CHARGES THAT HAVE GIVEN PETER GRAF, THE BUSINESS MANAGER FOR HIS DAUGHTER, A NEW RESIDENCE FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS -- A JAIL CELL.

AND THERE ARE THE PHYSICAL PROBLEMS.

AT THE START OF THE SEASON, GRAF MISSED THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN DUE TO A LEFT THIGH STRAIN. SEVERE LOWER BACK PAIN COMES AND GOES. GRAF WON SUNDAY IN PHILADELPHIA IN HER FINAL TUNEUP FOR THER WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS, BUT THE MATCH WAS DELAYED SO HER LEFT FOOT COULD BE WRAPPED BECAUSE OF BONE SPURS.

GRAF OPENS HER DRIVE FOR A FOURTH SEASON-ENDING TITLE TONIGHT AGAINST AMANDA COETZER, WHO GOT INTO THE TOURNAMENT THROUGH THE BACK DOOR WHEN MONICA SELES WITHDREW LAST WEEK WITH TENDINTIS IN HER LEFT KNEE.

TO SOFTEN THE BLOW OF THE SELES WITHDRAWAL AFTER THE TOURNAMENT HAD ADVERTISED A WELCOME BACK TRIBUTE SCHEDULED FOR TONIGHT, THE 26-YEAR-OLD GRAF WILL HEADLINE TONIGHT'S PROGRAM AGAINST COETZER. SHE HAS BEATEN COETZER SEVEN TIMES IN EIGHT MEETINGS, BUT THAT ONE LOSS CAME THIS YEAR AFTER GRAF HAD COMPILED 32-0 RECORD.

MARY PIERCE, SEEDED NO. 4, AND KIMIKO DATE, NO. 6, HAD BIG EXPECTATIONS WHEN THEY
HEADED INTO THEIR FIRST-ROUND MATCHES LAST NIGHT. A YEAR AGO, BOTH PLAYERS REACHED THE SEMIFINALS. ONLY DATE ADVANCED LAST NIGHT.

PIERCE, WHO STARTED THE YEAR BY WINNING HER FIRST GRAND SLAM TOURNAMENT AT THE AUSTRALIAN, FINISHED THE SEASON A LOSER, FALLING QUICKLY, 6-2, 6-3 TO ANKE HUBER. THE RESULT WAS NOT THAT MUCH OF A SURPRISE. HUBER, RANKED 12TH, LOST TO PIERCE IN MELBOURNE BUT HAS DOMINATED PIERCE ON CARPET, NOW HAVING WON FOUR STRAIGHT INDOOR MATCHES.

PIERCE HAD KNOCKED OFF GABRIELA SABATINI AND MARTINA NAVRTILOVA IN 1993 AND LAST YEAR OUSTED GRAF. BUT HUBER ATTACKED WELL AND PIERCE'S SHOTS KEPT FLYING OUTSIDE THE LINES AS SHE COMMITTED 28 UNFORCED ERRORS.

DATE MOVED TO HER HIGHEST CAREER RANKING AT NO. 4 BUT MOST OF THE 9,422 FANS AT THE GARDEN PROBABLY FIGURED THAT THE MORE EXPERIENCED JANA NOVOTNA WOULD WALK OFF A WINNER. ESPECIALLY, AFTER NOVOTNA RALLIED TO WIN THE FIRST SET.

BUT THIS WAS NOT GOING TO BE NOVOTNA'S NIGHT. DATE REFUSED TO BE INTIMIDATED BY THE NET-CHARGING NOVOTNA AND BATTLED BACK FOR A 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 VICTORY IN 2 HOURS, 3 MINUTES.

"I LIKE PLAYING IN NEW YORK, IT'S INDOORS AND I CAN CONCENTRATE WELL," SAID DATE, WHO PASSED AND VOLLEYED QUITE WELL. "AFTER THE FIRST SET, I STARTED PLAYING MY MATCH." THAT MEANS SHARP COUNTERPUNCHING.

IT DIDN'T WORK OUT WELL IN THE FIRST SET BUT DATE SQUARED IT IN THE SECOND. IN THE DECISIVE THIRD SET, NOVOTNA'S FORAYS TO THE NET WERE MET WITH FREQUENT DISASTER WITH DATE FORGING THE ONLY BREAK OF THE SET IN THE THIRD GAME.

THE JAPANESE PLAYER, A NATURAL LEFTHANDER WHO HITS RIGHTHANDED AND HAS A BLAZING TWO-FISTED BACKHAND, RIPPED A BACKHAND CROSS-COURT PASSING WINNER FOR A TRIPLE BREAK POINT AND WENT AHEAD, 2-1, ON THE NEXT POINT WHEN NOVOTNA BURIED AN UNFORCED BACKHAND ERROR INTO THE NET.

DATE DROPPED ONLY THREE POINTS ON HER FINAL FOUR SERVICE GAMES. NOVOTNA MADE 12 MORE UNFORCED ERRORS AND DID POORLY ON SECOND SERVE POINTS, WINNING ONLY 16 OF 32. THE VICTORY BY DATE SQUARED THE SERIES AT 2-2.

LAST YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIPS ENDED WITH GABRIELA SABATINI WINNING THE SINGLES TITLE BEFORE A NEAR CAPACITY CROWD. THE TOURNAMENT STARTED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON WITH SABATINI ON THE COURT AND NOBODY IN THE STANDS. BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS PLANNED. IT WAS A QUALIFYING MATCH IN THE DOUBLES COMPETITION.

SABATINI CAME THROUGH WITH A VICTORY, BUT SHE CAN THANK HER PARTNER BRENDA SCHULTZ MCCARTHY, WHO HELD HER SERVE SIX STRAIGHT TIMES. SHE SERVED OUT THE MATCH AT LOVE WITH THE COMBINE OF SABATINI AND SCHULTZ-MCCARTHY EARNING A BERTH IN EIGHT-TEAM DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIPS WITH A 6-4, 6-4 VICTORY OVER FRENCH STARS JULIE HALARD AND NATHALIE TAUZIAT.

BETWEEN THE SINGLES MATCHES, THE CROWD WAS TREATED TO SEEING FOUR WORLD CHAMPIONS ON THE COURT IN NON-PLAYING ROLES. CHRIS EVERT AND MARTINA NAVRATILOVA CO-HOSTED THE COREL WTA TOUR AWARDS CEREMONY.

GRAF WAS NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR AND SELES RECEIVED THE COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR TROPHY. AMONG THE OTHER RECIPIENTS WERE GIGI FERNANDEZ AND NATASHA ZVEREVA (TOP DOUBLES TEAM), CHANDA RUBIN (MOST IMPROVED) AND MARTINA HINGIS (MOST IMPRESSIVE NEWCOMER).
 
#5,883 ·
Tennis: Glum Graf faces test at the Garden
By DAVID MERCER in New York
Guardian
London, England
November 14, 1995

STEFFI GRAF described her dramatic US Open win over the returning Monica Seles as 'a dream - the biggest win I have ever achieved'. Two months later she returns to New York for the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in something of a waking nightmare.

The Madison Square Garden tournament, second only to the Grand Slam events in prestige and importance, should feature the year's top 16 women. It does not: Seles is absent with knee and ankle injuries. Graf should be an overwhelming favourite. She is not: these days there is very little that is certain in the life of the 26-year-old.

A bone spur in her lower back is a constant source of pain, and at Flushing Meadow there started a similar problem in her foot. And then there is the psychological pain of knowing that her father Peter languishes in prison as his - and her - financial affairs come under the closest scrutiny by the German tax authorities.

Not surprisingly, then, Graf says there have been 'a lot of obstacles to climb over and a lot of things that it was difficult to focus on because everything else was coming up'. She has been forced to spend much of the past two months trying to get her business affairs in order. Her time on the practice court has been limited and she has played only two tournaments.

That lack of preparation was all too obvious in Brighton last month when she lost her opening match to Marianne de Swardt, and in Philadelphia last week she had to come from a set down to win her first match against the American Amy Frazier.

Having overcome that hurdle, though, she went on to produce much better form as she claimed her eighth title of the year. She will need to sustain that standard here tonight, for in her first match she faces the only other player to have beaten her this year, Amanda Coetzer.

The diminutive South African beat Graf 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 in the Canadian Open in August, and although that is Coetzer's only victory in their eight matches she came close in the first round of the US Open, taking the first set and only succumbing 6-4 in the third.

Graf has often struggled to produce her best form at the Garden, winning the title here only three times in 1987, 1989 and 1993. Last year, when also short of match practice, she was swept aside in the second round by Mary Pierce, enabling Gabriela Sabatini to go on and take the title.

This tournament, which includes a doubles event and offers a total of Dollars 2 million (pounds 1.25 million) in prize-money, boasts the only five-set singles final in the women's game.

It will take enormous strength, of both body and character, for Graf to end a year of such physical and emotional torment on a winning note. But, of course, the ability to triumph over adversity is precisely the hallmark of the true champion.
 
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