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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:
 
#5,373 ·
Obviously, he had much disappointment ahead of him. And a lot of disappointment behind him.

U.S. Open/SOS from New York: Monica is once and future queen
Houston Chronicle
Tuesday, August 29, 1995
DALE ROBERTSON, Staff

NEW YORK - Players of Monica Seles' stature don't generally feel the need to celebrate perfunctory first-round victories, no matter the significance of a tournament. They don't wave to the fans, or run to their families for hugs and kisses, or ceremoniously fling their towels into a warm, appreciative crowd

Nor do they whip out their own pen to help accommodate the postmatch autograph-seekers.

But Seles' odd circumstances are unique, so she did all of the above Monday night. It was a special evening, a historically significant one, marking as it did her return to Grand Slam tennis after almost 21/2 years spent hiding and, finally, healing.

The physical damage done to her flesh by the lunatic Gunther Parche's knife proved superficial. The mental wounds, however, were anything but, and thus we had come to ponder if Seles could resume being Seles, a woman so overwhelming she won seven of eight Grand Slam titles before Parche, a self-professed Steffi Graf fan, tried to ensure Seles never would win again.

The assumption was she would resume playing eventually. But would she play well?

A convincing exhibition victory over Martina Navratilova plus a merry romp through the Canadian Open field should have established that none of her remarkable tennis skills had been eroded by the ugly events of April 30, 1993. But this 6-3, 6-1 rout of Ruxandra Dragomir, coming as it did in the prime-time glare of the U.S Open's bright lights, confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt her opponents' worst fears.

Go ahead, ladies, by all means send an SOS. Monica is the Same Old Seles.

"She is unbelievable," young Ruxandra said. "I couldn't even imagine she was that good."

Seles is taller and apparently stronger, if not quicker, than before. Conditioning and nerves remain the only variables that might thwart her Open bid. If the rust all scrapes off, if she can get her feet moving just a tad better and find a way to relax, she will extend her Flushing Meadow match winning streak to 21 a week from Saturday.

The Open seems her tournament to lose. No wonder Monica couldn't quit grinning afterward. No wonder she was so reluctant to leave the court. She knows. Believe me, she knows.

In their public comments, meanwhile, the other top women are trying to be supportive, in regard to both her comeback and her special status as the co-No. 1 with Graf.

"I think it is more interesting now," conceded Gabriela Sabatini, who was routed by Seles 6-1, 6-0 in the Canadian Open. "It's exciting for everybody - for the people and for us - so it's really good to see her back."

And from defending U.S. champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who dropped to third seed and is therefore slotted to face Graf in the semifinals: "It makes for more competition. If you want to be the best player, you have to beat everybody. I will be ready."

Brave talk that. Should it be believed? There's no way any of her nominal rivals, Sabatini and Sanchez Vicario included, can be delighted by Seles' return. Before she was 20 years old, Monica had compiled a 78-13 career record at the expense of the other current top-20 women, and Steffi provided six of those defeats.

Among her would-be peers, only Sabatini had beaten Seles more than once. Sanchez Vicario, who prospered hugely in Monica's absence, is 1-12 against her. So psyched by Seles' pending comeback was Arantxa that she let herself get upset twice in successive California tuneups, once in the second round.

Graf, in turn, stumbled in the first round in Toronto, although her father's dire legal straits might be a greater distraction than even Seles' worrisome specter. Factor in a chronic back problem, and you have suspicions Steffi might soon see Seles' return as an excuse for her to take her leave, assuring women's tennis would remain under the thumb of a single player.

Sanchez Vicario has hardly gotten Monica's attention. Ditto Conchita Martinez (0-8), Mary Joe Fernandez (1-15) and Anke Huber (0-5), to name three among many lesser lights.

Seles can come across as ditzy, but after her stabbing, one thing she isn't anymore is naive. She can distinguish her friends from her enemies. And she has a good memory.

"It's like they were supportive of me the day I was stabbed," Seles said the other day. "But by the next Monday in Rome, they were already standing up to take my ranking away. Gabby Sabatini was the only person who thought of me as a human being and not a ranking position to grab.

"By the time I came back, I didn't care if I had the ranking or not. I knew if I played good enough, I'd get there somehow."

She's back, she's already playing well enough, and yes, No. 1 will inevitably become hers once more. We have seen the future, and it's the past. It is Monica.
 
#5,374 ·
Wait... Is that... the CBS play-by-play announcer pulling for Steffi?

Jimmy V Fund golf raises over $400,000
USA TODAY
Tuesday, August 29, 1995

[...]

CBS' Tim Ryan picks Steffi Graf over Monica Seles in the U.S. Open. "With her father's situation, Steffi deserves as much or more sympathy than Monica," he says.

[...]
 
#5,375 ·
"Seles can come across as ditzy, but after her stabbing, one thing she isn't anymore is naive. She can distinguish her friends from her enemies. And she has a good memory.

"It's like they were supportive of me the day I was stabbed," Seles said the other day. "But by the next Monday in Rome, they were already standing up to take my ranking away. Gabby Sabatini was the only person who thought of me as a human being and not a ranking position to grab.
" These monicamaniac articles really make me sick, like Jul14 my favourite sentence "Steffi isn't talking, Monica can't shut up".
 
#5,377 · (Edited)
#5,381 ·
"eing informed by one of the men of Trachis that when the Barbarians discharged their arrows they obscured the light of the sun by the multitude of the arrows, so great was the number of their host, [Dienekes] was not dismayed by this, but making small account of the number of the Medes, he said that their guest from Trachis brought them very good news, for if the Medes obscured the light of the sun, the battle against them would be in the shade and not in the sun."
---- Herodotus, The Histories, 7.226

U.S. OPEN '95; Graf's Struggles Continue in First-Round Victory
ROBIN FINN
The New York Times
August 30, 1995

Her father is in a German prison, arrested for allegedly evading taxes on a heaping helping of the estimated $125 million she has earned ever since she went to work on the tennis court.

Her back has been aching since a burr of a bone spur began digging into her two years ago.

And it was a warped and unwanted fan of hers who stabbed comeback queen Monica Seles 28 months ago.

But the little black cloud that seems to follow top-ranked Steffi Graf wherever she goes lifted slightly yesterday at the United States Open, where the unsmiling three-time champion joined an ebullient defending champion, Andre Agassi, and an inspired two-time champion, Pete Sampras, on the winning side of the first round.

Unlike Graf, who put up a struggle to avoid the unprecedented -- being dumped in the opening round of two consecutive events by the same undersized but overachieving opponent, Amanda Coetzer -- Agassi and Sampras were in control from start to finish.

On a joy ride since winning last year's Open despite being unseeded, Agassi has reached the finals of all nine hardcourt events he has played this year and has won a career-high seven of them, including the Australian Open.

"This last year, needless to say, has been the best year of my career; it all started here, so I kind of step on the court with a lot of great feelings," the No. 1-ranked Las Vegan said yesterday after extending his summer winning streak to 21 matches by stepping all over 121st-ranked Bryan Shelton on the sun-baked stadium court, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

Sampras, who had hobbled away in geriatric form from a five-set, fourth-round loss to Jaime Yzaga at last year's Open, was in far fitter form against another South American, Fernando Meligeni. Like Agassi, Sampras cruised through his match in straight sets, and left the 54th-ranked Brazilian haggard from the heat of defeat after administering him a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 thrashing.

"U.S. Open time is a time where you just let it all hang out," said Sampras, ranked second. "You can't worry about the humidity, the noise, the airplanes, the smell. You just go out and play the tennis, do whatever it takes to try to win. I feel like I've done it before; there's no reason why I can't do it again."

Easy for him to say.

Meanwhile, the beleaguered Graf, already worried about the fate of her father and the state of her back, had to handle yet another imposing psychological and physical hurdle in the petite but potent form of South Africa's Coetzer.

The hard luck of the draw sent the German out for her Open opener against the only woman to beat her in 1995. Coetzer spoiled Graf's 32-0 record in the opening round at Toronto two weeks ago.

Graf later said she only played that event in order to gain some semblance of normal preparation for this one, where a victory would bring her a 17th Grand Slam title and her third for the year.

But avenging her loss to Coetzer turned out to be adequate motivation for yesterday's 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 comeback.

"I have to admit I don't like losing, and I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could," said Graf, who hasn't been able to concentrate on her tennis, or slam in her serve, the way she used to. Yesterday she committed 7 double faults and made 56 unforced errors, evidence of someone with more worries than the normal performance anxiety on the Grand Slam tournament stage.

"I haven't really played a lot, so I definitely lack confidence," admitted Graf, who could face tax penalties of up to $80 million if her father, Peter, to whom she had entrusted her financial affairs, is convicted. Graf has not been permitted to speak to her father since his arrest on Aug. 2 and has hired a Berlin lawyer to represent her in the case.

"I'm trying not to let it affect me," she said, "but obviously at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there."

Coetzer, by contrast, was brimming with concentration and confidence, a condition she traced directly back to her first-ever victory against Graf in Toronto; Coetzer rode that cushion of confidence all the way to the Toronto final before it was flattened by Seles.

"I look at many of the top players with the mentality that I can hurt them a little bit," said Coetzer, who nonetheless was not eager to square off against Graf in the first round.

"It's definitely not the first round I wanted to see," she said in retrospect. "To play either Monica or Steffi is difficult in the very first round." Or any round.

Graf got through yesterday's match the hard way, by forcing herself to muster a comeback from a discouraging first set in which she trailed, 5-2, and saved seven set points in order to force a tie breaker in which she then managed to win just one point.

Six unforced errors from Graf gave the tie breaker to Coetzer, but in the second set, Graf put her forehand into overdrive and methodically pounded Coetzer, who allotted a total of 24 break points against her serve, into submission.

"I was really grinding to win the first set after I had such a comfortable lead," Coetzer said, "and then I started to miss a lot of first serves and she lifted her game up just a little step higher. Maybe the fact that she is a little bit vulnerable and she's not expected to win every match could take some pressure off her."

The only seeded contender to falter in the day session was 13th-seeded Iva Majoli of Croatia, an 18-year-old whose fearless attitude on the court and unfettered giggle beyond it have elicited comparisons to her former countrywoman, the Yugoslavian-born Seles. But Majoli had an off day today, and 70th-ranked Barbara Paulus of Austria was the 6-4, 6-4 beneficiary of Majoli's poorest Open result in four visits.

MATCH POINTS

In other matches, seventh-seeded YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV made good on his vow to trounce JEFF TARANGO, the now-notorious Wimbledon miscreant who's received $63,000 in fines and a pair of suspensions for conduct unbecoming to the game. Kafelnikov prevailed in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4, 7-5. Tarango later referred to himself as "persecuted, used and abused" and continued to take an unrepentant stance toward his Wimbledon walkout, which he blamed on corrupt officiating by the veteran umpire BRUNO REBEUH. Some of the other seeds who made progress: fifth-seeded JANA NOVOTNA and fourth-seeded CONCHITA MARTINEZ advanced in straight sets; 14th-seeded MARY JOE FERNANDEZ rallied to defeat JUDITH WIESNER, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; 11th-seeded ANKE HUBER dismissed YAYUK BASUKI, 6-2, 6-3; 14th-seeded JIM COURIER defeated BERND KARBACHER, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; 15th-seeded TODD MARTIN used 23 aces to down GUY FORGET, 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; 13th-seeded MARC ROSSET came up with a convincing 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 comeback against ANDREA GAUDENZI, the Italian protege of third-ranked THOMAS MUSTER, and unseeded MATS WILANDER, the 1988 champion, hung on against STEVE CAMPBELL, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
 
#5,382 ·
The figures for her earnings are way off, and the conversion from DM to USD was done backwards. Currency conversions and the fact that no one -- probably not even Peter and his adviser(s) -- knew how much money was in question were yet more wrinkles that made understanding the early stages of the tax scandal so difficult.

U.S. OPEN : A Taxing Open
Distracted Graf rallies to beat Coetzer in 3 sets

John Jeansonne
Newsday
August 30, 1995

Taxed again. If it's not the German government that is trying to collect from Steffi Graf lately, it's a first-round opponent such as Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. Two weeks ago Coetzer, ranked No. 22 in the world, upset the No. 1 Graf to begin the Canadian Open. Yesterday,
again facing Graf as the two commenced play in the U.S. Open, Coetzer hurried away to a 5-2 first-set lead before Graf scrambled back to win, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4.

Of course, that just means that Graf now owes another 4,930 deutsche marks to the German feds, or roughly half of the $14,500 she earned by advancing to her second-round match tonight against the wonderfully named Rita Grande of Italy. Graf admitted it: The jailing of her father / agent Peter, for tax evasion back home, and the rumor that Graf herself is being investigated, is affecting her tennis.

"Obviously, at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there," Graf said after Coetzer forced her to play 2 hours and 15 minutes in the mid-day heat. "And, because I haven't really been able to practice much, although that's because of my [chronically injured] back, I definitely lack confidence."

She definitely has added to the daytime-TV show feel to the women's draw, already locked into the dramatic return of Monica Seles. For the top-ranked men yesterday, it was just tennis: No. 1 Andre Agassi over Bryan Shelton of Atlanta, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; No. 2 Pete Sampras over Fernando Meligeni of Brazil, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. And there were no upsets among any seeds except Austria's Barbara Paulus over No. 13 Iva Majoli of Croatia, 6-4, 6-4. Hardly a shocker.

The headline stuff goes back to reports that, of the 170 million marks ($248 million) Graf has earned during her 13-year professional tennis career, her father had filed einkommensteuer erklaerung - an "income tax declaration" similar to a 1040 - on only 10 million marks. Based on those figures, Peter Graf had accounted merely for Graf's $14 million-plus in prize money on the women's tour, entirely skipping the huge amounts earned through endorsements and other related income.

Anyway, while a mentally disturbed unemployed German lathe operator named Gunther Parche, after stabbing Seles in the back two years ago, remains a free man in Germany, Peter Graf was tossed in the hoosegow. And Steffi Graf has been unsettled, not only by that development, but by the attendant poking into her daily life by German reporters and German
photographers, camping outside her home in Germany and her Manhattan apartment.

"It is not a joy to go out and have people in front of your house, that's obvious," Graf said. "I am trying not to really let it affect me. I am doing what I want to do and, you know, I am obviously realizing that people are around my apartment, but I am trying to put it aside. But, yeah, it's been like that the last few weeks."

In a way, the tennis court is a refuge for Graf, even when an improving young player such as the 23-year-old Coetzer is waiting for her. "This is what I really want to do," Graf said of playing tennis, "and this is where, you know, I can get away from a lot of things. It's easy to get on the court."

The fact that Coetzer had just ended Graf's 32-match unbeaten streak at the Canadian tournament didn't faze Graf in the least; in fact, "I liked it" when she saw she had to play Coetzer again, Graf said. Sort of like getting right back on the horse that threw her. And, though Coetzer took the early lead, using her athleticism to run down Graf's groundstrokes and to place some pretty shots just out of Graf's reach, Coetzer's own bills came due late in the first set.

It was a familiar tune: In early-round women's matches, the lesser players have no way to hide behind the cheap points of a powerful serve, the way some of the lesser men occasionally can. "Definitely, I think the people in the top 10 do have one specific weapon and a certain way they can win points against other people," Coetzer said.

Graf had that scorching forehand and a steadier serve, and Coetzer failed to convert the first eight of nine set points. And even after Coetzer at last survived the first set in the tiebreaker, she was trying to talk herself into the belief that she actually could win the match. "It takes a lot of convincing and repeating it over and over," Coetzer admitted.

It helped only a little that Graf said she "was tentative. I haven't played a lot of matches. I lack some confidence and so I was not really relaxed out there." The risk of a flare-up of back spasms, which played a role in Graf's loss to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the championship
final here last year, lately has kept Graf from her usual routines of jogging and weightlifting for cross-training.

She spends more time on stretching exercises and massage treatments and not as much time on the practice court. Still, Graf would not say whether the lurking physical and emotional problems caused her to consider taking the rest of the year off.

"I am playing here," she said. "So let me play here and then make my decisions."

It's the old play-now-pay-later story.
 
#5,383 ·
Hilariously, after Sampras called women's tennis a joke because the top "girls" just curb-stomp their opponents until at least the quarterfinals, Steffi had to battle while he and Andre thrash their first-rounders.

Strain tells on struggling Graf
US OPEN: Women's top seed squeezes through while Andre Agassi's defence of the men's title receives boost

The Independent
London, England
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
John Roberts reports from New York

While Monica Seles, relieved of the 28 months of doubt and depression which followed her stabbing, continues to romp through her comeback matches, Steffi Graf, troubled on and off the court, clings tenuously to her position at the top of the women's game.

Though Seles is the player who speaks of experiencing nerves each time she walks out to play, Graf is the one displaying them. Either that, or the Wimbledon champion has so much else on her mind that her game is being left to take care of itself. Her father/manager, Peter, is under arrest following an investigation by the German tax authorities.

The morning after Seles had revelled in her first match in a Gram Slam championship for two and a half years, sweeping aside the Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir, 6-3, 6-1, in the opening round of the United States Open, Graf struggled to stay in the tournament.

It did not help that she had to face Amanda Coetzer, the only player to have beaten her this year, only a fortnight earlier in the first round of the Canadian Open. Seles marked her return by winning that tournament without dropping a set.

For an hour yesterday it seemed that Coetzer would repeat her success and that Graf would become the first top seed to lose in the first round of the women's singles. Graf recovered to win, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, raising her game to coincide with her South African opponent's loss of nerve.

Coetzer was forced into the first set tie-break after leading 5-2, failing to convert seven set points. She then hit a glorious angled backhand volley to take the opening point of the shoot-out and capitalised on Graf's errors to win it, 7-1, on her ninth set point.

Though the game then began to slip away from the South African, Graf lapsed into errors again when two points from victory, serving at 5-1, 30-15. Coetzer broke twice, only to lose her own serve in the concluding game.

"At certain times I had difficulty concentrating," Graf said. "I haven't really played many matches because of my back and I definitely lack confidence." So Coetzer has noticed. "I feel she definitely does give you a chance to get into the game compared to previous times," she said. In previous times, Graf defeated the South African six times in a row.

Andre Agassi and his chief rival Pete Sampras made an emphatic start to the men's singles. Agassi began the defence of the title with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win against an American compatriot, Bryan Shelton. Sampras defeated Fernando Meligeni, of Brazil, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

Goran Ivanisevic has hobbled out of Agassi's half of the draw, where he was projected to play Boris Becker in the quarter-finals. The Croatian sixth seed, who had not progressed beyond the fourth round in six previous visits, sprained his left ankle when within three games of defeating the New Zealander Brett Steven in straight sets. The injury caused the sixth seed to retire at 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 1-3.

Britain's representation in singles was reduced to one, Oxford's Tim Henman, when Greg Rusedski joined Jeremy Bates and Mark Petchey among the first-round losers. Rusedski made a dismal exit, being defeated 7- 6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 by Joost Winnink, a 24-year-old Dutch qualifier, ranked No 222.

Rusedski's groundstrokes provided flimsy support for his attacking game, and he was particularly worried about an erratic backhand. A stomach bug did not help Rusedski's cause, though his opponent was suffering similar problems.

Jeff Tarango, who is appealing against fines of pounds 42,000, was able to contribute only pounds 6,000 to his fighting fund after losing in the first round to Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the Russian seventh seed, 6-0, 6-4, 7-5.
 
#5,384 ·
Seles sparkles on centre stage - Tennis
Unhappy Graf struggles in rival's shadow at US Open.

The Times
London, England
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Stuart Jones, Tennis Correspondent in New York

A PHRASE which has echoed throughout the interviews that Monica Seles has endured in the past three weeks has gained a broader relevance at the US Open. When asked to compare practising privately at home to competing in public, she has repeatedly likened the two to ''night and day".

The words are applicable to the contrasting entrances made here by the joint-top women's seeds, and not only because of their timing. Seles, having missed ten grand-slam championships, appeared after the sun had set over the spectacular Manhattan skyline on Monday. Steffi Graf came out in the fiery heat of yesterday morning.

Seles breezed through to the second round, but Graf almost did not make it that far. Against Ruxandra Dragomir, Seles dropped four games, one more than her average concession during her triumphant comeback at the Canadian Open, and was on court for a mere 56 minutes.

In that time, Graf had not even reached the halfway stage of her duel with Amanda Coetzer. Although ranked officially as Seles's equal, she looked nothing like it as she veered towards instant dismissal, an ignominy which had not been inflicted on her here since she was making her debut as a 15-year-old in 1984.

Seles, enveloped in the hoop-la for which this rowdy and disorganised event is renowned, admitted to nervous unease, but betrayed not a sign of it amid the incessant noise and movement. Tension was instead emitted by Graf and particularly at the start and finish of her prolonged ordeal.

Dragomir expressed the same sense of helplessness as had all five of Seles's victims, including Coetzer in the final, in Toronto. ''When you hit the ball hard, it comes back even harder," she said after going out 6-3, 6-1. ''She just doesn't give you time to play."

Coetzer detected flaws in Graf and especially in her second service. ''She gives you a chance to get in to the game," she said. ''The fact that she has had a back problem for a long time might have contributed. She is vulnerable and not expecting to win every match."

Coetzer can claim the principle responsibility for lowering the aura of invincibility. Though only 5ft 2in, she brought with her a sizeable psychological advantage. In Toronto, she became the first woman to defeat Graf, the French Open and Wimbledon champion, in 33 matches this year.

Coetzer broke immediately at the beginning of the match, reinforcing the doubts in Graf's already troubled mind. She remains concerned about her back, which requires constant manipulative treatment, and about the fate of her father, who claims to have suffered a heart attack while incarcerated on tax evasion charges.

Graf, conceding seven successive points on her own service, found herself 5-2 down. Her usually reliable forehand was wild, her weaker backhand failed regularly, and her mistakes mounted. Coetzer missed seven set points, the last with a tentative double fault, before reassuming control in the tie-break, which she won 7-1. Graf committed fewer errors during a one-sided second set and was serving for the match when the uncertainty returned. From 5-1, she lost three successive games before edging through, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4. She had toiled for 2 1/4 hours.

The men's singles have already lost two seeds Wayne Ferreira, the No10 from South Africa, and Goran Ivanisevic, the No6 from Croatia, who sprained an ankle and had to retire. Only one of the four British entrants, Tim Henman, survived.

Greg Rusedski, complaining of food poisoning, went out lamentably to Joost Winnink, a qualifier. He was joined on the casualty list by Danny Sapsford and Jeremy Bates, who is unlikely to return here as a competitor.
 
#5,385 ·
Graf Performs a First-Round Exorcism
U.S. Open: Co-No. 1 player beats Coetzer, 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4, to avenge a loss two weeks ago in the Canadian Open.

August 30, 1995
JULIE CART
LOS ANGELES TIMES

NEW YORK — By pounding a tennis ball, Steffi Graf has always been able to cast out any demons that stalk her on the court. Still, troubles are coming at the young German star from all sides now, demons she can't always dismiss.

On Tuesday, in her first-round match at the U.S. Open, Graf expelled her most recent demon, the embarrassing memory of a first-round loss to Amanda Coetzer two weeks ago.

Graf, seeded No. 1, wavered but eventually defeated Coetzer, 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4.

The pairing of Coetzer, ranked No. 22, and Graf, ranked co-No. 1, could not have been seen as a favorable draw for either. Coetzer reached the quarterfinals here last year and had been on a recent tear, having defeated three top-five players. She handed Graf her first loss of the year before losing to Monica Seles in the Canadian Open at Toronto.

Graf was wary of Coetzer's ability but eager to gain retribution.

"I have to admit, I don't particularly like losing," Graf said. "I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could. I knew it was not going to be easy, because I haven't had a lot of matches, but I was definitely looking forward to it."

The top-seeded men advanced easily in first-round matches. Andre Agassi made quick work of Bryan Shelton of Atlanta, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, and Pete Sampras defeated Fernando Meligeni of Brazil, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

The only seeded player who lost is Iva Majoli of Croatia. Austrian Barbara Paulus defeated the No. 13 seeded player, 6-4, 6-4.

In contrast to the smooth advance of Agassi and Sampras, Graf struggled. She looked thin and lacked her characteristic power. She has been bothered by pain from bone spurs in her back and by new revelations about the status of her father, Peter Graf. He is in a German prison, charged with tax evasion by fraudulently filing his daughter's returns.

A few years ago, Graf had to play through her father's humiliating extramarital affair with a "model" who claimed she was carrying his child.

Intensely private, Graf rarely responds to personal questions, but there are more now than ever. On Tuesday, she was asked if her current emotional state was affecting her tennis.

Uncharacteristically, Graf gave a direct answer, then elaborated.

"Yes, it is," she said. "Obviously, at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there because I haven't really been able to practice much, but that is pretty much [because of] my back. I haven't had much time to get in the position that I would like to. So I definitely lack confidence."

Graf admitted that she has been staying in her Manhattan apartment at night because of stakeouts by paparazzi.

"It is not a joy to go out and have people in front of your house; that is obvious," Graf said. "I am trying not to let it affect me. I am doing what I want to do, and I am realizing that people are around my apartment, but I am trying to put it aside. I just do what I want to do."

Graf was asked about a press report this week that said she was being stalked by a woman who was lurking outside her apartment.

"I have no knowledge of that," she said. "All the people I [see] are men."

Coetzer gave Graf fits in the first set, matching her deep ground strokes shot for shot and forcing Graf to go to her unreliable slice backhand. Coetzer took the first set in a tiebreaker but needed nine set points to do it.

Graf righted herself in the second set by breaking Coetzer's serve in the first game and allowing the unseeded player only one game in the set.

Graf closed out the match in the third set, after 2 hours 14 minutes.
 
#5,386 ·
Tough get going at Flushing Meadow
ALAN ATTWOOD
August 30, 1995
The Age

New York, Wednesday.

Step aside kids, here come the champs. One after another they came and went on the Stadium Court: three former US Open winners with six Flushing Meadow titles between them. Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras. They all won, though Graf had to work the hardest.

And then, in the night, two guys who together have won 11 major tournaments: Jim Courier and Mats Wilander. Courier won in four sets; Wilander in five.

If there's a moral, it is this: when the going gets tough, back the player with experience.

But Graf has never experienced a tougher time than this.

For her, a tennis court is now a sanctuary, a refuge from personal problems that threaten to get worse rather than better.

So long as she remains in a tournament she can think about her next match rather than the possibility of her father spending up to 10 years in jail on tax-evasion charges.

Yesterday she prevailed over Amanda Coetzer, but only after enduring two error-strewn streaks that made her look more like a Grand Slam debutante than its leading lady. Agassi and Sampras had few problems progressing to the second round.

Meanwhile, Rennae Stubbs went down to veteran Pam Shriver, making it three strikes and all out for Australia's representatives in the women's singles.

The men fared better. Todd Woodbridge, now Australia's top- ranked male player, defeated Chris Woodruff of the US and Mark Philippoussis advanced to the second round when his Kenyan opponent, Paul Wekesa, retired with a bad back.

Jeff Tarango - whose place in tennis history may rest on his walking off a tennis court during a match instead of anything he achieves on it - wallowed in self-pity after being thrashed by Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Tarango thinks he has been persecuted because of his antics at Wimbledon.

It apparently has not struck him that many think he was lucky to be allowed to play here at all.

Agassi's effort against Bryan Shelton was an exercise in efficiency: 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. He allowed Shelton not a single break-point. His attitude to first-round opponents is that they are people who ''let me get on with the tournament".

One down, six to go.

Sampras also won in straight sets - 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 over Fernando Meligeni of Brazil - but was less impressive than Agassi. In the next round his opponent is Jaime Yzaga, who defeated the defending champion last year.

Indeed, he gave the impression at times of using the match as a practice session; the drill apparently being to fall behind in a game and then get out of trouble with some big serving.

Woodbridge's win continued his consistently good form and a remarkable comeback.

Early in July last year, his ranking had slipped to 191 in the world; he could not even make the fields for the French Open and Wimbledon.

Now he is ranked 37, has a singles title to his name, and is a player reborn. The self-belief that was so lacking in 1994 is back.

Philippoussis was the beneficiary of the third default in the men's event. He led 7-6, 6-0, 1-0 when Wekesa called it quits because of a back injury. This is the first major tournament that Philippoussis has played in without a wildcard.

He'll know he's made the big time if he can make it through to the third round. His likely opponent is Sampras.

Last night, Courier defeated Bernd Karbacher 6-3, 6-4, 3- 6, 6-3 as Wilander, on the adjoining court, took even longer to prevail over Steve Campbell, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
 
#5,387 ·
Maybe the tiger has a toothache, but the tiger also has claws.

Courting Disaster, Graf Rallies
Coetzer Can't Pull Off Another Upset

August 30, 1995
By Philip Hersh
The Chicago Tribune
*
NEW YORK — Everything is a struggle for Steffi Graf now. Coping with the bad back that makes it impossible to practice more than a few minutes. Figuring out how to deal with having her father in jail on charges of not paying taxes on money--tens of millions of dollars--that mostly is hers. Even winning her first-round match in a tennis tournament.

Graf, the world's top-ranked player, seems so burdened by problems it is easy to forget she has a 33-1 record this year, including championships at the French Open and Wimbledon. The impression she leaves is of an athlete so distracted that opponents sense her vulnerability, which Graf makes little attempt to hide.

Those who suggest sport is a microcosm of life can cite as an example Graf's victory Tuesday over Amanda Coetzer of South Africa in the first round of the U.S. Open. The score was 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4, and each time the German seemed to have a grip on the 2-hour-15-minute proceedings, it threatened to slip.

The top two men's seeds, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, won their first-round matches with little sweat, despite bright sunshine and a temperature pushing 100 degrees at playing level in the stadium court. Defending champion Agassi beat Bryan Shelton of Atlanta 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, while Sampras beat Fernando Meligeni of Brazil 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

Coetzer, the 22nd-ranked player in the world, had beaten Graf in the first round of the Canadian Open two weeks ago and led Graf 5-2 in the first set Tuesday. Coetzer might have gone on to a rout had she not wasted six set points and a lot of energy in the eighth and ninth games of a set that she won in a tiebreaker.

As it was, Graf squandered a 5-1 lead in the final set before staggering to victory despite seven double faults, 56 unforced errors (nearly two per game) and a first-serve accuracy of just 57 percent.

"I feel that she does give you a chance to get into the game compared to previous times," Coetzer said.

Graf is, after all, a woman who has had winning streaks of 66, 46, 32 and 32 matches in her 12-year pro career; who did not lose a set during 27 straight matches in 1993 and 1994; who has won 17 Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal.

Yet she has played only two matches since winning her sixth Wimbledon title July 8, both against Coetzer, both made more difficult by her father having been arrested Aug. 2.

Graf did not hedge when asked Tuesday if her current emotional state were affecting her tennis.

"Yes, it is," she said.

"Can you elaborate?"

"Obviously, at certain times, I have difficulty concentrating out there. . . . I haven't really played a lot. So I definitely lack confidence."

Hearing Graf say she lacks confidence is like hearing a tiger say it has a toothache.

"Maybe the fact that she is a little bit vulnerable and not expected to win every single match could take some pressure off her," Coetzer said.

Whatever pain she feels, physical or mental, hasn't dulled Graf's competitiveness. Of her possible final-round confrontation with Monica Seles, the co-top seed in the U.S. Open, Graf said, "I'd love to play her anytime."

Graf admitted that the attention on Seles, playing her first Grand Slam after being stabbed in the back 28 months ago, "gives me a little more freedom." But Graf still can't escape the German media who have camped on the doorstep of her Manhattan apartment since her father's arrest.

German magazines have reported Peter Graf has paid just $8 million of what could be an $80 million tax (and penalties) obligation on the $120 million his daughter has earned during her career.

He is currently in a maximum-security prison in Mannheim, Germany, and Steffi cannot visit or talk with him because of her indirect involvement in the case.

As Boston Globe tennis writer Bud Collins pointed out, there is something strange about a German justice system that has convicted but not jailed Seles' attacker, Guenther Parche, and jailed but not convicted Graf's father.

Having recently agreed to cooperate with German authorities, Peter Graf must present them all requested financial documents by Sept. 15. He could still stand trial and be sentenced to 10 years for tax evasion.

There are no plans to arrest or charge Steffi Graf, but she's spent the last month away from Germany, more at home now in the United States or on a tennis court.

"I think it does help me for a lot of reasons--to put things in perspective and just concentrate on tennis instead of other things," said Graf, who meets 96th-ranked Rita Grande of Italy in the second round.

The problem is Graf's perspective on her problems won't let her just concentrate on tennis. She seems to be courting trouble everywhere.
 
#5,388 ·
GRAF OVERCOMES AN EARLY NEMESIS
AGASSI, SAMPRAS CRUISE TO ROUND 2

The Miami Herald
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
MERI-JO BORZILLERI, Herald Sports Writer

Day 2 at the U.S. Open -- a day of vulnerabilities exposed, nerves and feet scraped raw by the green asphalt.

Steffi Graf began it by escaping Amanda Coetzer -- formerly an opponent, fast becoming a nemesis -- in a first-round match on stadium court. Graf won, 6-7, (7-1), 6-1, 6-4 Tuesday.

Miami's Mary Joe Fernandez, down a set and 4-1, managed to turn it around and defeat Austria's Judith Wiesner, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

It was also a day when the stars came out, albeit briefly. No. 1 seed and defending champion Andre Agassi took 1 hour 21 minutes to defeat 121th-ranked Bryan Shelton, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, in his 1995 debut.

Pete Sampras, the No. 2 seed, took a cue from his rival and took only 1:42 to down 54th-ranked Fernando Meligeni, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4.

Other winners included Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Todd Martin, Lindsay Davenport and Jana Novotna.

Iva Majoli, the 13th seed, was upset by Barbara Paulus, 6-4, 6-4.

Graf threatened to become the first No. 1 seeded woman in tournament history to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open when she trailed in the first set, rallied briefly from 2-5 to force a tiebreaker, then shockingly lost the first six points of the tiebreak en route to dropping the set.

Clearly, this was not the Graf fans know. She admitted her erratic play stems from her father's jailing following his arrest for income tax evasion. Peter Graf is Graf's business manager.

"I am trying not to really let it affect me," said Graf.

Difficult to do when the German press is camped outside your Manhattan apartment.

"I am obviously realizing that people are around my apartment, but I am trying to put it aside," Graf said.

Almost as bad, Graf's balky back is flaring up. Last year, she was up a set against Aranxta Sanchez Vicario in the U.S. Open final before she reinjured it and lost.

Graf said her back isn't to blame for her 56 unforced errors and seven double faults against Coetzer. Her state of mind is.

"I haven't really been able to practice much," said Graf, who suffered her only loss of the year to Coetzer two weeks ago at Toronto. "I definitely lack confidence."

Graf next plays Italy's Rita Grande today. With Mary Pierce and Sanchez Vicario in her half of the draw, Graf's performance Tuesday made people wonder if she'll make the much-anticipated date with Monica Seles in the final.

Coetzer, No. 22 in the world, jumped all over Graf's second serve, mixed up her shots, alternating power with wisely angled puffballs. And when Graf inevitably got on a roll, taking the second set in 27 minutes and leading 5-1 in the third, Coetzer didn't back off.

"She definitely does give you a chance to get into the game," Coetzer said. "I think if I can stay in the points and keep the ball deep, she can't really hurt me that much after the first couple of shots. I think that is her game."

The 14th-seeded Fernandez changed hers to beat Wiesner, whom she defeated en route to the United States' blanking of Austria in the Fed Cup at Aventura in April.

With high-volume basketball announcer Dick Vitale ("All right Mary Joe! Turn it up, Mary Joe!!") rooting from the sidelines of the grandstand court, Fernandez changed gears.

"She took the pace out of the ball and started to lob," Wiesner said. "I didn't know what to do."

Wiesner, ranked No. 26, had to be treated for a blister at 5-4 in the second set.

"The skin rubbed off the side of my foot," she said.

Said Fernandez, who next faces Sabine Hack today: "The minute she got her feet taped, she started making more unforced errors."

Wiesner lost 11 straight games after leading, 6-4, 4-1.

Fernandez's nerves were rubbed raw by an overrule that gave the third game of the second set to her opponent. Fernandez's sideline shot was first declared a winner, then called out, giving Wiesner a 3-0 lead.

"I was like, great, I'm down 3-love now," the usually reserved Fernandez said. "It is a little aggravating when they overrule on a big point. You just wonder what goes through the head when they do that."

Comebacks are nothing new to Fernandez, who completed one of the game's most memorable recoveries when she came back from 1-6, 1-5 down to defeat Gabriela Sabatini at the 1993 French Open.

Tuesday's highlights

(Seeds in parentheses)

* Women: Steffi Graf (1) d. Amanda Coetzer, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4; Mary Joe Fernandez (14) d. Judith Wiesner, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Barbara Paulus d. Iva Majoli (13), 6-4, 6-4; Kimiko Date (7) d. Silke Meier, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2; Jana Novotna (5) d. Sandra Cecchini, 6-2, 6-0.

* Men: Andre Agassi (1) d. Bryan Shelton, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; Pete Sampras (2) d. Fernando Meligeni, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4; Yevgeny Kafelnikov (7) d. Jeff Tarango, 6-0, 6-4, 7-5; Vince Spadea d. Hendrik Dreekman, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Jim Courier (14) d. Bernd Karbacher, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Today's key matches

* Women: Graf (1) vs. Rita Grande; Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (3) vs. Joannette Kruger; Magdalena Maleeva (8) vs. Martina Hingis; Gabriela Sabatini (9) vs. Naoko Kijimuta, Fernandez (14) vs. Sabine Hack.

* Men: Boris Becker (4) vs. Carsten Arriens; Thomas Muster (3) vs. Luke Jensen; Michael Chang (5) vs. Gianluca Pozzi.

TV: 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., USA.
 
#5,389 ·
And of course, just a few short years after Sampras retired, the men's game would get its own version of the Chris 'n' Martina Show; it was called the Roger 'n' Rafa Show!

AGASSI OPENS DEFENSE WITH EASY VICTORY
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
STEVE WILSTEIN, Associated Press

Impervious to aces and immune to scorching heat, defending champion Andre Agassi blazed through the first round of the U.S. Open in 81 minutes Tuesday to push his winning streak to 21 matches.

Agassi, seeded No. 1, shrugged off 15 aces by Bryan Shelton, drilled all the balls he could reach, and turned a potentially tough opponent into just another patsy, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, as courtside temperatures soared into the 90s.

Playing gracefully and with nearly flawless precision from the baseline, Agassi picked up where he left off a year ago when he started his surge to the top of tennis. Shelton accommodated him by spraying 47 unforced errors -- Agassi had only 14 -- and double-faulting nine times while trying too hard to score an upset.

''I am used to that feeling of playing guys who are just playing, in a sense, outside themselves,'' Agassi said, dismissing the pressure of being the top seed at the Open for the first time. ''I don't spend too much time thinking about the ranking very much.''

Agassi rated himself a much better player than he was last year when he came into the Open unseeded and ran through a gantlet of top players.

''I am executing with total confidence,'' he said. ''I have definitely taken my lumps. I have definitely learned my lessons, some of them the hard way. But I guess, ultimately, I have never given up.''

Two-time champion and No. 2 seed Pete Sampras was nearly as efficient in a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fernando Meligeni, an Argentine more at home on clay than on the Open's hardcourts.

But Sampras punched a hole in the notion that all the men's matches are little more than a prelude to an inevitable final between him and Agassi.

''Everyone's assuming that, expecting that, but that's the last thing on my mind,'' Sampras said. ''It would be great to get to the final and play anyone, and it would be special to play Andre. But there's a lot of time between now and next Sunday. I think I'm off to a good start.

''It's not like Martina and Chris. Everybody knew they'd get to the final each week. That's not going to happen in the men's game.''

The women's top seed, Steffi Graf, took nearly an hour longer than Agassi to beat Amanda Coetzer 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4 and avenge a defeat against the scrappy little South African at the Canadian Open two weeks ago.

''I don't particularly like losing,'' said Graf, who succumbed in the first set after fighting off eight set points. ''I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could. I knew it was not going to be easy because I really haven't had a lot of matches.''

Graf acknowledged that her emotional state, shaken by the arrest of her father in Germany on tax evasion charges, was affecting her tennis. Her chronic back problems, which led to her loss in the final last year, also continue to take a toll.

''At certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there,'' she said. ''I haven't really been able to practice much, but that is pretty much my back. I haven't had much time to get in the condition that I would like to. I haven't really played a lot. So I definitely lack confidence.''

Coetzer could see Graf's vulnerability, but wondered whether she might overcome it in time to win a fourth U.S. Open title.

''There is a lot of pressure on her,'' Coetzer said. ''But I felt today, after I won the first set, she started to play a lot looser and go for her shots. Maybe that could take some pressure off her, the fact that she is a little bit vulnerable and she is not expected to win every single match.''

In other women's matches, No. 4 Conchita Martinez beat Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel 6-2, 6-2; No. 5 Jana Novotna routed Sandra Cecchini 6-2, 6-0; No. 7 Kimiko Date took Silke Meier 6-0, 2-6, 6-2; No. 10 Lindsay Davenport defeated Petra Kamstra 6-2, 6-2; No. 11 Anke Huber beat Yayuk Basuki 6-2, 6-3; No. 12 Natasha Zvereva topped Jana Kandarr 6-4, 6-0; No. 13 Iva Majoli lost to Barbara Paulus 6-4, 6-4; No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez downed Judith Weisner 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; and No. 16 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy beat Audra Keller 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).

In men's matches, No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated fiery Jeff Tarango 6-0, 6-4, 7-5; No. 9 Thomas Enqvist edged Marcelo Rios 2-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7); No. 13 Marc Rosset stopped Andrea Gaudenzi 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-0; No. 14 Jim Courier beat Bernd Karbacher 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; and No. 15 Todd Martin beat Guy Forget 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Unseeded Mats Wilander, the 1988 champion, continued his comeback at 31 with a 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Steve Campbell.

Tarango said he can't shake the aftermath of his Wimbledon walkout ''as long as I keep being persecuted.''

Who is persecuting him?

''Want me to get another $60,000 fine?'' he responded. ''I just think that all this is unnecessary. Some people are obviously a lot more powerful than me in tennis, and, you know, that is the way things go.

''So I guess, hurrah for the power.''

The whole affair, he said, has left him emotionally frayed and physically worn.

''I can't sleep,'' he said. ''I am taking two sleeping pills every night and I'm still not getting any sleep, so I don't know what to do. I go to the chiropractor three times a week. He says I'm so stressed out he can't even turn my neck. I don't know what to do.

''I obviously can't go out and play with this mental attitude. So I probably have to decide on whether I'm going to keep playing or not. I love tennis and I can go play in my backyard. I know Courier and Sampras and all my friends will come and play with me in my backyard. I can just practice and play them there. I don't really see what the point is of trying to go out and prove myself if it is not a level playing field.

''I feel like a victim, used and abused.''

QUICK LOOK

Weather: Sunny and warm in afternoon, with temperatures reaching 82 degrees.

Highlights of yesterday's play at the $9.86 million U.S. Open:

Attendance: 21,086 (day), 19,029 (night).

Stat of the Day: Steffi Graf made 56 unforced errors in 30 games and one tiebreaker. She had 30 unforced errors in the first set, which she lost 7-6.

Quote Of The Day: ''Last year I wanted to (win), and this year, if I do it again, it will feel like the first. It is because it is that important." - defending champion Andre Agassi.
 
#5,390 ·
AGASSI CRUSHES HIS FIRST-ROUND OPPONENT
The Columbian
Vancouver, WA
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Top seeds Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf both did what they were supposed to do -- advance to the second round of the U.S. Open. They did it in dramatically different fashion Tuesday.

Agassi carved up Bryan Shelton 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, while Graf struggled mightily before getting by Amanda Coetzer 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4.

There are two ways to look at their contrasting matches. Graf liked the idea of an early struggle. Agassi will take a cakewalk whenever he can get one.

"Having to play a tough player in the first round and to have been in a position to have to play key points and to have that behind me, will definitely help me," Graf said.

Agassi was asked about the ideal first-round opponent. "Somebody that is just going to let me get on with the tournament," he said. "I don't want to play my best tennis in the first week, in the first match."

Graf certainly didn't do that.

She was pleased at the idea of a quick rematch with Coetzer, who knocked her off in her first match at the Canadian Open two weeks ago.

"I don't particularly like losing, and I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could," Graf said.

Graf looked shaky, just as she had in Toronto, and distracted. She remains troubled by her father's tax problems, a cranky back and an inconsistent game.

Still, she won, and that was the most important part of the equation. The same applied to Agassi. He never had any problems with Shelton, whose resume includes some impressive upsets, including No. 2 Michael Stich at Wimbledon a year ago.

Also on Tuesday, No. 2 seed Pete Sampras defeated Brazilian Fernando Meligeni, and Jim Courier, seeded 14th, got past Bernd Karbacher of Germany.

In early matches today, 14-year-old Martina Hingis, considered a future star on the women's tour, showed why when she defeated eighth-seeded Magdalena Maleeva 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Also posting an early second-round victory was sixth-seeded Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-0 over Tatyana Jecmenica of Yugoslavia.

In a first-round men's match, No. 8 Michael Stich stopped Spain's Javier Sanchez 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.

The statistics of the opening matches played by the two top seeds are revealing.

Both went three sets. Graf made 56 unforced errors, 30 of them in the set she lost. Agassi had 14 unforced errors. Graf committed five double faults in the first set. Agassi had six in his entire match.

Graf converted only nine of 24 break point opportunities, just 38 percent. Agassi had 10 break chances and cashed in on six of them for 60 percent. The other difference was the way they had won, Graf with difficulty and Agassi on cruise control. It could be a tipoff to the rest of the tournament.
 
#5,391 ·
Variant article.

Agassi wins; so does Graf
The Kansas City Star
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- They took different routes -- Andre Agassi breezed, Steffi Graf struggled -- but the No. 1 seeds grabbed their expected second-round spots today at the U.S. Open.

Graf sputtered for one set before getting her game into gear and defeating giant-killer Amanda Coetzer 6-7, (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 in a grudge match.

Agassi then made quick work of Bryan Shelton 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in his debut as defending champion of America's premier tennis event. His three-set romp took only 1 hour, 21 minutes -- about an hour less than Graf needed in her first-round victory.

''I have to admit because I don't particularly like losing, I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could,'' Graf said of Coetzer, who upset Graf in her opening round match at the Canadian Open two weeks ago.

''I knew it was not going to be easy because I really haven't had a lot of matches, but I definitely was looking forward to it.''

Shelton has won two tournaments in his career - both on grass at Newport, R.I. - while Agassi has won six tournaments this year.

Shelton hit 15 aces to only three for Agassi, but he had 47 unforced errors to Agassi's 14. And Agassi won 93 points to Shelton's 64 in a bland Louis Armstrong Stadium match.

The same wasn't true of the Graf-Coetzer battle.

At first, it appeared Graf, her game uncharacteristically filled with unforced errors, would tumble again. But Coetzer also was a bundle of errors and needed nine set points to take the lead.

The match was exactly one hour old and Graf was in danger of becoming the first No. 1 seeded woman to fall in the first round since seedings began in 1922.

''I was really grinding to win that first set after I had such a comfortable lead,'' Coetzer said. ''I started to miss a lot of first serves at that stage.''

But Graf found the range on her groundstrokes, especially her big forehand, and Coetzer began to hit more errors than winners. Graf, a three-time U.S. Open champion, ripped through the second set and appeared to be in high gear as she took a 5-1 lead in the third.

Coetzer, however, wasn't finished. In a show of determination and baseline tennis, she fought back, moving Graf from side to side, changing speeds and spins. Three straight games Coetzer won, pulling to 4-5.

''I tried to mix up my game a little bit and she started to miss a few,'' Coetzer said of her third-set rally. ''From previous times that I have played her, I have known that she does give you a chance when she is ahead. She does give you a bit of a gap to get back into it.''

It was Graf who finally prevailed, closing it out on her second match point. But Coetzer had kept her on the court for 2 hours, 15 minutes -- usually a week's worth of matches for the German right-hander.

One seeded player did fall. Austrian Barbara Paulus eliminated No. 13 Iva Majoli of Croatia 6-4, 6-4.

In other matches involving seeded players today, No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Jeff Tarango, playing in his first match since being defaulted at Wimbledon, 6-0, 6-4, 7-5 and No. 13 Marc Rosset of Switzerland stopped Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-0.

In the women's singles, No. 11 Anke Huber beat Yayuk Basuki 6-2, 6-3; No. 12 Natasha Zvereva stopped Jana Kandarr 6-4, 6-0; No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez defeated Judith Wiesner 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; and No. 16 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy outlasted Audra Keller 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).
 
#5,392 ·
GRAF NEEDS THREE SETS TO AVENGE LOSS TO COETZER
San Jose Mercury News
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Mercury News Wire Services

First-round matches aren't supposed to be this tough for a top seed, but lately everything has been a burden for Steffi Graf.

Distracted by her father's tax troubles, a cranky back and an inconsistent game, she has been struggling mightily. It showed Tuesday at the U.S. Open when she survived a scare before defeating Amanda Coetzer 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4.

It was Coetzer who dumped Graf out of the Canadian Open in her first match at that tournament two weeks ago. So what did Graf think when she drew Coetzer in the first round of the Open?

''I liked it,'' she said. ''I don't particularly like losing and I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could. I knew it was not going to be easy because I haven't had a lot of matches, but I definitely was looking forward to it.''

She sure didn't start out that way, nearly drowning in a flood of 30 unforced errors and five double faults. She trailed 2-5 but rallied to force a tie-breaker before losing it 7-1.

Even though she dropped the set, the comeback in which she avoided eight set points seemed to energize Graf and she battled her way back to the victory. It was a good thing. Had she lost, she would have been the first No. 1-seeded woman to get bounced in the first round since the seeding system started in 1922.

''I was tentative,'' Graf said. ''I haven't really played a lot of matches. I do lack some confidence and so I was not really relaxed out there. I just needed my time to get really into the match and she started very well so it was a combination of both. She was playing aggressive and I was making a little bit more mistakes than usual.''

Coetzer couldn't take advantage.

"I was really grinding to win that first set after I had such a comfortable lead," she said. "I started to miss a lot of first serves at that stage."

Even when Graf had Coetzer cornered, sitting on a 5-1 lead in the third set, she dropped the next three games before finishing off the victory.

So how will Graf fare against stiffer competition?

''I can't really predict,'' Coetzer said. ''It is a very tough field. There is a lot of pressure on her, too. But I felt after I won the first set, she started to play a lot looser and she started to go for her shots.

''So maybe that could take some pressure off her, the fact that she is a little bit vulnerable.''

AGASSI, SAMPRAS ADVANCE: Andre Agassi looked as if he should be sprawled in a lawn chair, sipping a lemonade - or a beer. His long, broadly striped brown and white shirt over black shorts gives him the laid-back appearance of the host at a backyard barbecue.

''Andre is oozing confidence,'' said No. 2 seed Pete Sampras. ''He's going to be extremely tough to catch.''

Bryan Shelton, the 121st-ranked player in the world, found that out, as Agassi dispatched him 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

''I don't spend too much time thinking about the ranking or the pressure,'' Agassi said. ''I just kind of want to win tournaments. That's it.

''I look at Pete as the guy I have to worry about the most. But it's nice to know he's out there, because to me, Pete plays the game of the future. He pushes me more than anyone else. He forces me to be better, to be stronger.''

Sampras, who beat Fernando Meligeni 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, is cautious when asked if it's a foregone conclusion that he'll face Agassi in the final.

''I'm healthy,'' he said. ''My feet aren't in the bad shape they were last year when I couldn't compete. . . . I know if I win the Open that will give me two majors in one season and that will be the best year of my career. And I know everyone is assuming that it will be Andre and me in the finals. Everyone is expecting that.

''But our rivalry is a little out of control. Everyone is talking about it, but it isn't like Martina (Navratilova) and Chris (Evert), where we're meeting every match. There are a lot of guys out there who are very focused on beating us and a lot of guys out there who have beaten us.''

BRUGUERA SEEKS HELP: As a two-time French Open champion, Sergi Bruguera has established himself as one of the world's best clay-court players.

But in a bid to excel on the U.S. Open's hardcourts, the Spaniard has turned to John McEnroe for help.

''I asked him because I thought it was a good idea to improve my game on this surface that I have trouble playing on,'' Bruguera said of hooking up with the four-time U.S. Open champion for coaching help last week. ''On clay I know everything.''

Bruguera defeated Johan Van Herck 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. McEnroe watched the match and offered encouragement.

McEnroe said he is not attempting to completely transform Bruguera's baseline game.
 
#5,393 ·
Headline unavailable
USA TODAY
Tuesday, August 29, 1995
MIKE DELNAGRO; CECIL HARRIS, Gannett News Service

Pete Sampras in a tennis tournament is like a boulder rolling down a hill. He starts slowly but watch out near the end.

But Sampras started much faster than usual Tuesday at the U.S. Open. The No. 2 seed steamrollered Fernando Meligeni of Brazil, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 in only an hour and 42 minutes to advance to the second round.

No. 1 seed Andre Agassi advanced even quicker, pounding Bryan Shelton 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 21 minutes.

While top seed Steffi Graf advanced on the women's side, Agassi and Sampras each took his first step toward an Open championship match everyone - er, almost everyone - is hoping for.

"There are a lot of great players here," Agassi said. "There are 126 other guys who do not want to see me and Pete play in the finals."

Between them, Sampras and Agassi have won the last four Wimbledons, the last two Australian Opens, and three of the last five U.S. Opens.

Like every major tournament, the U.S. Open wants Sampras and Agassi in the finals. Each must win five more matches to get there.

"I look at Pete like if he is playing his best tennis, he is the guy I've got to worry about most," Agassi said. "I feel like Pete plays the game of the future, so to speak. He pushes me to play better, to play stronger. And any time you have that, I think it is good for the game."

"This rivalry has been talked about and the hype is extreme," Sampras said. "Sure, it would be great to get to the final - playing anyone. There is a lot of tennis yet to be played before we get to next Sunday. These guys are out to beat us. They are not just going to hand the final over to Andre and Pete."

Agassi was the epitome of efficiency against Shelton, converting six of 10 break-point opportunities. Shelton took him to break point three times but never converted.

Sampras pounded Meligeni mainly with his superior serve, scoring 42 of a possible 50 points on first serves (84 percent). He boomed serves as fast as 119 mph.

The victory improved Sampras' lifetime record in U.S. Open matches to 31-5. It is the highest win percentage (.861) of any male in 27 years of the open era. Second highest is Jimmy Connors: 98-17, an .852 mark.

Interestingly, Agassi's career match record here is only 28-8 (.777). But it took him until just over a year ago to begin living up to his vast abilities.

Agassi next faces Alex Corretja of Spain, ranked No. 28 in the world.

Sampras' next foe is Jamie Ygaza of Peru, who upset him in the fourth round of the Open last year.

Graf struggled to overcome Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4.

The three-time champion admits to being troubled by the jailing of her father Peter on tax evasion charges in Germany and by a chronically sore back.

"At certain times, I have trouble concentrating out there," said Graf, who had 30 unforced errors and five double faults in the first set. "I haven't been able to concentrate as much because of my back. I definitely lack confidence."

Graf will face 96th-ranked Rita Grande of Italy in the second round.

The 26-year-old champion required a half-hour of back treatment after her match.

She said she watched second-seeded Monica Seles win her first-round match Monday night and was impressed.

"She looked really good out there, not making a lot of mistakes, really going for her shots," Graf said. "I'd love to play her anytime. I think it's great to see her back."

Seles, who is in the opposite bracket, meets 113th-ranked Erika de Lone in the second round.
 
#5,394 ·
Despite distractions, Graf avenges loss to Coetzer
USA TODAY
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Doug Smith

NEW YORK - Steffi Graf holds the 1995 Wimbledon and French Open titles, has a 33-1 record this year and should have arrived at the U.S. Open in a best-of-times mood.

But with a chronic sore back and her father, Peter, still in a German jail on tax evasion charges, the 26-year-old star faces the worst of times.

Has she talked to her father since his arrest four weeks ago?

"No,' she said Tuesday.

Has there been a change in his status or health?

"I don't want to talk about it," she said.

Top seed Graf set aside her personal woes long enough to beat Amanda Coetzer 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 in 2 hours, 15 minutes in the U.S. Open first round. Coetzer handed Graf her only loss of the year two weeks ago at the du Maurier Ltd. Open in Toronto. Graf was eager to avenge that lone loss.

"I like it, I have to admit, because I don't particularly like losing," she said. "I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could."

She showed flashes of brilliance, but too often she had lapses and played like someone with a worried mind. She committed 56 unforced errors and had seven double faults.

"Obviously, at certain times, I have difficulty concentrating out there," Graf said. "I haven't really been able to practice much, but that is pretty much my back. So I definitely lack confidence."

Graf leads the series 6-1, but Coetzer found soft spots in Graf's game.

"She does give you a chance to get into the match compared to previous times," Coetzer said. "But I've really improved my game and that's a factor, too."

Graf stumbled early, losing her serve in the opening game on two forehand errors and two double faults. Coetzer led 5-2, thanks mostly to a slew of Graf's unforced errors.

The first set lasted an hour, which is longer than each of Monica Seles' matches since Seles returned two weeks ago.

Graf says she isn't bothered by the media's interest in Seles' comeback.

"She deserves the attention that she is getting," Graf said. "I'd love to play her, and it is great to see her back. Hopefully, we will meet up sometime."

But if they don't meet in the U.S. Open final, Graf hinted they might not meet at all this year. Despite her calm and controlled demeanor, she admits that the sore back and her father's arrest is taking its toll.

Will she leave the WTA TOUR after the U.S. Open?

"It is taking me a lot of energy to get ready for this tournament, and I will see what I do afterwards," she said. "It is still a challenge to me to be out there, and I think it does help me for a lot of reasons, to put things into perspective and just concentrate on tennis (rather) than other things."
 
#5,395 ·
GRAF EVADES LOSS
REMATCH GIVES NERVES AN AUDIT

New York Daily News
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
LUKE CYPHERS

Steffi Graf is not all there, but she's still here.

Graf awoke from a recurring bad dream at the U.S. Open yesterday in time to avoid a second straight first-round loss to unseeded Amanda Coetzer.

Struggling with her serve and state of mind, the women's top seed managed to grind out a 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 victory over Coetzer, who upset Graf two weeks ago in the first round of the Canadian Open.

Graf, once unbeatable at Flushing Meadows, was a far cry from her old self yesterday on the Stadium Court.

"I definitely lack confidence," the three-time Open champ said.

Graf, who shares the WTA's top ranking with Monica Seles, admitted chronic back problems, her father's arrest for tax evasion and the resultant hounding by the German media have taken a toll on her tennis.

"At certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there," she said. "I haven't had much time to get in the position that I would like to."

Coetzer, the only woman to beat Graf this year, seemed in perfect position for a second-straight stunner. The 5-2 South African capitalized on Graf's frequent early errors, breaking service three times and taking a 5-2 lead.

Graf double-faulted five times in the set and rarely landed a first serve, the weapon that sets her apart from the rest of the field.

Instead of Graf's usual 105-mph scorchers, Coetzer only had to deal with 80-mph second serves shots Seles would devour.

"Today I just started off not finding the right rhythm and really not going through the motions," Graf said. "It is far from my usual good serve."

Luckily for Graf, Coetzer's serve was equally feeble. Coetzer blew three set points serving for the set at 5-2, and got broken again at 5-4.

Coetzer held on to win the tiebreaker but had squandered eight set points and some valuable energy.

"I think that might have helped me early in the second set, which was a crucial stage," Coetzer said.

Graf dominated there, but in the third set, she struggled again. Coetzer closed within 5-4 after trailing 5-1.

The woman who once dispatched early-round opponents in 30 minutes took two hours, 15 minutes to beat Coetzer.

"She definitely does give you a chance to get into the game, compared to previous times," Coetzer said.

Still, Graf felt good about surviving and advancing, and was glad to get back on the horse against Coetzer.

"Actually, I liked it, I have to admit," said Graf, who tonight faces Rita Grande. "I don't particularly like losing, and I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could."
 
#5,396 ·
Again, it's a tabloid. The only Anglophone press who really carried the flag for Monica Mania were the New York Daily News, Dale Robertson of the Houston Chronicle, and Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle (and he never was nasty with Steffi or the other players). The rest of them at least admired her resolve to play through or called for sympathy for her circumstances, if not rooted for her. Despite whatever the NYDN said, the vast majority of the fans, even the peripheral ones and newbies brought in by Monica Mania, wanted to see a Graf-Seles final.

STOLEN FROM STEF IS SOMETHING SHE NEVER HAD
New York Daily News
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
IAN O'CONNOR

AS SHE negotiated the 70-yard walk from stadium to sanctuary, as she deked her way through the designer-shade masses, the woman cloaked by untucked shirt and unkempt hair turned a few heads, raised a few brows. Mostly, Steffi Graf 's post-match, post-interview march past the concession stands went unnoticed. She was not the one they came to watch. Never has been, never will be.

Sandwiched between Monica Seles' romp in the lights and Andre Agassi's fun in the sun was the late-morning appearance of Graf, a three-time United States Open champion who, through expression and circumstance, stirs a singular thought: Nobody wants to see her make it four.

Graf is the stone-faced conqueror. Graf is the daughter of an alleged tax cheat. Graf is the wicked witch in a two-week fairy tale, the one who can steal away the best story in sports.

Which is why the loudest noise inside Louis Armstrong Stadium yesterday, before Agassi again revealed himself in rebel attire -- Charlie Brown shirt, Fab Five shorts -- was heard when Amanda Coetzer, the bouncy South African who dismissed Graf in Canada, threatened to advance Monicamania. When Coetzer failed on seven set points in the first, the crowd failed with her. When Coetzer won a tiebreaker, the crowd won with her. When Coetzer surged from behind in the third and final set, the crowd surged with her.

When Graf finally prevailed on a smash at the net, the crowd groaned. The applause was forced and short. Some waited for Agassi. Others went to check Seles' practice schedule.

"It's great to see (Monica) playing and I think she should get the attention," Graf said. "I think it has been tough for her to come back and seeing her win in Toronto and coming here, I think that's great. . . . I have no problems with it. I think it gives me a bit more freedom."

She could use the space. Graf's father, Peter, stands accused of cheating the German government out of its share of his daughter's millions. While Graf fanatic and Seles attacker Gunther Parche walks free, Peter is held in a state prison "Where they have killers and everything," said one German journalist. Steffi has denied any wrongdoing. She has hired a lawyer, anyway.

Graf has also had to deal with her uneasy role in the Seles revival. Parche stabbed Seles to restore Graf as the world's top-ranked player, a grisly mission accomplished. When the debate over Seles' ranking grew hot, Graf agreed that Monica deserved a share of the No. 1 ranking, yet argued that she should be forced to preserve it on the court.

Fair or unfair, this claim did little to soften Graf's image. Seles telling everybody that Gaby Sabatini was the only player who stood up for her during her absence didn't help, either.

To further complicate matters here, Graf is not frightening the field. Her game is ailing, her back is aching, her confidence is cracking.

"Obviously, at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there," Graf said. "I haven't had much time to get in the position that I would like. I haven't really played a lot, so I definitely lack confidence."

Graf knew the tax man was checking on her father when she won the French, and she knew her father was about to be arrested when she won Wimbledon. She is not likely to complete the trifecta. Asked in a TV interview if she felt she could -- not would, just could -- win the Open, Graf danced. She has played two matches since Wimbledon, both against Coetzer, both without a show of the old arrogance.

Although she denied a report placing a female stalker outside her Manhattan apartment, Graf said she has been staked out overseas by an army of notebooks and cameras. The German media, which couldn't get enough of Peter Graf's extramarital affair with a model, is back on the scent.

We have our Tysons and Strawberrys. They have their Grafs.

"I'm trying not to really let it affect me," Graf said. "When I get on the court, I think about the tennis at that point, so there is no secret on how to be mentally tough."

SELES HAS PROVEN as much. She beat the trauma, escaped the black hole, won back her identity and game. Graf has 17 Grand Slam titles, yet she will have something to prove if Seles is waiting for her at the end of this Open.

"I saw her (Monday night) for the first time playing a match," Graf said. "I saw a couple of games of that and she looked really good out there, not making a lot of mistakes, really going for her shots. . . . I'd love to play her any time. I think it's great to see her back and hopefully we will meet up sometime."

If they do meet in 10 days, the United States Open will have its own idea of a perfect ending. Graf deserves better, but the people want their fairy tale.

Monica Seles, through valor and charm, is the one who can give it to them. Steffi Graf, through expression and circumstance, is the one who can take it away.
 
#5,397 ·
I have never figured out if his hatred of Steffi was all his own or if he was just a mouthpiece for someone or trying to earn someone's favor.

Sports world has its own tales from the dark side
Houston Chronicle
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
DALE ROBERTSON, Staff

YOU know, this sports business can be pretty depressing sometimes and I'm not necessarily talking about the winning-and-losing part, either.

Although it should be noted that part can get pretty depressing, too, especially when your once high-flying baseball team drops 11 in a row and your football team - for the time being anyway -looks imminently capable of dropping them all.

But the insidious malaise runs deeper than mere scores and standings. Every time I've turned around of late, I've been reminded how rotten things can be in the very real world of jockdom.

Take Monica Seles, for example. Her return to Stadium Court at the U.S. Open on Monday night provided an exhilarating rush, until you were reminded why such a nothing first-round pairing was so special. The best woman tennis player in the world, an eccentric but unfailingly sweet person, had dropped from sight for more than two years because some sicko had stuck a knife in her back during a match.

And, despite two trials, the idiot who did it never went to jail. He freely walks the German streets today. And, ominously, he still sends love letters to Steffi Graf , the object of his sick affection.

Speaking of Steffi, how about her daddy? Peter Graf sits in a German jail because he, oops, apparently forget to pay taxes on $25 million of his pride-and-joy's winnings. Graf herself might soon have to answer to the authorities as well.

I mean, it was her money.

Then we had the Spring Little Leaguers. What a heartwarming story -provided free of charge by as nice a bunch of kids as you will ever meet -that would prove to be. Well, until the end that is, when the system failed them and an adult, one of the players' fathers no less, tried to sully their fairy tale.

The guy got himself busted for stealing medicine from the manager of the Williamsport motel where he was staying. How could he do that to his son? I don't care what problems the man had. What was he thinking? It's unfathomable.

So too is any notion the Taiwanese are playing by the same rules as the American teams that fight their way to Williamsport. The disparities in the players' physiques and ability levels can't be ignored. I don't know what the answer is, but I do know the kind of championship-game rout that Spring incurred proves nothing and benefits no one, the winners included.

There's one more disturbing sidebar to the story I need to mention as well. You probably read where the Astros' Craig Biggio faxed a note of encouragement to the Northwest 45 second baseman, Daniel Grotte, after being told he was Grotte's hero. This says everything you need to know about the kind of classy guy Biggio is.

But, when an attempt was made to contact a star player on another team to do the same for one of Grotte's teammates, that effort was rudely rebuffed.

"------- just doesn't do that kind of thing," a club official said curtly.

Oh.

In the player's defense, I have no evidence he got word of the request, and I strongly suspect he didn't. If you're wondering why I don't mention names here, it's not to protect the guilty but to protect the innocent, the boy who thinks the sun rises and sets on the prominent, popular athlete in question.

The same player, by the way, was featured in a full-page ad in the Little League World Series program.

And major-league baseball wonders why it's in trouble . . .

Anyway, back to New York. I ran into a Houston newsman at breakfast Monday. He was in town to cover the Oilers' hearing with NFL officials over the cancellation of the San Diego preseason game, one of the more bizarre occurrences in local sports history.

The story, of course, is part of a much larger one, that being Bud Adams' efforts to free himself from Houston's horrid shackles because we didn't roll over and buy him a new stadium at public expense. It's safe to assume Bud's representatives used the 41/2hours spent sequestered in the league's chambers assailing the Astrodome as an unsuitable place to play and making their Nashville ploy sound righteous.

A dangerous field? Seriously, could the Dome's floor have been any more treacherous than San Francisco's eternal mudpit or the Cleveland ice rink in December?

Shortly thereafter, I bumped into another colleague on the street. He was headed in a different direction, down the street to the NBA's headquarters to interview commissioner David Stern about his league's suicidal labor crisis.

What seemed a nearly perfect partnership between basketball's owners and players is dissolving into a repeat of the hockey and baseball fiascoes. The rich get richer, but also inexplicably stupider.

And the rest of us get just a little bit more fed up with each passing day. Weren't sports intended to be an escape from everything they have become.
 
#5,398 ·
Always conveniently forgotten is the fact that Parche spent 5 or 6 months in jail before his trial, too.

Graf, Tarango Suffer Common Grief at Open
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
BRUCE JENKINS

THE U.S. Open tennis tournament strikes many as a delightful little slice of excess, where a double-fault or a $17 sandwich is about the worst thing that can happen. For a lot of the players, and those fans in their absurd designer tennis outfits, that's pretty much the case.

For two players, this is a week of legitimate grief. Perhaps you've never heard Steffi Graf and Jeff Tarango mentioned in the same context, but lately they are bonded in torment.

Graf managed to survive a perilous situation and defeat South Africa's Amanda Coetzer, 6-7, 6-1, 6-4, so the problems with her back and her father's incarceration were temporarily assuaged. Tarango was blown off the court by the impressive Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-0, 6-4, 7-5, and then proceeded to demonstrate that he is a frustrated, confused and probably deluded individual.

One couldn't help but feel sympathy for Tarango as he sat there at his postmatch news conference, looking completely frazzled. ''I have probably slept two hours in the last week,'' he said, eyes darting uncomfortably about the room. ''I am completely exhausted and devastated from this whole thing. I just . . . I can barely maintain, to be honest.''

The punishment came down hard on Tarango for his incident at Wimbledon, and it came from many fronts. He was fined by the All England Club, the International Tennis Federation and the Association of Tennis Professionals, to the tune of $63,756. He was suspended from two Grand Slams: the next Wimbledon, and whichever Slam (mostly likely the Australian Open) falls after his appeal process is complete. He was also suspended from three weeks of ATP tour play.

Such is the price for questioning the integrity of a tennis official -- well-regarded international chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh -- at the world's most prestigious tournament, then having your wife slap that official on the head for good measure.

Incredibly, Tarango can't understand any of the sanctions. He doesn't believe he should have been reprimanded in any way. ''I think if everybody looked over the facts, they'd see things the way I do,'' he said. ''I think everybody that is sane sees what's going on. Would I do things differently if I had the chance? No. Then I'd be like the rest of the people, just getting pushed around all the time.''

The general public probably sees Tarango as a fabulously rich tennis player who can afford to appeal the fines and suspensions to the point of satisfaction. Dead wrong, says Jeff. ''I don't know how much longer I can fight it,'' he said. ''I mean, if I want to mount $200,000 in lawyer bills, I could probably win, but what's the point? I don't have that kind of money. I have $100,000 in expenses a year, and I've got 40 percent taxes, and then these people take $63,000. It is nothing to them. But it's a lot to me, and it hurts.''

Tarango didn't figure to beat the 7th-seeded Kafelnikov under any circumstances, but he had no chance this week. ''I just can't sleep,'' he said. ''I mean, I'm taking two sleeping pills every night and nothing happens. I don't know what to do. I go to a chiropractor three times a week, and he says I'm so stressed out he can't even turn my neck. I am trying to collect some kind of sanity, and it's just not working.''

For Graf, one of the world's most talented and accomplished athletes, the tennis court is a sanctuary. In her way, she shares Tarango's pain. But when she steps on the court, she can draw on the experience of 17 Grand Slam titles and untold magnificence in pressure situations.

Consider for a moment the way the justice system works in her native Germany. Her father, Peter, has been jailed on the suspicion of tax evasion. There has been no conviction, but he goes straight to the slammer. And Guenther Parche, who stabbed Monica Seles in Hamburg with the apparent intent of murder, walks free.

Graf had a 32-0 match record for 1995 before the tax issue surfaced. Going into yesterday's match, she was 0-1 in its wake, a loss to Coetzer in Toronto. And there was the relentless Coetzer again yesterday, forging nine set points in the first set before storming to an easy victory in the tiebreaker, 7-1.

Everybody in tennis knew it wasn't the real Steffi out there. Surprisingly, even Steffi admitted that. In the past, faced with stalkers, a hounding press and persistent rumors of her father's adultery, Graf always stood above the rubble, refusing to concede vulnerability. Not now.

Asked point-blank if her father's imprisonment has affected her concentration, she answered, ''Yes, it is. At certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there. I'm not expecting much of myself, I'm looking for strength. I definitely lack confidence.''

For Tarango, there are no real answers to the most disturbing crisis of his tennis life. ''I've got to decide whether I am going to keep playing or not,'' he said. ''I still have a court in my back yard, and I know (Jim) Courier and (Pete) Sampras and all my friends will come and play with me, so I guess I can just practice and play them there.''

For Graf, there is a greater challenge -- the sudden presence of Monica Seles, and worldwide expectations that the two will meet in the U.S. Open final. That's the reason she's here, at a time when she could be home, away from it all, gazing upon her many trophies. History does not await Jeff Tarango. For Graf, it is a most reliable ally.
 
#5,399 ·
Distracted Graf slips past Coetzer
The Washington Times
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Karen Goldberg

NEW YORK - For Andre Agassi, the top-seeded American who can do no wrong on the tennis court these days, the first round of the U.S. Open was a breeze.

For Steffi Graf, the top-seeded German whose concentration has been ruined by an off-court scandal, it was something of a chore.

Graf still won yesterday, defeating unseeded Amanda Coezter 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4 on the Stadium Court, but the numbers belie her usual champion's form. She made 56 errors, double-faulted seven times, won just 12 of 38 points on her second serve and had to fight for every point in the opening set.

Agassi, who entered the Open on a 20-match, four-tournament winning streak, had no trouble with America's Bryan Shelton in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Two-time champion and No. 2 seed Pete Sampras was nearly as efficient in a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fernando Meligeni, an Argentine more at home on clay than on the Open's hardcourts.

In other men's matches, No. 14 Jim Courier beat Bernd Karbacher 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and unseeded Mats Wilander - the 1988 champion - continued his comeback at 31 with a 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Steve Campbell.

Graf didn't even have to think about whether she was distracted. When that question was posed to her, the three-time U.S. Open champion simply replied, "Yes." With her father in jail for evading taxes on Graf's $72 million fortune, Graf has been hounded by the media here and in Germany.

The tax situation, combined with recurring back problems, unraveled Graf in the first round of the Canadian Open, where she lost her first match of the year to the 22nd-ranked Coetzer.

Yesterday Coetzer, a dimunitive South African, earned the respect and support of the crowd during the two-hour, 15-minute match. Capitalizing on Graf's 30 unforced first-set errors, Coetzer won four straight games and broke Graf at love to take a 5-2 lead.

In the next two games, Coetzer was at set point six times but proved unable to finish off Graf. Graf then won four straight games to take a 6-5 lead. Coetzer, up 40-15, took the set to a tiebreaker when Graf hit a forehand into the net.

Coetzer, who has had the misfortune of playing Graf twice and co-No. 1 Monica Seles once in the past two weeks, was helped to a 7-1 tiebreaker victory when Graf hit long or into the net five times.

But a different player emerged in the second set. Graf found her usual powerful forehand, came to the net more and eliminated the mistakes to ease ahead 6-1 in 29 minutes.

Graf was up 5-1 in the third when Coetzer made a brief comeback. She broke Graf twice, working her way back into the match not on her opponent's mistakes but by hitting winners. But Graf broke back in the final game and ended it when Coetzer missed the return of an overhead smash.

"Obviously, at certain times I have difficulty concentrating," Graf said. "I haven't really been able to practice much, but that is because of my back. I really do lack confidence, so I just needed my time to get really into the match while she started off very well. She was playing more aggressive, and I was making a bit more mistakes than usual."

Graf said her time on the court has become a refuge from the back spasms that limit her practice time and the German media, which camps outside her house.

"It is easy to get on the court," she said. "When I get on the court, I want to play well. I want to go out there and enjoy myself and relax."

There has been much speculation about a final between Graf and No. 2 seed Seles, who is playing here for the first time since 1992. There was no one around to challenge Graf during Seles' 28-month layoff from the sport, and Coetzer wrecked the plan for a Graf-Seles meeting in Toronto.

"It has been tough for her to come back," Graf said. "And seeing her win in Toronto . . . I think that is great. I look forward to playing her anytime."

Agassi, meanwhile, came to last year's U.S. Open unseeded and left as the champion. Now he is here as the No. 1 player in the world.

"I have watched some of my matches from a year ago, and I find myself kind of pinpointing a lot of areas that I could have done a lot better," he said. "That is what a year of constant improvement will do. I am executing with total confidence, so that really highlights your game plan."

****PHOTO (COLOR)/CHART (COLOR)

U.S. OPEN '95 DATA

* What: $9.86 million U.S. Open tennis championships

* When: Through Sept. 10

* Where: USTA National Tennis Center, New York

* Today's TV: USA, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; 7:30-11 p.m.

TODAY'S FEATURE MATCHES

11 a.m. session

Thomas Muster (3), Austria, vs. Luke Jensen, Marietta, Ga.

7:30 p.m. session

Steffi Graf (1), Germany, vs. Rita Grande, Italy
 
#5,400 ·
GRAF NOT IN NO. 1 FORM, BUT SHE RALLIES PAST COETZER
The Palm Beach Post
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
CHARLES ELMORE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Steffi Graf hardly sounded triumphant after avenging her only loss of 1995 with a first-round U.S. Open win over Amanda Coetzer on Tuesday.

''Obviously at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there,'' Graf said of her 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, 6-4 victory. ''I definitely lack confidence.''

It may sound strange coming from someone with a 33-1 record in 1995. But it seemed true Tuesday. Graf, the tournament's No. 1 seed and world's No. 1 player, committed 56 unforced errors, compared with 27 winners. She served no aces against seven double faults, hitting only 57 percent of her first serves.

Graf denied a report that a woman was stalking her in New York. But the cumulative effect of other recent events showed in her tired face: Her father still sits in a German jail on tax-evasion charges; she has been troubled by a stalker hanging around her part-time home in Boca Raton; back problems have been persistent.

Graf said her back did not cause her much pain during the 2-hour, 15-minute match with Coetzer, though she said it began to stiffen afterward.

Despite her problems, Graf said she welcomed a chance to play No. 22-ranked Coetzer, who beat Graf in three sets in the first round of the Canadian Open two weeks ago.

''I don't like losing, and I definitely wanted to play her as soon as I could,'' Graf said.

Men's top seed Andre Agassi, who won 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 over Bryan Shelton, said he didn't share that philosophy.

''To me, I don't want to play my best tennis in the first week,'' Agassi said. ''I just want to get through them. And when you get to the players where you know you need to play your best, you want to raise to that level and hope it is there and . . . But to get through them, is the most important thing.''

For Graf, it began to look like Toronto all over again when Coetzer, a gritty South African who throws her entire body into her shots, won 7-of-8 points in a first-set tiebreaker.

Graf played better after that.

''In the second set I told myself to maybe step in (to shots) a little bit more and that is what happened,'' Graf said. ''I think I controlled the points a little more than I did in the first set.''

Though Graf had more unforced errors than Coetzer, 56-38, she also won more total points, 114-104.

Graf won the second set easily, but Coetzer nearly came back from a 4-1 deficit in the third set. Graf fumbled away a match point at 5-3, then hit a backhand lob too long to give Coetzer a service break only a game behind at 5-4.

Graf recovered to win four of the next five points, finishing with an overhead smash down the middle to take the match. But there was no celebration. Graf did not raise her arms or shake her fists.

Coetzer said recent weeks have shown Graf to be anything but unbeatable.

''I feel that, you know, she definitely does give you a chance to get into the game,'' Coetzer said. ''I think the fact that she has had a back problem for a long time might have, you know . . . I don't think her serve is that strong. But I feel that I have really improved my game too.''

Coetzer said it was hard to know just how vulnerable Graf may be to other top seeds, including Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Monica Seles. But it's also too soon to count Graf out, she said.

''It is a very tough field,'' Coetzer said. ''There is a lot of pressure on her, but I felt today after I won the first set, she started to play a lot looser and she started to go for her shots. So maybe - somehow that could take some pressure off her, the fact she is a little bit vulnerable and is not expected to win every match.''
 
#5,401 ·
Graf struggles in opener - Agassi rolls
The Dallas Morning News
Wednesday, August 30, 1995
Darryl Richards, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

NEW YORK - Steffi Graf struggled in her U.S. Open first-round match Tuesday, but that's nothing new these days.

Very little has gone right for Graf, the top-seeded woman, since she won Wimbledon last month. Her father, Peter, was arrested on suspicion of tax evasion in her native Germany, and Steffi is also under investigation. A chronic back problem has limited her practice and match play; meanwhile, Monica Seles came back from being stabbed by a deranged Graf fan 28 months ago and now shares the No. 1 ranking.

But Graf managed to pull her game together to beat Amanda Coetzer, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4. Coetzer, a 5-2 South African spark plug, upset Graf two weeks ago in the first round of the Canadian Open.

The match took two hours and 14 minutes, much longer than most of Graf's first-round matches after which opponents leave the court feeling like they've been pushed through a revolving door.

Now it is Graf whose world is spinning at breakneck speed.

"Obviously, at certain times I have difficulty concentrating out there, because I haven't really been able to practice much because of my back," said Graf, who will play Rita Grande in the second round. "I haven't really played a lot, so I definitely lack confidence."

Confidence wasn't a problem for Andre Agassi, the top-seeded male, as he beat Bryan Shelton, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Also advancing in the men's draw were No. 2 Pete Sampras, No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 9 Thomas Enqvist, No. 11 Sergi Bruguera and No. 13 Marc Rosset.

In the women's draw, No. 4 Conchita Martinez, No. 5 Jana Novotna, No. 7 Kimiko Date, No. 10 Lindsay Davenport, No. 11 Anke Huber, No. 12 Natasha Zvereva, No. 14 Mary Joe Fernandez, No. 16 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy also advanced. The only seeded player to drop out was No. 13 Iva Majoli, who was ousted by Barbara Paulus, 6-4, 6-4.

Graf's vulnerability showed throughout the match. She opened on serve and was broken after double-faulting the last two points of the first game. Coetzer, ranked 22nd, broke Graf again twice and took a 5-2 lead.

Coetzer has improved significantly over the last few months, getting more depth on her groundstrokes. She certainly had confidence, especially after her performance in the Canadian Open, at which she defeated Graf, Novotna, Mary Pierce.

Although Coetzer had a big lead, she was unable to demoralize Graf, who won four consecutive games and forced a tiebreaker. Coetzer easily won the tiebreaker, building confidence on the very first point with a stab volley winner off an attempted passing shot. But the experience wore her down.

"I was really grinding to win that first set after I had such a comfortable lead," Coetzer said. "I started to miss a lot of first serves, so, in retrospect, if I put her away earlier, it could have helped me."

Graf suffered a mental lapse again in the third set when she took a 5-1 lead only to see Coetzer win the next three games. But she emphatically put the match away with an overhead smash on matchpoint.

Despite all of her distractions, Graf said she wanted to play Coetzer badly after the debacle in Toronto. The tennis court is a place for Graf to temporarily put her problems behind even though she is playing in a 20,000-seat stadium with $575,000 at stake.

"If I didn't feel like this is what I want to do and this is where I can get away from a lot of things, I wouldn't be here," Graf said. "It is still a challenge to me to be out there. I can put things into perspective and just concentrate on tennis rather than other things."
 
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