Steffi Graf's 1988 Golden Slam included a major final lasting 32 minutes
In 1988 Steffi Graf won all four major tennis titles and Olympic gold in one calendar year, something no player had ever done. Her French Open final that season was over in 32 minutes of actual play, a 6–0, 6–0 rout in which her opponent won just thirteen points all match.
Graf was born in Mannheim, West Germany, in 1969. Her father Peter, a car and insurance salesman with ambitions as a coach, taught her to swing a wooden racket in the family living room when she was three. She entered her first tournament at five, and at 13 became the youngest player ever in a major main draw, at the 1983 French Open. Her father rationed her schedule to stop her burning out, turning down social invitations so that practice, up to four hours a day, came first. Shy by nature, she made few friends on tour, but her game improved steadily.
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova ruled women's tennis when she arrived, and Graf lost her early meetings with both, all in straight sets. In April 1986 she finally beat Evert, and never lost to her again. Her first major arrived at the 1987 French Open, where she beat Navratilova in the final. That year she lost only two matches, and in August she took the number one ranking and kept it for 186 straight weeks.
The 1988 season was a procession. She won in Melbourne without dropping a set, then flattened Natasha Zvereva at Roland Garros. At Wimbledon she ended Navratilova's run of six straight titles, and at the US Open she beat Gabriela Sabatini to complete the Grand Slam, joining Maureen Connolly and Margaret Court. Hers remains the only Grand Slam won across grass, clay and hard courts. Olympic gold in Seoul, again over Sabatini, completed the set.
Across her career she won 22 majors and at least four of each, a quadruple career Grand Slam nobody else has achieved. She held the top ranking for a record 377 weeks, and has been married to Andre Agassi since 2001.
Source: Steffi Graf
