Frank Deford’s essay on Graf withstands the test of time and now bears repeating

[recreationalplayer]

Frank Deford: "Graf most Overrated Tennis Player Ever"
Steffi Graf had a terrific career, and since she won an Olympic gold medal as well as the Grand Slam in 1988, that year may well be the most distinguished any tennis player has ever enjoyed. So it has become fashionable to rate Graf the best women's player ever, and that is ridiculous. Most Grafites are in thrall to her 22 Grand Slam singles titles, a figure that exceeds what Helen Wills Moody, Martina Navratilova or Chris Evert rang up. (Although that total ranks behind Margaret Court's 24, almost half Court's wins came in the Australian Championships, at a time when few of the best players went Down Under.)

Whereas Court, Navratilova and Evert had stiff competition—Martina and Chrissie went virtually head-to-head—Graf caught an easy wave. For much of her career the best she had to contend with was Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, a game little terrier, and Gabriela Sabatini, a frail competitor. Of even more significance, there's this little gap in Graf's resume the size of the hole in the ozone layer: It's called Monica Seles. Graf had won eight of the previous nine Grand Slam titles when Seles surfaced as a champion in 1990. For the next three years, until she was stabbed by a deranged Graf fan, Seles won eight Grand Slam titles while Graf won two. As soon as Seles was eliminated as competition, Graf started winning the big titles again. Was Graf the best female player of all time? She wasn't even the best in the heart of her career.

 

[BGod]

There's plenty of articles written on the subject pointing out Graf didn't lose to Seles much in those 8 Slams she won. Also, it's not as if Serena has competed in a dangerous era herself facing Sharapova and a heap of wildcards.

 

[gerrysbland]

She survived it this long only since she was 4 slams ahead of Martina and Chris, and that was a huge gap. You could atleast argue Graf still winning 18-20 slams even without the stabbing, so she got the benefit of doubt vs them.

However she is not 4 slams ahead of Serena anymore, and as Serena creeps closer, this haunting reality of her career is going to become a lot more meaningful than it has been previously and hurt her GOAT argument against Serena.

 

[tennisaddict]

Enough with Martina/ Chris comparison with Graf.

There was no freaking third player during Martina/Chris era. It was shambolic. There was no need to play majors over 2 weeks. You can put these two directly in the final.

Put Graf during Martina or Chris era and she would not be losing like how they lost to each other.

 

[gerrysbland]

What will be most amusing is watching previous Graf hater Djokovic2011, now desperate to see Serena not ascend to virtually unquestioned GOAT status, jumping in and defending Graf every opportunity he gets, and trying to sweep the ugly stabbing under the rug, even after trying to disparage her record and bringing up the Seles stabbing (and in fact grossly exaggerate Seles and exaggerated the likely repercusions beyond realism in the past) every chance he got before. Poor Djokovic2011, now relegated to groveling behind Graf, as that is all he is left with to prevent his ultimate nightmare. :lol: I look forward to the epic show and train wreck that will be. Also also fun to watch his hypocritical behavior exposed, despite that it is on display on a nearly daily basis.

 

[gerrysbland]

Enough with Martina/ Chris comparison with Graf.

There was no freaking third player during Martina/Chris era. It was shambolic. There was no need to play majors over 2 weeks. You can put these two directly in the final.

Put Graf during Martina or Chris era and she would not be losing like how they lost to each other.

Agreed, but who cares about Martina and Chris anymore when it comes to GOAT. This is all about Serena vs Graf, and you cant say in Serena's time you could just put her through to the final. There is even more depth today than Graf ever faced. Former #1s and former slam winners in the 3rd or 4th round, unheard of in Graf's day. So that Serena never had a main rival who could have taken many slams off her stabbed is a huge deal.

Silly arguments like early retirements, burnout, injuries, as they might relate to Henin, Clijsters, Hingis or whomoever are meaningless. If one wants to go there they can say Serena would have 30 slams today without her late 2003 knee surgery and restaurant accident in 2010. She lost more through those incidents than she did through rivals who were always her inferior retiring early or taking breaks. Those are all just part of tennis though.

 

[Triskadekaphilia]

Deford is full of #*&#

Frank Deford is expressing his opinion.

Arguments about the relative ability levels of a player's competition are made all the time and they are difficult to evaluate. It is difficult to compare players of different generations and this is one of the reasons why.

If a player is much better it is commonly presumed that his/her competition may also be much weaker. The truth is never that simple.

Graf undoubtedly benefited from the terrible assault on Seles, as any top player would if their major rival became suddenly incapacitated. But "most overrated tennis player ever"?? Come on!! That is obviously blatant exxagerration used to sell journalism.