Oh yeah? Let's look at how Graf's TV ratings in the US compare to those of the Williams' Sisters:
US Open Ratings:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/114759. On the surface, these ratings would seem to justify your position, except for the fact that that 6.8 rating in 2001 was for a primetime match. None of Graf's finals were ever played in primetime.
So, the better way of comparing Graf to the W Sisters as "draws" would be to look at the average ratings for all telecasts in one year. That would tend to mitigate the influence of the primetime advantage that the women have had since 2001 since it takes the average of all the telecasts, meaning all the times that the network chooses to show the featured players (typically the finalists and winners) throughout the tournament. Here is the source for that information:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/sports/us-open-historic-television-ratings/
The highest rating for a year in which Graf won was 1988, the golden slam year, a 4.2 rating. (The men's winner that year was Wilander. So, it was probably all Graf.) The highest average rating for a year in which a Williams' sister won was 1999 with a 3.5 rating. (The men's winner was Agassi. So, it was probably just as much Agassi as Serena. The numbers from the Sports Business Daily would back up that deduction. Here is that link again:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/114759.)
By the way, if you go back to this link
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/sports/us-open-historic-television-ratings/, you'll see why Evert was clearly a bigger draw in the US than both Graf and the W Sisters.
More troubling facts for your point of view...
Wimbledon Ratings. Go to link
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/i...ticleID=131472.
The Davenport vs. Graf match in 1999 received a higher rating than any match featuring one or more Williams' sister. How can that be?
Here is more: US Viewership of Graf in Wimbledon Finals from 1988 to 1996
1988 4.29 3.6 GRAF/EDBERG
1989 4.56 3.9 GRAF/BECKER (Highest rating with two Germans in the Finals)
1991 4.65 3.7 GRAF/STICH
1992 4.48 3.7 GRAF/AGASSI
1993 3.74 3.1 GRAF/SAMPRAS
1995 3.54 3.0 GRAF/SAMPRAS
1996 2.91 2.5 GRAF/KRAJICEK (Lowest. It was Krajicek.)
Since these are averages of all telecasts from those years. They have to be compared to these numbers for the W Sisters.
2000 4.07 3.2 V. WILLIAMS/SAMPRAS (Highest)
2001 3.20 2.6 V. WILLIAMS/IVANISEVIC
2002 2.71 2.1 S. WILLIAMS/HEWITT
2003 2.49 2.0 S. WILLIAMS/FEDERER
2004 2.54 1.9 SHARAPOVA/FEDERER
2005 2.49 1.9 V. WILLIAMS/FEDERER
2007 2.29 1.7 V. WILLIAMS/FEDERER (Lowest with even the mighty Fed as the winner.)
2008 2.64 1.9 V. WILLIAMS/NADAL
Here is the source:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/pr_wimbledon_thru07.pdf.
Want more? How about these numbers for the French Open finals on NBC? What do they tell you?
Go to this link:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/130410
Graf vs Hingis got a rating of 3.1. Williams vs Williams, 2.8.
So, what do you have to say now?