Greatest Female Tennis Players

[ATPballkid]

Going by sheer numbers one would have to give Graf the edge between the two though with Sele's tragic assault we can never get a final picture of how that duel might have ended.

From 1990 through April 1993 Steffi Graf was limited to winning only 3 of the major singles titles in women's tennis (3 out of 16 played during this time) ... Monica Seles, as a 2-handed teenage phenom, won 11 of these 16 singles titles (including 2 of the 5 in 1990 .. 4 of the 5 in 1991 .. 4 of the 5 in 1992 .. and the only 1 prior to the stabbing in 1993).

Anyone who wants to belittle the knife stabbing -- or brush it aside as if it had no significance -- has all of this to overcome.

No question about it, Monica Seles was easily the best player in women's tennis for the first half of the 1990s.

 

[ATPballkid]

But then I seem to recall Graf dominating her to such a degree that she got into her head and Navratilova even began using Graf's type of racquet as if she could get some of her magic that way.

Again, Navratilova was in her 30s at the end of the 1980s .... but did we not see Navratilova with a winning record vs. Graf during the years 1990 through 1993 (including their only matchup in a Grand Slam event during these years)?

LOL ... but the funny part of this is --- after those 2 or 3 good years in the late 1980s for Graf when Navratilova was already in her 30s ---- we saw a mid 30s Navratilova with the better record vs. Graf in the years 1990 through 1993 (including a win for Navratilova in the ONLY match played between Navratilova and Graf at a Grand Slam event during the 1990s).

Graf was in the middle of her career in the early 1990s -- and yet Seles as a teenager was the one ranked #1 and the one winning 9 of those 11 biggest titles between November 1990 and January 1993 -- and this, within itself, eliminates Graf from consideration as the top woman tennis player of all time.

No way Steffi Graf is the best woman tennis player in tennis history when you consider the truth of Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles in the years 1990-1993.

 

[alwaysatnet]

April 1993

Gunther Parche, a fanatical German supporter of #2 Steffi Graf, stabbed teenage phenom and women's #1 Monica Seles in the back with a knife when Seles had won 10 of the last 12 biggest events -- and 11 of the last 14 biggest events -- in women's tennis between 1990 and 1993.

9 months later ...

January 1994

A month before the XVII Winter Olympics were to begin in Lillehammer, Norway in February 1994, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, clubbed fellow female figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in the knee. In the end Nancy Kerrigan went on to win the silver medal, behind Oksana Baiul of the Ukraine. Tonya Harding finished 8th and was banned from the world of figure skating by the U.S. Figure Skating Association (USFSA) a few years later.

Tennis has always been more tolerant than other sports in terms of behavior.

This is absolute certified kook territory unless you have knowledge and evidence no one else has that Graf somehow was complicit in the stabbing crime. And if you do why not share it? And if you don't why are you smearing someone's good name with nothing to back it up? You are entering "grassy knoll" territory now. You should stop and think about how it makes you look...foolish and deranged. By the way, I really don't care that much about this whole debate but three years of tennis out of a whole career is not something you can absolutely make any definitive statement about.

 

[ATPballkid]

This is absolute certified kook territory unless you have knowledge and evidence no one else has that Graf somehow was complicit in the stabbing crime. And if you do why not share it? And if you don't why are you smearing someone's good name with nothing to back it up? You are entering "grassy knoll" territory now. You should stop and think about how it makes you look...foolish and deranged.

I was only showing a historical perspective ... less than 1 year after Gunther Parche cowardly stabbed Monica Seles in the back with a knife, we had in January of the following year (9 months later) Tonya Harding's ex-husband clubbing Nancy Kerrigan one month before the Lillehammer Olympics.

The Seles stabbing was worse in the failure of justice to prevail in the matter (Gunther Parche was not penalized in any significant manner, while Harding was banned for life from ice skating competitions).

So, which of these acts of terrorism and cowardly violence are you condoning?

 

[ATPballkid]

By the way, I really don't care that much about this whole debate but three years of tennis out of a whole career is not something you can absolutely make any definitive statement about.

Gunther Parche, from all I have read and observed, was a man filled with jealousy and hate that overtook and controlled his thinking, and pretty soon is actions. He attached the competitive arena of tennis and people he didn't know to his own personal failings and hurts. What resulted was a horror that continues to insinuate its way into tennis dialogue fourteen (count them, fourteen) years afterwards.

You remember the comments all to well ... the PROBLEM you have is in comprehension of them ... I believe you have the ability to read beyond that of a 9 year old, Condi .... I am just convinced that your skills for comprehension of what you have read --- and your ability to express yourself on here --- is that of a 6 to 8 year old.

Are you less than 10 years of age, Condi?

 

[alwaysatnet]

Gunther Parche, from all I have read and observed, was a man filled with jealousy and hate that overtook and controlled his thinking, and pretty soon is actions. He attached the competitive arena of tennis and people he didn't know to his own personal failings and hurts. What resulted was a horror that continues to insinuate its way into tennis dialogue fourteen (count them, fourteen) years afterwards.

You remember the comments all to well ... the PROBLEM you have is in comprehension of them ... I believe you have the ability to read beyond that of a 9 year old, Condi .... I am just convinced that your skills for comprehension of what you have read --- and your ability to express yourself on here --- is that of a 6 to 8 year old.

Are you less than 10 years of age, Condi?

What? This is a jumble.I wasn't aware I ever condoned acts of violence and terrorism. You will have to cite the post in which I said acts of terrorism and cowardly violence are okay by me. In fact I am reknowned in other sections of this board for opposing terrorism and cowardly acts of violence. So that puzzles me greatly.You will also have to reproduce the comments "I remember all to(sic) well". I don't know what you are refering to. And I am not Condi. I was half serious when I made the "grassy knoll" comments but now I'm not so sure. Your post seems rambling and incoherent.
Please take your meds and then try and readdress what I said about Graf, Seles and Navratilova and their respective places in history. Good Grief!

 

[Condoleezza]

From 1990 through April 1993 Steffi Graf was limited to winning only 3 of the major singles titles in women's tennis (3 out of 16 played during this time) ... Monica Seles, as a 2-handed teenage phenom, won 11 of these 16 singles titles (including 2 of the 5 in 1990 .. 4 of the 5 in 1991 .. 4 of the 5 in 1992 .. and the only 1 prior to the stabbing in 1993).

Anyone who wants to belittle the knife stabbing -- or brush it aside as if it had no significance -- has all of this to overcome.

No question about it, Monica Seles was easily the best player in women's tennis for the first half of the 1990s.

With ZERO Wimbledons easily the best?
That's like saying Lendl was easily the best in the 80ies ....

Condi