Steffi Graf Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf (; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 and won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Her 22 singles titles put her second on the list of major wins in the female competition since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968 and is third all-time behind Margaret Court (24) and Serena Williams (23). In 1988, she became the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.
Grand Slam (tennis) singles player to win four consecutive major titles, no matter the time of completion. Although groups variously identified as the Men's International Professional Tennis Council, "abetted primarily by some British tennis writers", and "European tennis journalists" had advocated for the ITF to change the definition of "Grand Slam", ITF General Secretary David Gray made it clear that this was not going to happen. In a 1983 letter to tennis journalist Paul Fein, Gray clarified: The ITF's plan was to offer the cash bonus for three years, apparently to encourage players to compete in all four major tournaments as much as