Graf–Seles rivalry Graf–Seles rivalry Steffi Graf and Monica Seles are retired professional tennis players who between 1989 and 1999 engaged in a rivalry for the best female tennis player. They competed in 15 matches. Seles, a left-handed player, demonstrated powerful and precise hitting from the baseline on both wings. Graf, in contrast, had a formidable forehand, in addition to her penetrating serve, but mostly sliced her backhand. Their head to head rivalry was especially notable for Graf being dominant on tour in Seles' first years and then Seles being dominant at the grand slams winning three of the four matches they played
Steffi Graf hard court at the US Open in 1978. Graf then defeated Sabatini 6–3, 6–3 in the gold medal match at the Olympic Games in Seoul and achieved what the media had dubbed the "Golden Slam". The feat has only been achieved by Graf to date. Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles title that year—at Wimbledon partnering Sabatini—and picked up a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal. At the year-ending Virginia Slims Championships, Graf was upset by Pam Shriver, only her third loss of the year. She was named the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. At the