Top 5 Reasons Steffi Graf is Tennis -Greatest Of All Time.

Hey tennis fans I'm Grace Carter and this is Tennis Now presented by Tennis Express. Tennis Express delivering wow customer service every day. Serena Williams and Steffi Graf only met twice on the court but they are joined together in tennis history. The former world number ones are deadlocked with 22 Grand Slam titles apiece and split their only two meetings. Steffi and Serena share the record for most consecutive weeks at number one with 186 straight weeks at the top. Both women stand five foot nine and both beat the world's top two to win a Grand Slam in the same season. At the 1999 Roland Garros a 29-year-old Steffi defeated number two Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals and number one Martina Hingis to win her last major at the French Open. A few months later a 17-year-old Serena beat number two Davenport in the semifinals and number one Hingis in the final to win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open. So which woman is the greatest of all time? We're leaving Margaret Court who won 24 Grand Slam singles titles out of this debate. We're focusing on the open era. This week we're gonna present the five top reasons Steffi is the GOAT. Don't worry Serena fans next week we're gonna make the case supporting Serena as the GOAT so stay tuned. But here we go. Number five footwork. Tennis is a game of legs and no player man or woman ever moved as fluidly and beautifully as Steffi. In his memoir Open Andre Agassi said Steffi was so fast she once trained with the German Olympic track team. Even in retirement when Graf hits the court her feet never stopped moving. Number four the forehand. The Graf forehand has been called the greatest single ground stroke in women's tennis history earning her the nickname Fraulein forehand. Here's how Steffi used her heavy forehand against the young Serena and a reminder why Graf is an immortal player. Number three the golden moment. Steffi Graf holds a record that may never be broken. She is the only player man or woman to win the single season Golden Slam. Capturing the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul after sweeping all four Grand Slam championships in that season. Number two major dominance. Steffi was at her best on Grand Slam stages. From 1987 through 1990 Graf reached an astounding 13 consecutive Grand Slam finals and she won nine of those. Even more impressive she won every Grand Slam title at least four times and remains the only player to achieve that feat. Graf reached 31 Grand Slam singles finals and her 90% winning percentage in Grand Slam matches remains one of the best of all time and that's truly incredible. And number one time at the top. Numbers don't lie. Steffi Graf is the greatest of all time because of her longevity at the top. Graf held the top spot for a record 377 weeks. That's nearly 70 weeks more than Williams who was number one for 309 total weeks. When you stack Steffi's career next to Serena's. Graf's 900 career victories are more than Williams and her 107 career titles are 36 more than Serena who won 71 championships and she achieved all that in a shorter career than Serena. Steffi retired in 1999 at the age of 30 ending a nearly 17 year career. Serena who celebrates her 35th birthday coming up on September 26th is playing in her 21st professional season. Remember coming up next time we're going to talk about why Serena is the greatest. That's our news for now. Let us know who gets your vote. Tune in next time. I'm Grace Carter. See you here on Tennis Now.