After the conclusion of the 1988 Wimbledon final, people discussed how Steffi Graf had raised the bar in women’s tennis. She was so powerful from the baseline and gave power tennis a new meaning after her opponent, Martina Navratilova, had defined it herself several years before. It was 1988 where Graf completed the Calendar Year Grand Slam, a feat that had only been accomplished twice before in women’s tennis history: Maureen Connoly in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970.
Now in 2015, Serena Williams, the most dominant figure in women’s tennis in the last 15 years, is poised to accomplish the same at the US Open. Like Steffi and Martina before her, Serena has raised the level of physicality and power in the women’s game. With 21 Grand Slam titles to her name, including an astounding three career Slams, the Calendar Slam seems to be the only thing missing in her incredible resume. Requiring a high peak level and surreal fitness over a year long period, the Calendar Slam is seen as the most difficult feat to accomplish in tennis. Not even Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, two other contenders for the title of greatest of all time, have accomplished this feat, despite their massive stranglehold over the sport for over a decade. This speaks to the difficulty of this accomplishment.
Serena started her year off at the Australian Open, struggling her way for the first few rounds but getting her game in gear when it mattered most. She took out Maria Sharapova in a slugfest in the final 6-3 7-6. In Roland Garros, Serena went to three sets in five out of her seven matches. The final against Lucie Safarova was a dramatic one in which Serena suemounted a 6-3 4*-1 40-15 deficit. Nerves got the best of Safarova as she unwound and the World #1 took the set in a tiebreaker. Serena got down an early break in the third set but it wasn’t meant to be as Serena clinched the title with a 6-3 6-7 6-2 win. At Wimbledon, Serena took out surprise finalist Garbine Muguruza in the final 6-4 6-4. She found herself down a double break in the final set against hometown favorite Heather Watson early in the tournament, but the 21-time major winner used all of her experience to turn it into another comeback victory.
There are many things that distinguish Steffi Graf’s 1988 slam runs to Serena’s 2015 runs. The most notable difference is their age. Graf started the year aged 18 and turned 19 in June. She was at the beginning of her career whereas Serena, aged 33, is seemingly towards the end of hers. Another thing that distinguishes them is the manner in which their matches played out. Graf did not come close to losing a single set in most of her matches. She led the Australian Open final 6-1 5-1 before her opponent, 18-time major winner Chris Evert had a late second set surge and ended up taking it to a tiebreaker where Graf finally put her away. The Roland Garros final was a record breaking 34 minutes long in which the German did not give up a single game. Her quest for the Grand Slam seemed to come to an end against six-time defending champion Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon. She found herself down 5-7 0-2 before finding the form that made her the most dominant player in the world. She won 12 of the next 13 games in a 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory in dethroning Martina Navratilova. It turns out Navratilova’s main accomplishments in this match is being one of the two people to win a set against Steffi Graf in her quest for the Grand Slam. The other person to claim a set was Gabriela Sabatini in the final of the US Open. In a match that had a high level of intensity and pressure, Graf overcame the Argentine 6-3 3-6 6-1, completing her quest for the Grand Slam. Graf lost a total of two sets in her Grand Slam run; Serena, as of now, has lost nine. Serena’s current quest did not go as smoothly as Graf’s; it can be attributed to the lack of depth in the late 80s or perhaps that Serena, despite her dominance, has not been at her best but has overcome her opponents with her mental strength.
Of course Graf would turn her Grand Slam into a Golden Slam when she defeated Sabatini again in the final of the Seoul Olympics 6-3 6-3. As it is not an Olympic year, Serena cannot accomplish this feat but a Grand Slam in itself is a colossal achievement! There is no question that all eyes will be on Serena Williams at the US Open as she not only aims for a Calendar Slam, but also matching Steffi Graf’s 22 Slam titles. With her dominance over the field, it is sometimes easy to forget that she is human and is not immune to having breakdowns. She has but only two losses on the year; one to Petra Kvitova in the semifinals of Madrid and in the semifinals of Toronto to Belinda Bencic. Considering the resistance she’s had to overcome in the previous three majors, and adding the pressure of reaching 22 and winning the Grand Slam will no doubt make the struggle great. Her quest to overcome that pressure will require her to show the champion qualities that she no doubt possesses.
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