Professional tennis star Steffi Graf so dominated her era that she spent 186 weeks in a row as the top ranked women's player in the world. Over the course of her phenomenal career, she parked for a record 377 weeks in top spot on the Women's tour.

Graf began playing tennis at 4. She turned professional at the age of 13 and never looked back. During one calendar year, in1990, she won all four Grand Slam titles - only the third woman in the history of the game to achieve this feat.

 Her complete dedication to the sport combined with her razor sharp competitive edge has made her one of the most admired and formidable figures in women's tennis, but she also received unwanted help from an unexpected source. In 1993, a crazy Graf fan stabbed her most threatening competitor, Monica Seles, on the court during a tournament in Germany in order to keep Graf in the No. 1 position. Although Seles' absence from the courts for nearly two years contributed to Graf's success, the incident was deeply unsettling and left Graf without exciting and challenging competition for some time. In August 1999, Graf retired suddenly, much to the surprise of many.

She is married to fellow tennis great and Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi. An ambassador for the WWF, she now devotes much of her time to charity work.

Quote: "As long as I can focus on enjoying what I'm doing, having fun, I know I'll play well."

dominate

占优势

phenomenal

显著的

calendar

日历

feat

功绩

razor

剃刀

formidable

强大的

WWF

世界自然基金会