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Steffi v. Serena

ElTexan

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Steffi Graf had much tougher competition. Discuss.
 

nuraman00

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I wish I had seen how Steffi played at the FO and AO. I didn't watch those as much in the 90s.

Hence why I never saw any of Jim Courier's wins, I only saw his losses.

I want to see what Steffi's game like was on clay, or the AO.

She missed the 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1998 AOs due to illness or injury.

Why did she miss the 1987 AO?
 

Deacon

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This is a tough one. On the surface you are correct in that Steffi played against more 'legends' of the game. But of her greatest competition (Navratilova, Evert, Seles) Evert and Navratilova were toward the end of their careers. Evert won her first title in 1974 and Navratilova in '78. By the time Steffi came along they had both been in the game over 10 yrs. In those days women especially did not play past age 30.

Seles was her biggest true rival. Steffi dominated tennis winning 7 of the 8 slams in '88 and '89. Seles turned pro in '90 and from that time until she was stabbed in '93 she won 8 slams compared to 3 for Seles.

Seles was clearly a thorn for Steffi and when Seles was absent Steffi dominated everyone else.

Steffi also benefited from the fact that the women's draw was not nearly as competitive as it is now. During her career there was literally only about 5 women with enough talent to win a slam. (Navratilova, Evert, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario, Sabatini)


For Serena although I don't think any single competitor has been as good as the legendary Evert or Navratilova, I do think she has played a more competitive field overall. The problem with trying to rank the competition for Serena is that her career has been so long and her top competitors have had much shorter times near the top.
(Hingis, Henin, Sharapova, Davenport, Clijsters, Capriati, Azarenka, Kerber)

There is so much more competition in the game now for women. Just about every tourney now you see some up and comer making it to the quarters or semis.
 

Deacon

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Oh and stupid me, I forgot Venus as another capable competitor.
 

nuraman00

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Also, we'll never know for sure, but I think Seles wouldn't have been so dominant even without her injury.

I think she would have cooled off, because that's what usually happens in sports. For example, Nadal used to beat Djokovic, then Djokovic would beat Nadal, then Nadal started winning again, then Djokovic.

There have also been other women who have had a 2-3 year stretch, then cooled off.

So I think that would have happened to Seles.

Even Serena goes through stretches of her career where she's not winning as much.

I also think Seles was still beating top 3 players during her return, so she was still pretty good then.
 

nuraman00

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Oh and stupid me, I forgot Venus as another capable competitor.

Yeah, I saw Venus was missing. But then I thought your post was also more about people who have come and gone, and not players who are still active.
 

nuraman00

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How about this. How many Finals, SFs, and QFs does each have at majors?

Also, what is the longest QF streak at majors that they have, as long as they entered the tournament? This might show how long the best stretch of their careers was.
 

UK Cowboy

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I was a huge Steffi fan. At their peaks, head to head, I'd go Serena, Martina, Steffi, Venus
 

nuraman00

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And for some stats:

1) How many career aces?
2) Career 1st serve %
3) Career break point %
4) Career return games won %
5) Career net points ratio
6) Career winners and unforced errors.
 
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