Word: graf
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...sport to train the way men do. Yet this stubborn competitor was always fragile, often on the edge of a "Martina meltdown." No one wins everything, but it seemed Navratilova should. Her fans still agonize over the 1989 U.S. Open, when she was two games away from beating Steffi Graf in straight sets, or the 1981 U.S. Open, which she lost to Tracy Austin in two tie breakers after winning the first set 6-1. She blames mostly her shotmaking, not her nerves. "If I had had a backhand down the line instead of only crosscourt," she says, "I would...
...shook men's tennis today, as the world's No. 2 player, Michael Stich, was soundly defeated by Bryan Shelton, who is ranked No. 120. This victory marked the second time in as many days that an outranked American has ousted a favored German, after Lori McNeil beat Steffi Graf yesterday in the first round. Taking advantage of the unpredictable grass courts and his opponent's bad temper, Shelton consistently outplayed and outclassed Stich. Shelton says that he was inspired by his fellow Yank's earlier win, and hopes that their achievements as African-American tennis players will encourage black...
...first time in Wimbledon history the defending female champion has been ousted in the first round of play, as American Lori McNeil, ranked No. 22, bested No. 1 Steffi Graf. Graf was favored to recapture the title for a second consecutive year, but at Centre Court, McNeil battled whipping winds and Graf's legendary forehand to quash the six-time Wimbledon champ. No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is now expected to take home the top prize, but some are still betting on 10-time winner Martina Navratilova, who is competing on the grass courts of Wimbledon for the final time...
...hard to retell this story without commonplaces about the sporting British and their plucky amateurism. In her new novel The Birthday Boys (Carroll & Graf; 189 pages; $18.95), Beryl Bainbridge imagines the icebound band as the last gentlemen of the Edwardian Age. After them the deluge: two world wars, a lost generation and a crumbling empire...
NATURALIZED. MONICA SELES, 20, professional tennis player; as a U.S. citizen; in Miami, Florida. The highly regarded Yugoslavia-born athlete, who toppled from her No. 1 ranking after a knife attack by a crazed Steffi Graf fan, called her citizenship date "a happy day for me. I am proud to be a United States citizen, and look forward to continuing our lives here...