Word: wimbledon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...German amount of embarrassment, except for one thing. "She could hit it," he whistles. "I was not as good as the good boys, and so I had to practice with the best girls. She was the best girl." Smiles come easily to Boris Becker, especially when the discussion includes Wimbledon. But he glows like a pumpkin at the recollection of those early rallies with Steffi Graf. Now they are both on the last ledge before the peak. "Two kids," he says, "from the same area, who practiced together at twelve . . . ten . . . eight. Isn't it a little incredible...
...Wimbledon rolls around again this week at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where Becker will try to become the third-youngest singles champion of the century. Already the first and second youngest ever to do it, he points out, "I was born there, you know." Two summers ago, unseeded and 17, not to mention "very slow and fat," Becker dispatched one eminent adult after another with a crashing service and a somersaulting exuberance. They all left the grounds, Henri Leconte after Tim Mayotte, predicting two things: that Becker would be a fine player one day and that he would...
...didn't know what I was doing," he admits. "In my mind, I was playing a little tennis tournament back in Leimen." But he won his second Wimbledon last year with full knowledge of the benefits and the costs. "It's no pressure coming back for the third. I can't promise I will win again, but I can promise I will enjoy it. I don't think a bad memory is possible for me there anymore. Years from now, I think I'll walk onto the property and smile...
Last year a viral infection stayed Steffi from Wimbledon, and while nobody concedes her a pre-eminent place yet on grass (she's seeded second), everyone seems sure the true heir to Evert-Navratilova has been found. And glamorous Argentine Gabriela Sabatini, 17, may be her baseliner-in-waiting. They are doubles partners and friends but could start a Centre Court rivalry next week in the quarterfinals. Evert says, "I can't believe how hard Steffi hits the ball." Her forehand especially. "She's wonderful," says Billie Jean King, who spotted Graf early. "Steffi always had better footwork than...
SPORT: From West Germany to Wimbledon comes a smashing pair of aces...