Was Graf- Seles a precursor to the Federer- Nadal rivalry?
Doesn't this rivalry look similar to the one below. If not for the stabbing there would have been crying at some point.
Luckily for Nadal, there's no lunatic like Parche to end Federer's misery
Guess which tennis players we are talking about
A sublime and graceful champion with a complete stranglehold on the game, worthy of being called the greatest ever. Was most dominant on the Wimbledon grass and most uncomfortable on the Parisian red clay. Ended the Wimbledon reign of the player with the maximum All-England titles. Blessed with an all-round game based on a splendid forehand and a practitioner of the single-handed backhand.
The player’s reign at the top was ended by a feisty baseliner with a double handed backhand -someone who had become a French Open champion while still a teenager. The two players had a storied rivalry giving tennis fans many memorable matches. The old champion held sway on grass whereas the new one was at their best on clay and getting better on grass. The younger player seemed to have his celebrated opponent’s number, enjoying a substantial edge in their rivalry. A lot of it had to do with the player’s supreme mental strength. The older champion, having conquered everything before running into the young conqueror, was almost driven to despair by his repeated failures.
Current tennis fans would identify the players as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But go back to the early nineties and the story will remind you of Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Although it has never been mentioned or written about, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the two rivalries are remarkably similar in almost every aspect.
The players seem to have followed almost the same career paths. They share the same strengths and weaknesses and had comparable playing styles. And to add to that their rivalries followed identical paths. The first one started with Seles’ win over Graf at the 1990 French Open – Similar to the way Nadal and Federer kicked off at the 2005 French Open. Seles first established herself as the queen of clay before she conquered the hard courts. While Graf continued to dominate the former Yugoslavian on grass, Seles was improving rapidly on her least favourite surface, making the finals in 1992.
The Fedex-Rafa rivalry has also played out similarly. Nadal has gone on from the 2005 triumph at Paris to become arguably the best player on clay, ever. He has also improved by leaps and bounds on other surfaces and holds grand slam titles on three surfaces at the time of writing. Roger dominated him on grass initially but Nadal improved enough to break through that bastion as well –winning Wimbledon in 2008.
Seles had a vice like grip over Graf, grinding her into submission time and time again. Rafa enjoys the same dominance over Federer. He plays memorable matches with the Swiss where he almost always comes out on top, thanks to his indomitable spirit. Both Steffi Graf and Roger Federer seemed totally powerless against an opponent who had fewer tennis gifts but far more in terms of desire. Both rivalries came down to a battle of the mind and each time the older player crumbled in the face of their relentless rival.
In addition to the mental warfare, there is another key common component to both rivalries. It is the fact that Seles and Nadal were both left handed and had double handed backhands. On the other hand, Graf and Federer were righties who employed a single handed backhand. To understand the full implication of this dynamic, please read Paul Fein’s brilliant analysis of the same in the Sportstar (the second week issue of February 2009).
Although Fein is referring just to Federer and Nadal, his arguments are universal and holds true for the Seles –Graf rivalry as well. In brief, Fein proves that a left hander enjoys an inherent advantage over a righty when serving and receiving serve. More importantly, he disproves the long held notion that the lack of power in the single handed backhanded is compensated for by its better reach. He also argues and proves through examples that the single handed backhand is less reliable and more prone to errors, especially when under pressure. That is primarily the reason why Federer’s game has often cracked in key situations whereas Nadal’s has held firm. In another time, the same paradigm would have explained why Seles made fewer errors to regularly beat Steffi Graf.
With so much in common it is difficult to understand why no one pointed out the obvious similarities?
One possible reason could be the fact that the first rivalry was cut short by Gunther Parche. The stabbing in Hamburg changed the trajectory of the Seles – Graf rivalry and it never played out in full. Monica was never the same player again and Steffi Graf re-established herself as the undisputed number one player in the world. Because of its short duration, Seles-Graf is not even mentioned as one of the great tennis rivalries. The lasting memory is the stabbing and the tennis that preceded it is generally a blur. Had it lasted for two more years, then things would have been very different. Comparing the Graf-Seles rivalry with Federer -Nadal would have been far more obvious.
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The comparison between the federer-Nadal rivalary and Graf-seles confrontation is nicely presented. Although Monica never beat Steffi at Wimbledon, there’s every reason to believe that she might well have, had the unfortunate stabbing incident not taken place.
Incidently, some others have benifited from Nadal’s dominance over Federer. Andy Murray has become even bigger nemesis for Federer. Steffi didn’t allow any other rival to take advantage of her weakness against Seles. Roger Federer though seems unlikely to regain his charm and one wonders if he is strong enough to stage a comeback.
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One thing that bothers me when comparing the Graf-Seles rivalry is that everyone always talks about the mental toll that the stabbing took on Monica. Which, I agree, the stabbing did. But what about the mental stresses on Steffi just before Monica started to whip her?! Steffi was being hounded by the press (particularly in Europe) about her daddy’s extra marital affair and accusations of having paid off the mistress to hide a positive paternity suit. Peter, had even trotted his “other woman” out on the road with himself and Stef as his so called “assistant!” We also know that her dad, Peter, was boozing it up and taking prescription meds on top of it. Steffi was having to take care of an increasingly out of control drunkard during the evenings after her matches! This took a terrible toll on Graf. It also was the beginning of her severe injury situation. She always had the allergies, but it seems that as she was attacked mentally and emotionally in her most vulnerable place (her family), her body started to mess with her severely. She felt so under duress, that Graf felt compelled to buy an apartment in NYC to escape the tabloid press from her home of Germany. This took one hell of a mental toll on Graf, yet no one ever mentions how her game was effected. To Grafs credit, she did not make excuses herself. But I feel that it’s something that must be considered in the history of the Seles-Graf rivalry. Graf wasn’t her strong-mental self. Still, I do tend to think that had they played a few more years (with no stabbing), Graf would have won less GSs. Maybe finished more in the Navratilova-Evert range of 18 GS. Still, Graf accounted herself well in the face of terrible mental issues (which were aggravated even more after her daddy was accused of tax evasion,AND Monica’s attack!).
Steffi won 11 Slams since the stabbing of Monica Seles.
Take away the ones she had not been able to win with Seles competing before having her career devastated by the knife of a crazed German Graf fan and you only have 3 since Seles was stabbed. That would leave Steffi with 14.
Monica Seles was never the player after her return that she was before the stabbing … and anybody who has paid attention to tennis in these last 20 years would know that.
The only Slam that Graf had a good chance of winning with Seles in the form she was in during those years 1991, 1992 and 1993 before the stabbing was Wimbledon .. so, a good argument could be made that Graf at her best and Seles at her best throughout the 1990s would have brought Graf only a total of 14 Slam — the 9 Slams Graf won before Seles’ dominance began + the 5 Wimbledons Graf won after Seles’ dominance began.
@Malhar…The thing is that the Seles Graf rivalry didnt last long enough to shatter Graf , the way Nadal has wrecked Federer. had it lasted long enough, I am sure her form would have slipped further.
@NJfromLA…welcome to ACF…I dont think the Peter Graf scandal was the sole reason, Steffi was getting regularly beaten by Seles. Had it been so much of an issue, she would have skipped a few tournaments or struggled against other opponents as well. And remember how she got back to her winning ways as soon as Seles was out of the game. She had lost a tense Australian Open final to Seles. But just a few months later, she showed amazing mental toughness to stave off a dangerous looking Mary Joe Fernandez at the French final. Isn’t that proof enough that Seles was in her head. And mind you, I am a huge Steffi Graf fan and always supported her against Seles, getting crushed everytime she lost a close match.
@ Tennis…welcome to ACF…I totall agree with you…In fact I would like to have your thoughts on this article as well – http://www.acommonfan.com/2008/10/08/the-mind-bending-what-ifs-from-sport-the-stabbing-of-monica-seles/
I follow your blog for quite a long time and should tell that your articles always prove to be of a high value and quality for readers.
The years that Monica Seles was absent were by far the worst years for women's tennis…..Steffi Graf went from winning nearly nothing, to winning everything….it was not a good time for the sport…….
Nice article, but the writer forgets to mention that Monica never dominated Steffi like Raf dominates Roger. If you take the standards most Seles fans use for the dominance, then Gabriela Sabatini was a bigger problem for Graf than Seles. Sabatini beat Graf five times in a row in that period. Of course the tabbing put a black spot on both careers, but Steffi was mentally far superior than Roger and never looked defeated against Seles. As to those who say Monica could win Wimbledon, they don't know grass tennis. Sure you can win it with a tremendous baseline game, but you can't win it of you are not a great atlethe. There is no way she would ever beat Steffi in the final, maybe other player's but not Steffi, compare that to Steffi's results on clay (her worst surface) and to me Steffi would have overtaken even without the horribel incident.
There are similarities in the rivalvry, but not in dominance.
Seles was coming on fast, and everybody could plainly see she was, if not already, going to be the best woman tennis player at that time. The two-handed titan won seven of the eight majors she played at one point and was clearly the premier player in women's tennis. At that point, Seles appeared poised to challenge for a prominent place as the greatest player of all time.
Steffi's titles ARE tainted by the fact that the only reason she got them was because of the Seles stabbing incident.
After the 1993 AO final (Monica's last Grand Slam prior to the incident), Steffi was in tears. She sobbed "I'm a mess." She had no idea what to do with herself, or with her game. She was clearly inferior to Seles at that point, and she needed something to happen to put her back on top. Lucky for her, something did.
Hi Roger and PeteRoger …welcome to ACF
I totally agree with PeteRoger…the Seles-Graf rivaly was increasingly becoming more one-sided and had it continued for a little while more, we would have seen scenes similar to the crying episode of Roger Federer…Sabatini might have beaten Graf many times but the German owned her in the slams…and Seles totally owned Graf save for Wimbledon … and that is so similar to the way Rafa dominates Roger in the big matches
Guys…check the head to head record of Graf and Seles – Its 10-5 in favor of Graf. Graf was never behind in Head to Head and even from 1991-1993, Graf had a 3-2 lead…during Sele’s best playing years….Seles never beat Graf two times in a row from 1991 to 1993.
Anyways, Nadal is down with injuries…..and Federer is No. 1 again…
The article makes interesting reading but is not true