U.S. Open Reigns

Thunder rolled and lightning flashed. A deluge broke over Stadium Court, ushering out the women’s singles final at the U.S. Open on Sunday.

With almost reckless timing, Steffi Graf waited until the first drops of rain fell before she finished off Monica Seles, 7-5, 6-4, to win her fifth Open title and her sixth-consecutive Grand Slam championship.

The weather was a metaphor for Seles’ day, which began under brilliant sunshine and finished under dark clouds. Seeded No. 2 to Graf’s No. 1, Seles figured to give Graf at least as tough a time as she had in losing to the German in last year’s final.

Helping Seles’ cause was a nervous Graf, who said she feared she might play as unevenly as she had for most of the tournament. Graf rose to the occasion, however, and played the best she has in two weeks.

“To me, it is still a big question, too--how I am able to play that well when I need to,” Graf said. “I guess I believe in myself.”

Graf’s latest U.S. Open title gives her 21 Grand Slam singles titles, three behind Margaret Court’s record. Increasingly asked about the record, the 27-year-old refuses to even think about it. But others are.

Seles said there is no doubt about Graf’s dominance of the women’s game at the moment.

“Steffi is clearly No. 1, everybody can see that,” said Seles, who claimed her 1996 Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January. “She has won three Grand Slams. Anyone who does well at Grand Slams, in my mind, is the No. 1 player. This year, it clearly has been Steffi.”

It was a New York kind of match, complete with strange goings on: Graf was offered another in a string of on-court marriage proposals, and play was halted when a strong chorus of “Happy Birthday” wafted over from the adjoining Grandstand Court, where U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson was being serenaded.

If Graf and Seles were not already known for the speed at which they play it might have seemed as if they were racing the deteriorating weather conditions.

The match was barely half over before the storm began to move in. Dark clouds that were a distant menace at the start of the match stalked the stadium as the afternoon wore on. By the latter stages of the second set, the court was in darkness and the remainder of the match had to be played under lights.

The match had been over for only a few minutes when a slanting rain began to pelt the court. Fans scurried for the exits and for refuge beneath the stadium, but for the players there was no shelter.

Despite the rain, officials stubbornly went ahead with the televised award ceremony. A parade of flags was marched in and the flags snapped and bent on their poles. Wind-driven debris and papers were swirling around the stadium. Graf and Seles giggled as they stood, drenched, and accepted their soggy paychecks--$600,000 for Graf and $300,000 for Seles.

The match had little to offer tactically. Graf was able to break Seles in the third game of the first set by pressuring Seles’ vulnerable serve and driving her back with penetrating groundstrokes. Seles was afraid to venture to the net, although she had suggested before the match that the way to play Graf is to be aggressive and control points.

Seles spends a good portion of her practice sessions working on a serve-and-volley style, so to not exploit that skill is to holster a powerful weapon. Afterward, she chastised herself for not coming to the net more often.

“Sooner or later, I better do it in a match or I am going to be 40 years old and still never try it, so I might as well have tried it,” she said, shaking her head. “A few times I was successful and a few times I wasn’t, but at least I had the guts to go in a few times today, which I didn’t do before in my life.”

There was no way Seles would have challenged Graf’s serve or attempted to slide to the net. Graf served brilliantly, in terms of power and placement. She faced only one break point and had 10 aces, nearly all at critical moments.

Twice in the match, Graf answered a double fault with an ace. With a first-serve percentage of 71%, Graf frequently got her first serve in at speeds of more than 100 mph. Seles had no answer for it.

“The key was her serve,” Seles said. “She just kept getting her first serve in. I had no chance of returning it.”

Once again Graf showed her mettle under trying conditions. Usually her distress is physical--here, Graf said, she enjoyed two weeks free of back pain.

The most pressing issue for Graf is the trial of her father, which began in Germany last Thursday. Peter Graf is accused of hiding a reported $13 million of his daughter’s income. Graf herself has not been charged, although prosecutors say it’s possible. She may, however, be called to testify.

“It was really difficult to play this tournament,” she said. “Really, really difficult. Last year was extremely difficult. I don’t think this year was any easier. I was really struggling during the tournament just to stay focused and to concentrate. That is why to be sitting here in this kind of position is incredible.”