Auf Wiedersehen

For Steffi Graf, there was no extended goodbye. She handled retirement the same way she finished off tennis matches in her prime, quickly and decisively.

She walked away from her beloved Wimbledon for the last time in July, not even casting a backward glance. And Friday, ending a 17-year career, the 30-year-old Graf simply picked up her 22 Grand Slam titles and announced that was it. The end came on an otherwise ordinary August day in Heidelberg, Germany, at a quickly arranged news conference near her hometown of Bruehl.

“I’m not having fun anymore,” said Graf, trying to hold back tears.

Graf’s decision rocked her adoring public in Germany and sent shock waves through the tennis world, surprising her peers at the Acura Classic in Manhattan Beach, where on Aug. 17, 1987, she first reached No. 1.

Graf held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 377 weeks, including a record 186 in a row. She won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in 1987 and her last, the bookend, was an unexpected victory at the French Open in June against Martina Hingis.

She is considered one of the best players in history, if not the best ever. In 1988, she won the Grand Slam--all four majors--and added an Olympic gold medal with the singles title in Seoul. Only two other women have completed a Grand Slam--Maureen Connolly and Margaret Court, the only woman who won more Grand Slam titles, 24.

Graf’s longevity is impressive. She won her first titles against legends Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. In the middle of her career, she waged fierce and competitive battles with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Monica Seles.

At the end, she was still teaching lessons to the brash teenagers, beating Hingis in the French Open final and Venus Williams in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

“It was almost too easy to catch up to the top players again,” said Graf, who had fought off a series of debilitating injuries the last few years. “I have nothing left to prove.”

That final winning day in Paris, Graf was giddy and tearful, calling the title her best win ever. She celebrated with friends and, according to French press reports, danced on a table.

“All we need is the prince to ride up on the white horse and carry her away,” her longtime coach, Heinz Gunthardt, said that day.

The tennis version of that almost happened at Wimbledon, where Graf nearly won her second Grand Slam title this year, losing to Lindsay Davenport in the final. But she had declared she would not play the French Open again and said the same about Wimbledon, setting the stage for Friday’s announcement.

Gunthardt had a feeling retirement was near, which is why he traveled to last week’s tournament, the TIG Classic at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif. As it turned out, Graf’s final match was in the second round against Amy Frazier. She had to retire in the third set because of a strained left hamstring.

“I’m happy for her that she found the right time to end her career,” Gunthardt said Friday. “She seemed happy announcing it and I am glad for that.

“It did not come as a surprise for me because I could feel too that she did not have the energy that she usually has, and she was not having much fun on the court, which was her main motivation in the past.

“And that’s when you know. Once I didn’t see the joy of playing, I knew it wouldn’t be long before it was over.”

That day was Friday, and Graf said her latest injury was not the cause of her decision.

“Right now, I’m perfectly fit,” she said.

Her colleagues on the tour, Hingis and Sanchez-Vicario, called it a sad day for women’s tennis. One of Graf’s close friends and occasional doubles partner, Rennae Stubbs of Australia, said that the legendary champion was simply a woman of her word.

“She said if she got another injury she would quit,” Stubbs said. “And she did. She sticks to her word. When someone says, ‘Oh, come on, she’ll play the French again,’ no. She said she’s not going to play again because Steffi has nothing to prove anymore.”

When Graf was struggling before the French Open, she talked with Stubbs in Berlin at the German Open.

“I said to her, ‘This is not fun for you. You have nothing to prove,’ ” Stubbs said. “And she said, ‘No, it’s not fun anymore.’ It was difficult for her in front of her home fans.”

They had a vastly different conversation immediately after the French Open.

“I said, ‘You just amaze me. You proved me wrong over and over,’ ” Stubbs said. “I never ever doubted Steffi. But this year, it was hard to see. Leading up to the French, she was losing a lot of matches. She wasn’t confident on the court, not like herself. It was getting to her.”

Stubbs was not surprised Graf went out with little fanfare, saying, “One time I went to her house in Germany--and she has three Porsches--and she came driving up in a big old station wagon. It suited her so much. She’s a very humble person. She never tried to be in the spotlight, the star.”

And now? In an interview last year before Wimbledon, Graf was saying she was making “a list of hundreds” of things to do, including traveling.

Last week, Graf knew it was over by the time she was on the plane, flying home from California. She already was thinking ahead.

“On the plane coming back from San Diego, I just started poring through these magazines and thinking of all the places I could go,” she said, laughing.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BY THE NUMBERS

22: Grand Slam event titles (second all-time)

7: Wimbledon titles

1988: Year in which she won Grand Slam plus Olympic gold medal

107: Singles titles (third all-time)

186: Consecutive weeks at No. 1

3: Her ranking at retirement

$21,839,777: All-time WTA earnings

*

FOES DAZZLED

Rivals speak of Steffi Graf’s triumphs over injury and adversity. Page 10

BY NUMBERS, PAGE 10

ACURA CLASSIC

Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis and Julie Halard-Decugis advance. Page 10