monica was a great player - and probably will be again. its a bit strange that so much people have to talk about graf when they want to express what a great player monica i or would have been when.... so will i. i really like her - as a player and as well as a person. but just some sportive facts besides the attempt-theory:
EVERY GREAT PLAYER - starting with court,evert, navratilova or graf has periods of weakness after appearing on the scene like a tornado. as much as its true that monica was surely brought about some very very good years caused by that attempt - lets stay fair in mind and look at some other aspects: the young graf came as the same whirlwind into the scene. her main opponent was the amazing navratilova, who had just some of their best years. she won wimbledon something like 4times in a row- before graf appeared. with evert she dominated untouched the top of rankings. when seles came up - yes it was terrific how she played. again a new, higher level. but lets also see that she never dominated graf. she always won very very narrowly. till the attempt graf won 6, seles won 4 times. graf lost the important games , thats right. but graf was after 3 years of dominating tennis a bit in a crisis - in her game and psychologically. her father had an affair with a cheap girl, what was published by the german yellow-press. and at that time when graf lost first to seles they discussed the interesting subject if this girls daughter is steffis sister. besides that graf experimented hitting her backhand more often topsin. with the consequence that her forehand was much waeker than usual and the backhandslice not as good as before and later. and its always much easier to attack than to defewnd. so: yes, monica won some important games, but till that point it was never really decided who of them both would stay in top. monica is a great great player, she brought the game on a new level without a question. she also took a very good beginning after her comeback. i think - what less people realize - in that us open she played at her best level again. both did so. it makes me a bit sad that she isnt physically at her best the whole last years. she is in fact not worked out. i m sure the death of her father brought her a bit into a depressive mood again. but we also have to see something else: her system of playing was the perfect conter-style to graf, that had sometimes a weakness on the backhand side. but her system of playing doesnt fit as well to other players that play as hard as her on both sides - with the advantage not using both hands on both sides. what is just a limitation of reach. like the williams for example. besides that she s a all-time-best-player for me. all points.
