Jun 15, 2004 Graf, queen of the lawn By Bob Carter Special to ESPN.com Steffi Graf's the best all-around player. Martina won more on fast courts and I won more on slow courts, but Steffi came along and won more titles on both surfaces,says Chris Evert on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series. The beginning came neatly wrapped in irony, one teen tennis queen across the court from a future one. In 1982, Steffi Graf, a 13-year-old German and the youngest phenom to turn professional, played her first match against Tracy Austin, a 19-year-old American who had won the U.S. Open three years earlier. After winning 6-4, 6-0 in Filderstadt, Germany, Austin downplayed Graf's skills by saying there were hundreds like Graf back in the U.S., girls with game. The analysis turned into a monstrous mis-hit, for Graf wasn't like the other kids, before or after her, whether they were named Austin or Jaeger, Sabatini or Seles, Capriati or Hingis. Some started on the women's tour with more hype or endorsements than Graf. Some won big tournaments more quickly. None would match her achievements. In 1988, at 19, Graf won the Grand Slam. A year later, after beating Martina Navratilova for her second Wimbledon singles title, an awed Navratilova said, I don't know how much more she can improve. She was so fast and athletic, tracking balls that seemed unplayable, that people wondered if she might have succeeded as a sprinter as well. As a pro, Graf overcame multiple injuries, staying at No. 1 longer than anyone. She won her first Grand Slam tournament in 1987, the French Open, and became the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 player that August, a ranking she kept for a record 186 consecutive weeks. When she retired in 1999, she had won 22 majors, second only to Margaret Court's 24. She had won Wimbledon seven times and her 107 tournament victories placed her third behind Navratilova (167) and Evert (154). She spent a record 377 weeks at No. 1.