In the same year, 19-year-old Steffi Graf won the Olympic gold medal and all four Grand Slams. To date, she is the only tennis player to have done so.

In the same year, 19-year-old Steffi Graf won the Olympic gold medal and all four Grand Slams. To date, she is the only tennis player to have done so.

Many people consider the legendary German tennis player Steffi Graf to be among the greatest in history. During her 16-year professional career, she won 22 Grand Slam titles, which is the second-most since the Open Era began in 1968 (after Serena Williams, 23), and the third-most in history (after Margaret Court, 24). The longest streak of any player, male or female, at No. 1 in the world rankings was 377 weeks, which Steffi Graf achieved. Her 107 career titles rank third in history, behind only Martina Navratilova (167) and Chris Evert (157).

But one accomplishment in particular from her career sticks out. Steffi Graf, who was 19 at the time, won the 1988 Grand Slam and is still the only male or female tennis player in history to do so. A term coined by the media, the Golden Slam is when a player wins all four Grand Slams – the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open – in addition to the Olympic gold medal in the same year. It is as daunting as it sounds and requires great effort and adaptability from a tennis player to triumph across hard courts, grass courts and clay courts, all within months of each other.

Steffi Graf, on the other hand, possessed all of those attributes in spades—she is the only player in history to have won all four Grand Slams. This is how Steffi Graf won the 1988 Wimbledon Grand Slam. 1988 Australian Open Having won her first Grand Slam title, the French Open in 1987, and risen to world No.1 for the first time, Steffi Graf entered the 1988 Australian Open as the top seed. The German was in form, winning the first four rounds in straight sets and dropping only 13 games. Steffi Graf then beat defending champion Hana Mandlikova 6-2, 6-2 in the quarter-finals before ousting compatriot Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 6-2, 6-3 in the semis.

After defeating Hana Mandlikova, the reigning champion, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals, Steffi Graf defeated Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, 6-2, 6-3, in the semifinals. Steffi Graf won her first Australian Open title, defeating third seed Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6, thanks to her devastating form going into the final. It would prove to be the last of Evert’s six Australian Open final appearances.

French Open 1988 At the French Open, defending champion Steffi Graf started as the top seed and quickly defeated her rivals, dropping just 11 games all the way to the semifinals. Steffi Graf’s first true test came in the last four when she faced fourth-seeded Argentine Gabriela Sabatini, but she easily overcame it, winning 6-3, 7-6 to get to the final. Steffi Graf won her second consecutive French Open title, defeating Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0, in one of the most dominant Grand Slam finals performances. It was the only “double bagel” Grand Slam final, lasting barely 34 minutes. 1988 Wimbledon.

For the third Grand Slam of the year at Wimbledon, top-seeded Steffi Graf quickly adapted to the fast-paced grass courts. She only dropped 17 games en route to the final, winning all of her matches in straight sets. Steffi Graf’s greatest test came in the championship match when she squared off against the illustrious Martina Navratilova, the six-time reigning champion. Graf got out to a strong start in the final, leading 5-3, but Navratilova rallied to take the opening set with four straight games. In order to take a 2-0 lead and appear to be headed for a seventh consecutive Wimbledon championship, Navratilova also won the first two games of the second set.

But Steffi Graf was unflinching in her comeback, unleashing her trademark groundstrokes and forehands to win six games in a row, taking the second set and requiring a deciding. With the tide clearly in Graf’s favor, she proceeded to end Navratilova’s dominance by winning the third set 6-1 and winning her first Wimbledon championship. Together with Gabriela Sabatini, Steffi Graf won the women’s doubles championship at the 1988 Wimbledon, her only Grand Slam doubles victory.

US Open 1988 Now, as the year’s last Grand Slam got underway, all eyes were firmly placed on Steffi Graf entering the US Open. The German did not let everyone down; she went undefeated in all of her bouts, dropping only 13 games till the semifinals. The legendary Chris Evert withdrew in the final four, allowing Graf to recuperate before the crucial match. In the US Open final, Steffi Graf defeated Gabriela Sabatini, her Grand Slam-winning doubles partner, in the opening set before the Argentine rallied in the second. Without faltering, Graf quickly won the third set, defeating Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to secure her maiden US Open victory and make history as only the third player in history to do it, following Maureen Connolly Brinker and Margaret.

But the greatest honor was still to come. Seoul Olympics 1988 Once more, Steffi Graf was the top seed at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The German, who started the tournament in the second round, won both of her opening matches in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Steffi Graf defeated Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 after dropping the opening set of the competition. Graf faced Gabriela Sabatini for the Olympic gold after defeating USA’s Zina Garrison in the semifinals. This was Graf’s second final matchup with the Argentine in three weeks. But this time, there would be no problems as Steffi Graf defeated Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match to capture the Olympic gold medal and complete the amazing Golden Slam.