
Golden Slam = Olympic Gold Medal + Australian Open Winner + French Open Winner + Wimbledon Winner + US Open Winner.
The year 1988 proved to be one of the eventful year for Steffi Graf, the tennis legend from Germany as she became the first person in the history of tennis to win all the major grand slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) events along with gold medal at Olympics.
Without losing a set in Australian Open, Steffi Graf reached final and defeated Chris Evert of US by 6-1 and 7-6 during January. Five month later in French Open, she again reached final without conceding a set and defeated Natalia Zverera of Soviet Union 6-0 and 6-0 in just 34 minutes in a lop-sided encounter.
A month later, she reached Wimbledon final without much difficulty and met the veteran Martina Navratilova, a six-time Wimbledon champion who had an unbeaten record since 1981. Steffi Graf lost first set 5-7 and bounced back strongly to win next two sets 6-2 and 6-1 to become Wimbledon champion. Two months later, Steffi Graf reached final of US Open and defeated Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina 6-3, 3-6 and 6-1 to clinched Glam Slam for the calendar year 1988.
Three weeks later, she entered Seoul Olympics with lot of expectation and in final she again defeated Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina in straight sets 6-3 and 6-3 thereby won the gold medal. The moment she won the gold medal, the term GOLDEN SLAM was born and she become the first tennis star to achieve this feat and that too in a single calendar year.
Post Comment