"Don’t think I lost because I wasn't grunting"- When Monica Seles refuted claims about her missing grunt in Wimbledon final loss to Steffi Graf
Monica Seles lost to Steffi Graf in the 1992 Wimbledon Championships ladies' singles final. Seles and Graf were the first and second seeds, respectively.
The final between Seles and Graf was projected to be a close encounter. The top seed had downed Martina Navratilova in the semifinals whereas the German trounced Argentina's Gabriela Sabatini.
But Graf proved too good for Seles and won the match 6-2, 6-1 in just 58 minutes in London. It was her fourth title at SW19 and 11th Grand Slam overall. She went on to win the tournament three more times in 1993, 1995, and 1996.
For Seles from Yugoslavia (now Serbia), however, it was her last and only final at the London Major. She had won nine Major titles including four at the Australian Open, three at the French Open, and two at the US Open.
Credited and criticized for inventing the tennis grunt in women's tennis, Monica Seles was uncharacteristically quiet during her match with Steffi Graf. During the post-match press conference, the finalist was asked if trying to suppress her grunts cost her the title, she replied:
“Not really but just for myself, I don’t think I lost the match because I was not grunting, I really think Steffi played great and it was not my day today.”
Seles blamed the loss on her inability to settle into a rhythm and dominant performance from her opponent.
“She was really playing very well and today I just couldn’t find my serve or form. I don’t think it was such a great match but I could give all the credit to Steffi. She just came out and played great tennis," she said.
Interestingly, the duo's encounter was affected by rain three times resulting in a total delay time of four hours and 24 minutes. Seles, however, avoided making any excuses for her loss as she said:
“It was tough, I never had to change so many times for sure, we didn’t have enough left, but that’s part of tennis."
Steffi Graf leads the head-to-head tally against Monica Seles 10-5
Steffi Graf and Monica Seles came face-to-face a total of 15 times between 1989 and 1999. In those 15 encounters, Graf collected ten victories whereas Seles could only manage five wins.
The two first played against each other in the semifinals of the 1989 French Open. Graf drew the first blood with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory. However, she couldn't go past Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final.
Monica Seles registered her first victory over the 22-time Grand Slam champion in the summit clash of the 1990 German Cup held in Berlin. A few weeks later, she downed Steffi Graf again at the Roland Garros to clinch her first Grand Slam title.
Both players clashed in six finals at the Majors and shared the honors with three wins a piece.