"I needed to just win again, I needed it for myself" - When Steffi Graf won Wimbledon after going 18 months without a Grand Slam
Steffi Graf returned to the top of the women's rankings on the back of her Wimbledon triumph in 1991. The victory was a good example of the resilience and mental strength of the young star whose 186-week stint at as World No. 1 had ended earlier that year.
Following a spectacular rise that captivated the tennis world in the late 1980s, Graf's off-court woes hampered her performance at the turn of the decade. Around the same time, Monica Seles burst onto the scene as a force to reckon with.
Graf's emotions following her Wimbledon win spoke volumes of how much it meant to her. The German hadn't won a Grand Slam since the 1990 Australian Open - a gap of 18 months.
"It's very special. I needed just to win again. I needed it for myself," Graf said after her win.
Graf, who won all four Majors in 1988 before adding an Olympic gold medal to her impressive kitty, had to be content with a lone Grand Slam in 1991. But her Wimbledon crown was of enormous significance, coming as it did in the wake of her father Peter Graf being accused by a German model of being the father of her child.
Steffi Graf, who lost to Gabriela Sabatini four times in a row earlier that season, finally tilted the scales in the Wimbledon final despite the Argentinian serving for the match twice. Graf eventually won 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 to lift her third trophy at SW19.
The 1991 Wimbledon win did not, however, mark the beginning of a dramatic comeback for the Mannheim-born player, as she lost the World No. 1 rank soon after. Graf ended the year at No. 2, behind arch-rival Monica Seles.
Steffi Graf's incredible numbers at age 22 following the 1991 Wimbledon triumph
Steffi Graf ended Martina Navratilova's jaw-dropping consecutive streak of six Wimbledon titles in 1988. By the age of 22, she had already won a whopping 10 Grand Slams.
There were three Australian Open titles (1988, 1989, 1990), two French Open titles (1987, 1988) and two US Open titles (1988, 1989) aside from three Wimbledon victories in Graf's trophy cabinet by the end of Wimbledon 1991.
Graf ended the 1989 season with an 86-2 win-loss record and looked on course to eclipse every single record in the books, before Peter Graf's paternity scandal derailed her focus.
.@serenawilliams ends year with 78-4 win-loss record, a win % of 95.1 - best @wta record since Steffi Graf went 86-2 in 1989 #wta #tennis
Despite the wobble that followed, Steffi Graf bounced back in style to rise to the top of the rankings in 1993. She held the top spot for 377 weeks -- a record that was subsequently broken by Novak Djokovic in February 2023.