Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at Stuttgart, Germany.

In 1985, for instance, she played only 10 events leading up to the US Open, whereas another up-and-coming star, Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, who was a year younger than Graf, played 21.

At the beginning of 1999 Graf played the warm up event to the Australian Open in Sydney ; she defeated Serena Williams in the 2nd round and Venus Williams in the quarter-finals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semi-final.

Graf played in the celebrity doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles before straining her left calf muscle and being replaced by Anna Kournikova.

Williams played five events in 1996, falling in the first round four times but reaching the third round in Los Angeles, before losing to World No. 1 Steffi Graf.

They have met in a total of eight Grand Slam finals, ahead of the number of finals played by Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and by Helen Wills Moody and Helen Jacobs but behind the record of fourteen finals set by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

* Admiral Graf Spee played by heavy cruiser

At age 34, Navratilova defeated Graf the last time they played in a Grand Slam event in the semifinals of the 1991 US Open 7 – 6 ( 2 ), 6 – 7 ( 6 ), 6 – 4.

Graf played at James Galway's wedding in May 1972.

Henman took part in a test event for the adoption of the centre court roof in May 2009 and played mixed doubles with Kim Clijsters against husband and wife team Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

In the 1984 made-for-TV film The Masks of Death, a widowed Irene Adler, played by Anne Baxter, is a guest at Graf Udo Von Felseck ( Anton Diffring )' s country house where Holmes ( Peter Cushing ) and Watson ( John Mills ) are investigating the supposed disappearance of a visiting prince.

In 1994, at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California Austin, in the middle of her comeback, played Graf, who was World No. 1 at the time.

Also in the garden is a small summerhouse attributed to William Kent ( circa 1740 ), a helicopter launching pad, and a tennis court where Björn Borg, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf have played.

The key role was played by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in actual implementation after his assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944.

Graf later played the trigger-happy Cadet Eugene Tackleberry ( later Sgt.

He played Graf von Krolock until January 17, 1999, in Vienna.

In the 1993 Wimbledon final, Steffi Graf played Jana Novotná.

She lost the next eight Grand Slam singles semifinals she played, four of them to Navratilova, two to Steffi Graf, and one each to Evert and Hana Mandlíková.

Tennis greats Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Mary Joe Fernandez, Monica Seles, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have all played in the tournament.

She also played for Austria in the Fed Cup versus Germany, losing her singles match to Steffi Graf.

Frazier has the distinction of being the last woman to play against Steffi Graf in a professional WTA tour match at the 1999 Acura Classic, played at the La Costa Resort and Spa outside San Diego.

During the third set, Graf retired and never played again.

* July 9 – Steffi Graf and Boris Becker of West Germany win singles titles at the 1989 Wimbledon Championships.

In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24.

Graf won six French Open singles titles ( second to Evert ) and seven Wimbledon singles titles ( third behind Navratilova and Helen Wills Moody ).

Graf reached thirteen consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, from the 1987 French Open through to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them.

In the final, Navratilova led 6 – 3, 4 – 2 before Graf rallied to win 3 – 6, 7 – 5, 6 – 1 for her third Grand Slam singles title of the year.

Graf defeated Mary Joe Fernandez in the final of the Australian Open, which was her eighth Grand Slam singles title in the last nine she contested.

Even though Graf won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1990, she finished the year as the top ranked player.

Graf lost an Australian Open quarterfinal to Jana Novotná, the first time she did not reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 1986 French Open.

Graf then reached her ninth Wimbledon singles final, losing to Davenport 6 – 4, 7 – 5.

In mixed doubles at Wimbledon, Graf partnered with John McEnroe, but she withdrew at the semi-final stage to protect her knee in advance of the singles final.

Graf lost her singles match to Elena Likhovtseva 5 – 4.

Graf won seven singles titles at Wimbledon, six singles titles at the French Open, five singles titles at the US Open, and four singles titles at the Australian Open.

Her total of 15 Grand Slam singles titles is sixth on the all-time list, and fourth in the open era, behind Steffi Graf ( 22 titles ) and Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova ( 18 titles each ).

On 4 August 2012, she became the second player after Steffi Graf to win a career Golden Grand Slam after winning the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in Wimbledon, and the first player in history, male or female, to win the Career Golden Grand Slam in both singles and doubles.

Venus also became only the sixth woman in history to win the singles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open in consecutive years, the others being Martina Navrátilová ( twice ), Steffi Graf ( twice ), Althea Gibson, Maureen Connolly Brinker, and Helen Wills Moody ( twice ).

Navratilova defeated Graf in the 1987 Wimbledon and US Open finals ( and at the US Open became only the third player in the open era to win the women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles at the same event ).

Graf eventually broke Navratilova's records of 156 consecutive weeks and 331 total weeks as the World No. 1 singles player but did not break Navratilova's record 167 singles titles as Graf reached 107.

Graf participated in the World Team Tennis Smash Hits exhibition in Washington, D. C., to support The Elton John Aids Foundation.

The completed retractable roof structure was ready for the 2009 Championships, being unveiled in April 2009 and tested with a capacity audience during an exhibition match on 17 May 2009, featuring Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman, and Kim Clijsters ( subsequently returning from retirement ).