“A record for eternity,” Boris Becker hails Steffi Graf’s ‘greatness’ while recalling her Calendar Year Golden Slam

Graf remains the only player, male or female, to have achieved the Calendar Year Golden Slam.

“A record for eternity,” Boris Becker hails Steffi Graf’s ‘greatness’ while recalling her Calendar Year Golden Slam

L: Boris Becker, R: Steffi Graf (via Imago)

Boris Becker hailed compatriot Steffi Graf by recalling her historic Calender Year Golden Slam. Graf won all four Grand Slam titles in 1988 and also clinched the Olympic gold medal in Seoul, a feat only she has managed to accomplish in tennis history.

With the 2024 Paris Olympics set to get underway this week, the International Tennis Federation shared a video online celebrating Graf’s 1988 campaign. Six-time Major winner Becker responded to that post by stating that the 55-year-old’s greatness needs to be remembered and that her record will stand forever.

Important to remember Greatness in these fast times. Steffi won 4 majors plus Olympic Gold in 1988! That’s a record for eternity!!!
Boris Becker said in a post on X (formerly Twitter)

FS Video

Years after achieving the Calendar Year Golden Slam, Steffi Graf acknowledged the magnitude of her 1988 campaign and disclosed that she valued her Olympic gold medal much more than any of the Majors she won in her career.

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Steffi Graf’s Calendar Year Golden Slam in 1988: A recap

Steffi Graf remains one of the finest players to have played the sport. She won 107 singles titles, including 22 Grand Slam titles, with only Serena Williams (23) ahead of her in the Open Era. She is also the only player, male or female, to achieve a quadruple Career Grand Slam — winning singles titles at each Major at least four times.

Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf (via Imago)

The most notable of her achievements came in 1988, when a 19-year-old Graf won the Golden Slam, a feat no other player has achieved in the sport so far. That year, she entered the Australian Open as the top seed and reached the final without dropping a set. She then beat third seed Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6(3) to clinch her first title Down Under.

Graf was the defending champion at the French Open and once again reached the final without dropping a set. In the title match, the top seed demolished Belarus’ Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 to retain the Roland Garros crown. The German was equally commanding on the grass courts in Wimbledon, reaching yet another Major final by winning all matches in straight sets.

However, six-time defending champion Martina Navratilova gave her a tough fight in the final. She won the first set before Graf dug deep and turned the match in her favor, winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. Later at the US Open, she dropped just 13 games en route to the final, where she won 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 against Gabriela Sabatini to become the first woman in the Open Era to win the Calendar Slam.

The Mannheim-born player entered the Seoul Olympics that year as the top seed and lived up to that billing. She won her first two matches in straight sets before dropping one against Soviet Union’s Larisa Savchenko (6-2, 4-6, 6-3) in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, she breezed past American Zina Garrison 6-2, 6-0, and defeated Sabatini for the second time in three weeks to clinch the Olympic gold medal and complete the Calendar Year Golden Slam.

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