[VottCetaVeivE]

Steffi turned 40 today.

In tribute, the NY Times has clips from three of her memorable moments on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.co...fi-graf-at-40/







My personal fave is still the Arantxa/Steffi final from '95, which isn't one of the clips.

[Flatlytaize]

The Warrior.

I will always personally credit Navratilova as the greatest ever (the woman was playing in the singles final of Wimbledon at 38 years old for chrissake!), but Steffi was in a league of her own as well. Not just one of tennis' greatest, but one of the greatest athletes, PERIOD, of all time.

I remember watching the 1999 RG final like it was yesterday. As a then-easily excitable young thing, I was furious when Martina lost her chance at the Slam (yet again) and couldn't see past that to understand what Steffi had just accomplished. Looking back on it, I have so much respect for what she was able to do that Spring.

[RicyReetred]

Steffi will always remain my favorite tennis player of all time. When she retired, my love for the sport died a little (ok a lot) that day. Took many years to come back to the sport, and certainly finding TAT has brought some of that love for the sport back in my heart.

There will always be a debate about who is th greatest tennis player of all time, man or woman, but there is one record of Steffi that will simply stand the test of time.

She is the only man or woman to win each of the slams at least four times. She is also the only athlete to successfully defend each slam at least once.

Oh, and she also won the French and Wimby title in the same year four times. She owns a true Grand Slam with an Olympic gold the same year to boot. On a separate occasion she also accomplished the Steffi Slam (which no one ever seems to bring up when discussing the Serena slam). And her grand slam tally of 7 Wimbys, 6 French and 9 AO and US Open crowns show how well she could play on any surface.

Happy Birthday Steffi Graf.

[EarnestKS]

No one will ever achieve the amount of admiration I have for her. I rewatched the 99 RG final last week and it was amazing

[berdyanskdotsu]

Love me some Steffi. She's among the group of fabulous people turning forty this year.

[Khurlxgq]

Love me some Steffi. She's among the group of fabulous people turning forty this year.

I know! Nancy Kerrigan AND Gwen Stefani??? What a year!!!

[PyncGyncliacy]

She was one of the two players that brought me into the sport. Happy birthday, Steffi!

[anderriter]

Another huge fan of Steffi! Her records are just untouchable, and watching her forehand work was pure joy.

Honestly though, I was pretty disappointed in her choice of Agassi, when that news first came out. But since then, my impression of Andre changed and she also seems to be very happy with her life.

[abossakon]

Another huge fan of Steffi! Her records are just untouchable, and watching her forehand work was pure joy.

Honestly though, I was pretty disappointed in her choice of Agassi, when that news first came out. But since then, my impression of Andre changed and she also seems to be very happy with her life.

I won't say I was disappointed (I was actually thrilled) but it did seem like kind of a weird thing at the time for both of them. I was definitely proven wrong.