Two great champions who don't need to scream on each point and had one-handed backhand, love them both.

Graff was the and sti.l the best

Yep, the quality of this video is insanely good. And it makes you realize/appreciate how good both of them were.

Its certainly a lost art in todays modern womens game ; even many in doubles competition s dont volley thst well or much at all at times

You mean the boring years of tennis !?

@@azenith9589 boring years of tennis is from 2013 till end of this sport in this universe or till the end of this universe ( only cowards' game play from 2013- base line games, standing so much back like a coward, not attacking and aggresively coming to the net , not showing varieties at all- nowadays everything is slow moving, no varieties at all, dull movement , no quickness/alertness at all

@@mahalakshmid8613 you must be from the ancient century artifacts ., wondering your still alive 😅😂

if you think that today players do not have touch you are just an incompetent

Me too... i felt this excitement , someone so so brilliant..

Same here!

Great summary! TRUE.

This is a perfect analysis of Steffi well written.

@@keithcampbell6806 he missed the bit about Seles getting stabbed. Smh.

@@gary8306 Which slam would Steffi not have won, lol?

Plus olympics singles

Navratilova 32, Steffi 19, it could explain.

Hah I was ten years old to, Martina looked soo intimidating to me I thought she was cool like a Tennis Darth Vader.

Golden Slam still any players not achieved except Steffi

@@arunaaruna7941 Both Serena and Djokovic were positioned to win all 4 Majors in the same year, and neither could get over the finish line...shows how difficult that feat is to achieve since it's been over 30 years since Graf pulled it off, adding Olympic Gold in 1988 to boot.

Was thinking exactly the same. What an amazing thing to have surfaced.

Graf ate her alive. I saw this. It was like watching my aunt die.

@@raygordonteacheschess5501 lol!!!! Or grandma! I love the 1999 French open final, Graf vs Hingis! So good! That's like watching a spoiled brat get their ass spanked!

“One of the better matches of the late 80s“? Are you for real, dude?

@@raygordonteacheschess5501the German daughter of Nazis

Yes, the two best ever.

I thought the same. Never seen a tennis player holding the second ball in the hand during the game.

So true. Take any modern WTA player (including Serena), and they only make 20% of the volleys that Martina makes here.

Add to that their great 1989 finals - Wimbledon, USO and YEC.

It's about tenis, calm down.

if you see 1991 US open semifinal, you see navratiova playing a diffent game. here she plays like against evert, a few years before .most of all attaching slow to have time to get to the net. anchient style. then she tried to attack sharp and be quicker to get to the net. i really find it interesting that navratilova played slighly a different game in 20 years, but still different from what was going on. evert, graf, seles. the game had changed many times. very interesting. she always played peculiar.

some players still do that. calm down.

@@TremblingQualifier On the WTA tour? Name one? Barty did hit slice backhands, yes, but that's about it. She never came to the net consistently.

You are totally right. Today's WTA players are one dimensional and boring. All they do is bash the ball and pray it goes in. Martina and Steffi would dominate them.

Exactly. And seeing it in this quality, you realize that they would probably dominate the current WTA tour with easy. None of the WTA players can do half of these things.

@@robertorolfo I always wonder. On the one hand current players have no clue how to deal with S&V and will probably struggle with the slice (Iga did against Barty! Well I guess everyone did since she was no. 1 for a while) but on the other hand current players hit the ball really hard and have strong backhands so coming in won’t be that easy. We are currently seeing what happens to a player like Cressy on the ATP side although, of course, he’s not as good as these two ladies.

100%. Now the women all look like they are on steroids and just sit on the baseline and pound the ball back and forth. No variety at all. Graf or Navratilova would dismantle today’s players.

They’re from a planet called Europe, I suppose.

Great contrast in styles. Martina had such quick hands at the net. Steffi had such power off the forehand. Both players had excellent footwork.

They were both so, so, so good. This video is amazing. As I said elsewhere, either of them in this video, with their 1988 equipment, would still win Wimbledon today. They would laugh at Rybakina or Barty, or anyone else in the current WTA.

Watching Steffi here I was thinking of Roger, they both had the ability to hit sharp angled forehands with tons of pace.

Also a fun aspect of this match, to your point, is that you watch Steffi figure out how to beat Martina, you SEE her learning, adapting her strategy.

@@hd-xc2lz Yes, something you almost NEVER see in the current WTA. None of them think or adapt.

Steffi way better. And didn't cheat

@@63002 You are hereby crowned the King of Absurdity. Steffi was mesmerizing but saying she was “way better” than Martina is just kind of dopey.

I don‘t know where you live but here in Europe still gets a lot of credit for that Golden Slam. It is the main reason for being called the GOAT.

way more varieties for sure. and remember back then the racket technology was not as good as it is today!

It’s probably just you 😉

It's not just you at all. I've already made this comment 5 times, but both Steffi and Martina, using their 1988 racquets from this video, would EASILY win Wimbledon 2023. None of the current WTA players have anywhere near these skills. They would walk through the field with the type of play we see in the video. Serena wouldn't have been as easy to beat, but they both would have dominated her as well.

@@robertorolfo I just watched again to "pinch" myself. They are *definitely* head-and-shoulders better than today's WTA. No question. The shot variance, net play, slices, everything is better, other than power. Put a modern racquet in their hand, and that difference likely disappears too. Maybe they'd see some trouble from the eastern bloc ladies that are 6' 2'' and perhaps doping, but even then, I think Martina and Steffi win.

Yeah, she also does some heavy lifting, high jump and triathlons.

@@jansnauwaert1785 Incredible! Thanks.

Violent, love it

no kidding, I never realized Martina's serve had such crazy action on it.

@@StewNWT its a brilliant match... what standard!... womens tennis has gone to the dogs...

@@StewNWT wicked slice serves!

Stefi’s brutal forehand

Well, yeah, both players here can make a strong claim to be the best of all time

Amazing legs. These days, only Giorgi comes close (but not as tall). Must say that Rebecca Peterson has pretty nice legs as well, though.

Best athlete ever, incredible standard

Graf greater than Serena. I’m a Graf fan but let’s be honest Serena would have likely beaten her more than vice versa

@@Jdman5000 in my opinion no. If both played with same racquet, have same training facilities & equipment then I give the edge to Steffi because she was mentally more stronger than Serena. In hypothetical scenario in a best of 20 matches Steffi would have 12-8 h2h against her. In my humble opinion peak LeBron would beat peak MJ but that's doesn't mean he is better than MJ. That's wrong to compare one another. Graf & Martina in their time were much more dominate than Serena ever was.

@@rajusaha855 that’s interesting. Graf is my favorite player but being mentally strong is what Serena is known for. I don’t think Serena is naturally the most talented player but she is the most determined and hated losing so much she would fight and fight. When they last played each other neither player was at their best. Steffi was about to retire and Serena hadn’t reached her prime. The fact Serena won that meeting shows me that she would have found a way to beat Graf consistently even if Graf had much more natural talent. To me the fact that Serena could find a way to consistently beat her sister (a naturally much more gifted player in my opinion) shows me that she would be able to find a way to beat Graf.

@@Jdman5000 I think if Steffi and Serena both in their prime Steffi would prevail as she is not only more talented but also more athletic and Serena may have stronger body built and determined yet graff was gaining experience faster than her age playing at age of 20 you would think she have been professional for more than decade I enjoy graff tennis more than any other player till now

Martina war die größte, dabei bleibt es, ihre Stärke war ihr Charakter.

First off, she was a class act. Second, just look at how well she is hitting in this high quality video. This 1988 Graf, with her 1988 racquet, would easily win Wimbledon 2023.

Stefanie, please.

Madness !!!

Honestly, it is amazing to see. I can't believe more people aren't commenting on this. You would never see that these days.

It is improved by AI technology!

She always was a very attractive girl. I don‘t think she had those millions of fans just because of her tennis.

@@carrerau7138 Exactly. She was SUPER hot in her 20's and 30's as well. Probably still is today (but you never really see her).

@@robertorolfo Here she is at 52, a photo spread for German Vogue in spring 2022: media.vogue.de/photos/628e3ba37ed1fe0aecc9771a/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Steffi_3_RGB.jpg

@@carrerau7138 OMG, she is still smoking hot. Thank you.

yes, volley, smash, style...

indeed very seldom to see her topspinning backhand

Most of her top spin backhands were either into the net or long in this match. It was her weakness. Probably that's why she used it sparingly.

Agreed

Yep, and she played with handicap: ball in the left hand :D

Fullstop!

Oh yes I definitely remember.

Many people remember

Wonderful Martina my absolute favourite

And after 1988, her game kept improving especially her backhand.

Djokovic is GOAT.

​@@thebigmonstaandy6644 is Djokovic a woman? 🤔

Agreed, the screaming and grunting has got to go! Thank God for the mute button. 🤐

I also thinking much better players

May be old racket not allowed to power shot

Exactly what I was thinking. This is how historical tennis matches should be shown on YT