CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WTA TOUR

November 16, 1999

Steffi Graf

STEFFI GRAF: I thought I played pretty good today (laughter) No, no, that was awhile ago.

STEFFI GRAF: An empty 19, yeah. I know Lindsay was pretty keen on her locker. That was one of the pieces that, you know, was very, very special to me because I really always had that corner in the locker room, and the ladies always knew that that was the locker that I wanted to have; so they kept it always. So it was really fun having that.

STEFFI GRAF: That moment came after Wimbledon, and, you know, it didn't really hit me at one specific time. It just came gradually, when I started to get ready for the tournaments and I realized that, you know, I wasn't really getting into it too much. I felt a certain, not emptiness, but I felt a certain satisfaction that, you know, didn't put tennis in the first place anymore. I realized I'm actually not keen to go to another tournament. And if there was one moment when I felt pretty, pretty obviously it was on the flight I was supposed to go to San Diego. I've had moments before, but it was like, "Why am I going to San Diego?" That's when it basically hit me the most. I just wanted basically to be very sure it was the decision I wanted, not just because I was tired, because it was difficult weeks with Paris and Wimbledon, and as I was there and finally played I was very sure about it.

STEFFI GRAF: I wouldn't say a relief. But it -- I really have enjoyed my time off. It's been a lot busier than I wanted it to be, but you go through a lot of emotions, not even playing tournaments. It's preparing for them, you know, the ups and downs of practices. You know, tennis rules your day, your routines. It kind of, you know, depending how you do and how you're happy about it, kind of gets into your personal life, too. I was really happy to kind of, not being as moody any more and not having to go through these emotions. It's nice to have a lot calmer life.

STEFFI GRAF: You're talking about here, right?

STEFFI GRAF: The one that I lost 7-6 in the third?

STEFFI GRAF: It went fast. Yeah, for me to say, you know, think about it, I've played for 17 years. I said that on the court today. You know, you hear a lot of people say, oh, that was like 15, 20 years ago and I'm like, really? It felt incredible. I do not feel like I've been playing on the tournament for 17 years.

STEFFI GRAF: I wasn't looking at the video tonight. I couldn't. It was very emotional for me to be out there and to reflect on my career, and to listen, to have people talk about it, I know if I had watched that video, it would be difficult. It was difficult anyway. But I could not watch it.

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah, he has. No question. He brought me back to tennis, too, which I probably didn't think that would happen. But yeah, he has in a way for sure.

STEFFI GRAF: Very much. And I think that's made it easy the last few months. I've felt that whatever I've done in my career gave me so much satisfaction to kind of look forward to what's coming -- what's out there besides tennis. I feel very happy about the time that I've played and what I've achieved, and how I went about it. And that gives me the peace to go on with different things in my life.

STEFFI GRAF: Very nervous. All day, I did not sleep at all last night, not one minute. Yeah, it's incredible. It's overwhelming to be out there, and, you know, I went on court and everybody stood up and cheered for such a long time. It was very moving for me.

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, I've said it many times and I've lived here for a few years and every time I come into the city, it's a special moment for me, just looking at the skyline, and always the fans are very knowledgeable and very much into it. A lot of matches to look back on and crowds that really got into it too.

STEFFI GRAF: Plenty. I thought things would calm down a lot more after I retire, which hasn't really happened. I've been on more airplanes than ever before. There's been a few things that I always felt I wanted to have more time, for my charity, for my foundation, and that's something that I'm going to obviously pursue more and more and try to help wherever I can. I probably have a few different things, options for the time after. I'm starting slowly now to get into and figure out if I really want to do it. A couple of things that I enjoy I will enjoy very much doing.

STEFFI GRAF: No, we haven't really talked much about that. We've seen each other and talked a few times, but we haven't talked much about that, no.

STEFFI GRAF: You know, he taught me a lot about tennis, no question. But off the court, he was somebody that I could turn to and somebody that was always there for me, and somebody that taught me a lot about life and about myself. And so actually, he's -- he took a lot into who I am.

STEFFI GRAF: It's always difficult to give advice. You've got to try to find your own way. You will make your own mistakes; you will learn out of them, and, you know, rebound, everybody has a little different approach. There is no general advice, but the most important out there is to do what you feel like and enjoy what you're doing, because otherwise it can be very tough.

STEFFI GRAF: That's what I mentioned earlier. Tennis takes up such a big part of your day. Obviously, it does come into play, you know, in all kind of situations of your private life, different things.

STEFFI GRAF: Yeah, obviously, I've mentioned that before. It helped when things are not going too well offcourt. It did help me just to go out on the court and focus on something different, something surrounding that I was extremely familiar with, that I felt -- I felt that I was in complete control of. Yeah, that helped.

STEFFI GRAF: In a lot of different ways. I spent -- I spent more than five years with him in the beginning of my career, and I have to say, I've been very fortunate that I've not had a lot of coaches, but I've had very good coaches. And it was somebody that I had in 1988, during my Grand Slams, a lot of memories that we shared throughout the tournaments. Also somebody that I felt, almost like a father figure that I was very close to at that time.

STEFFI GRAF: First question, you know, I felt when I made the decision of retiring, that's when I felt that I'm going into a new stage of my life. That's probably when I felt it the strongest. What I did today is look back. I haven't really done that very much since I stopped. I haven't really done it much before, but there was times and especially tonight, that's when, you know, you get visions of special moments. Yeah, I guess that's probably the time I've had to look back the most. That's what's brought out a lot to me.

STEFFI GRAF: How do I channel that? I'm a pretty tough competitor in shuffleboard, and I've got my few games where I can be competitive (laughs,) but I'm not worried about that too much.

STEFFI GRAF: No, I didn't. It wasn't anything that I thought would happen.

STEFFI GRAF: My beautiful ring? The one I bought on the flight earlier this year?

STEFFI GRAF: That's not the famous ring actually. That's something you saw that people wrote about. It's about $200. You can get it on Lufthansa. (Laughter) It's a yoke ring, actually.