Chris Evert vs Steffi Graf - 1988 Lipton Final

[Flipboy5]

Steffi went over that backhand more in this match than she did when she won The 1995 US Open, lol I really wish she came along when I'm a little bit older and was able to appreciate her tennis. I really wonder how she would have done in the 2000's with the same greatness. I love you Fraulein Forehand!

[trent8002003]

Never seen Chris attack so much. She knows she can't beat Steffi from the baseline.

[sp8211a]

Pam Shriver - "Chis is a little bit limited in what she can do"...um, okay Pam, Chris has 18 Grand Slams and you have how many? Someone please buy that biatch (Pam) a clue!

[glhswccc]

@sp8211a I think she was refering to the way she could attack Graf. She did add to that comment by saying "one place Chris is not limited is from the back of the court." You're right; when she said that I was taken aback for a minute but I did see her point: Chris's strenght's tended to feed into Graf's at times. I wish they could have played when both were in their prime.

[JBlue761982]

The depth of Chris's groundstrokes is amazing. No wonder she was unbeatable on clay!

[Peteypooooo]

Fantastic match!

[matjesworld]

The "head to head" Steffi 5 wins and Chris 5 wins" at the beginning is wrong. Chris won the first 6 ( six) matches and Steffi the next 8. But who cares? Great match ´88 by Evert, after a Final-disaster one year before. (-;

[glhswccc]

@matjesworld: It was a route, but, honestly, Graf blew everyone away that year. I remember that year; it was so windy and Graf's pace cut through the wind much better than Evert. Those conditions made it almost impossible for Evert to win because, in order for Evert to cut through the wind, she had to hit harder than normal and the last thing Chris wanted to do was give Graf pace.

[murphln]

Was this when the tournament was held in Boca (the first few yrs), before it moved to Key Biscayne??

[BTURNER1961]

Interesting to see Evert gaining a little more ground as 1988 progressed vs Graf. Of course  She also started that year with two consecutive wins over Martina. Chris was changing toward an ever more aggressive player accepting more errors for more winners. Not an uncommon transition for women back then. What was uncommon was her tactical and strategic mind. The best since Billie Jean at structuring a point. Too bad mental and physical burnout caught up with her vs other top 20 players.

[karrtt1234]

It was a pretty simple equation... the 120 degree heat was just too much for Chris, had the temperature been more comfortable ... this sure could have been an Evert victory.

[Daggersedge72]

two of the most beautiful shots ever in women's tennis, the graf forehand and the evert two-handed backhand

[jac7124]

Thanks for posting this! Great to see Chrissie at 33 still hanging in there with the number 1 player.

[HellField04]

There was an early patch in Steffi's career when she was (like a lot of up and coming players) less than pleasant to the old guard. She changed her tune pretty quickly after 1990 and even lamented that insecurity and blind ambition drove her early performances. She's not alone in this phenomenon - both Tracy Austin and Martina Hingis have said similar things about their early careers. Great video quality, great match. Thanks for posting.

[johnblacklovesmar]

Several observations.  Graf has amazing foot speed. Graf was, as she often was, surly on court. Evert knew how to beat Graf but no longer could physically execute it. Evert is more of an all court player than any of the current top players

[jac7124]

@johnblacklovesmar - Excellent point!

[drewmacam]

Terrific match with great rallies. Thank you for posting this!



[bierbaron6666]

I have the whole match and i can assure everybody that there was only one point, witch went for Graf and after that important gamepoint Chris had lost, the momentum has swung. As I see it even in Boca Raton Chris was not so close to Graf's level, as she was at this great match. Especially her backhand winners from the baseline were astonishing. Although she lost in the end it was one of the greatest perfamnces of Evert in the late phase of her career.

[cityhulltiger]

Always a pleasure to watch Chrissie even in defeat. Thanks for posting. Davidx

[mudpiegirl]

Chris seems to be serving really well here, pretty hard for her. She seems to play unusually aggressive against Graf; I like to watch them.

[StevieNicksfann]

oh man Chrissie had her chances here! Thanks for posting