By Scoop Malinowski | Tuesday, March 5, 2019
On the 20th anniversary of Serena Williams' conquest of Steffi Graf in the Indian Wells final, a new book details what it's like to face the superstars.
Photo credit: AP Photo
Serena Williams has experienced magic and mayhem in the desert.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion returns to Indian Wells this week facing a daunting draw on the anniversary of a classic clash.
Watch: Serena Williams Dealt Difficult Draw in Indian Wells
Williams split two career meetings with Steffi Graf, including scoring a pulsating 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory in the 1999 Indian Wells final a couple months after Graf won their first encounter.
On the 20th anniversary of their Indian Wells' classic clash, author Scoop Malinowski's new book Facing Serena Williams/Facing Steffi Graf examines exactly what it's like to square off against the iconic champions.
Grand Slam champions ranging from Mary Pierce to Rennae Stubbs detail their experiences facing off against Williams and Graf.
Serena says Steffi's support has been both inspiring and transformative making her feel "like a kid."
"I see her post things about me, and that's pretty awesome," Serena told the media in Cincinnati a few years back. "I really am still like a kid when I see her or I see posts. I get super excited. I'm still living the dream. Yeah, she's been really supportive, which is so great to see, you know, and to feel that support."
Their only career meetings, which were a few months apart in 1999, both went the distance ending with almost identical scorelines.
Graf, who is 13 years older than Williams, won their first encounter, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in Sydney. Williams, who was still wearing Puma in those days, answered with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory in the Indian Wells final a couple months later.
That victory was a prelude of Williams' major break-out.
Six months after Serena defeated Steffi in the desert she surged though a field of champions in an electrifying run to the 1999 US Open championship.
Serena knocked off five current or future Grand Slam champions—Kim Clijsters, Conchita Martinez, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and world No. 1 Martina Hingis—in succession to capture her maiden major.
Here's an excerpt from Facing Serena Williams/Facing Steffi Graf, which retails for $9.99.
After crushing Vera Zvonareva in the 2010 Wimbledon final, Serena was asked if she would still be playing at age 38?
"38?" Williams repeated.
"If I am, I want you to personally take me off and escort me off the court," Williams said. "There's no way I need to be out there at 38."
The 37-year-old Serena will turn 38 on September 26th and shows no signs of slowing down.
Mary Pierce on Serena Williams: "In the very beginning you never know, you know? Some players look amazing and never make it. And some don't and they do."
Mary Pierce on her first memory of seeing Serena Williams and Venus Williams:
"First memory of Serena...I think goes back to Delray Beach days. When we were training with Rick Macci. Before her and her sister played any pro tournaments. And they were just practicing all day long.
"I could remember there were some clay courts underneath where I was living at the time. They would wake me up early in the morning, hearing the balls being hit, I'm like, Who's out there playing so early [smiles]? And I'd look out my window and I'd see it was Serena and her sister practicing, and her family was out there. And it was impressive because they would just be out there all day long. And they would bring their food and they'd sit down and have a break and eat and then they'd go back out and hit. They were just on the court all day..."
Andrea Temesvari on facing Steffi Graf:
Andrea Temesvari: "Steffi beat everybody really fast. And all the tournament directors were kind of prepared when they put her on, obviously the center court, it will be a short match. She beat everybody like under thirty, thirty-five minutes. 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. I think some of them even in nineteen or twenty minutes. It was incredible. Sometimes she didn't even sit down for the changeover. It was just so...not even sweat. And then that year in New Jersey, just before the US Open in 1989, I had a really good tournament in Mahwah, New Jersey. The only thing difficult was that it rained some. I had to play the semifinal and the final in the same day. And my match in the semifinal was a three setter. Which I played like two and a half hours."
"Obviously, Steffi finished in thirty minutes [smiles]. And I think I finished at 12:30 and then the final was at 2. They couldn't move it because it was on TV. So I didn't have a lot of rest. I remember the tournament director asked me, if I lose, not to lose in under thirty minutes. Just make it somehow longer. Because they have live TV, it's women's tennis and it's not good, blah, blah, blah.
"I said, No, I will try my best. And I think I lost 7-6, 6-4 or 6-3 (actually 7-5, 6-2). I don't remember the exact score but I know we played a very good first set. Okay second set. But I was happy because my goal was not to lose 6-0 6-0. And actually if I wouldn't have played so long in the semifinal, I would've maybe even got the first set. So it was a very good match. And Steffi was congratulating me. And I gave her a workout. So it felt good and obviously the tournament director and everybody were very, very happy that the match was longer than, you know, thirty minutes. I think it was an hour and a half. It was good. On hard courts. That's not bad."
Andrea Temesvari on Steffi Graf's personality: "And Steffi was always a very shy girl, was not talkative. Nice to everybody if they said hello to her. But she wouldn't start a conversation by herself. Only with certain people that she was close to. With me, she was always friendly. Not a problem. But I cannot say I was ever close to her. Since she did not spend a lot of time...
"I mean the Tour is difficult. You don't become very, very friendly. But over time we talked and saw each other. Hi, how are you? How's everything. How's your day? Good. We always talked like that. But I wouldn't dare ask her, Do you have a boyfriend? We weren't that close."
Question: Why was it so hard to play her? Was it enjoyable? Or was it just too difficult to enjoy?
Andrea Temesvari: "What was hard to play Steffi...first of all, when you have a girl that is so fast on the court, her forehand was one of her biggest weapons. And good serve. And a very uncomfortable slice. Which made it that one side you had a very low ball, the other side you had a fast ball coming. And she moved incredibly well. She saw the ball well.
"Steffi's attitude was also incredible - never give up, very into it, very hyper, very positive with herself. And I think all that together was putting a lot of pressure on you. You knew that the ball was never lost until they said the score. I mean, she went for every ball which is normal. But she never gave up. All that together plays a role, everybody was afraid, she put this huge weight on everybody that she started to beat everybody and everybody started to be afraid. And all that. Probably it's more mental in the beginning of the match. Then after you feel the power and she started to roll on you and win the games and you're like, Oh I don't want to lose too. I don't want to be one of them too. It was that kind of pressure that she put on you. And she concentrated unbelievable. She had an unbelievable mental strength."
Question: But you did have a terrific win against Steffi and Gabriela Sabatini in the French Open doubles final.
Andrea Temesvari: "Yeah, we really beat them, with Martina (Navratilova) so easy. We were actually a little bit surprised. We played unbelievable. I think we were just on a roll. And Martina—we just did not miss a return. Served very well, choose the right ball to play. With my height—high spin—she could really cross a lot. And I think I had the most pressure of all of the four players on the court.
"Because when Martina asked me—I remember this so clearly in my head—when she called me—and actually it was IMG, my agent, called me that said Martina will call me. Well, why? Because she wants to ask you something. I said, Well, what does she want to ask me? And then she called me because Pam Shriver was hurt. Would you like to play doubles with me at the French? And then so we can start to play a couple tournaments before that. I was so shocked that she—I even told her, Martina, are you calling the right number? The right Andrea? Because I'm not the best doubles player that you can choose.
"I knew myself well enough and I said I love to play doubles and I don't think I play that bad but I think you played with the best and you're No. 1 and why would you choose me? And she said, I love the way your game is. I love your attitude. I think you're a great girl and I can communicate very well. I think we'd make a good pair. On the court. You have a good personality and I like to be with someone who has this kind of hitting and it prepares my ball to go cross court with the spin, you serve great and you're a great clay court player. And I just would love to choose you.
"And I'm like, Well, Martina, if you're sure of that, that's great. And believe or not, what I said to myself, is if we lose in the French, for sure everybody will say, Well Martina, what the hell did you choose Andrea for? I mean, she can't hit a ball over. If we win, everybody will say, You see? Martina could put anybody next to her and she'll win the doubles. And I told her that.
"And she said, You're so stupid - thinking like that. Because they will not say that.
"And we beat almost every good pair—I mean, we beat Mandlikova/Sukova, the best doubles players there were on the Tour. We had to face them and we had to beat them. So it wasn't like Martina put somebody next to her and beat everybody alone. She made me so confident after that. She made me feel so good next to her. And actually, to tell you the truth, there were some points where she didn't play well and I played unbelievable.
"And then after the match she said, You see? You played unbelievable and you helped me through the bad times in the match. That's what a pair is like when you bring up each other and you stick on and you help me when I'm not playing good and I help you when you maybe miss a couple balls.
"So we really had a good time. I was a little bit sad in a way, she had a deal with Pam that she had to play through and we never had the chance to play together more. But it was great."