By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.; Siggi Bucher

If there was a match with more historical significance and human drama than the '95 US Open final between embittered rivals Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, it did not occur in women's tennis during the Open era.

Of the WTA Tour's 16 Greatest Matches (six which include Graf) that are currently be voted on, one could argue that a few of those contests on the list matched the quality of play or had just as much importance to determining the outcome of the players' rivalry, but it cannot be said that any of the other 15 contests matched the raw emotion or electricity of the Graf-Seles Battle Royal.

It was possibly the one match in the Open ear that at the time appeared to determine who the greatest player of all time would be.

It could be argued that Seles' 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win over Graf in '92 Roland Garros final had just as many electric points and certainly had more twists and turns. But, it was the US Open final that settled a question that had burned for the 27 months that Seles had been off the tour due her April 1993 stabbing at the hands of a crazed Graf fan, Guenther Parche: whether Steffi had improved enough to be a legitimate No. 1, or whether she was merely holding the spot warm for Seles, who held the top ranking before her stabbing and had beaten Graf in a another one of their terrifically played Slam finals – the '93 Aussie Open – just before a few months prior to Parche's attack.

"People forget that not only did Parche take Monica away from us, but he almost ruined the best rivalry we've had since Chris [Evert] and Martina [Navratilova]," Graf's close friend, Rennae Stubbs, said.

COLD GETTING COLDER
The two were never personally close and after Seles stabbing, their relationship grew colder, more distant and often somewhat hostile. Seles had said that Graf had never tried to spend any real time with her after the stabbing while Graf claimed that Seles ignored her calls. During the Open, Seles father and coach, Karoly, went so far as to call Steffi the "knife number one" and chided her for playing the day after the stabbing. Karoly also blasted Graf for even playing the US Open while her father, Peter, sat in jail on tax evasion charges.

Graf had said after her three-set loss to Seles at the '93 Australian that it was the first time in her career that she couldn't figure out how to beat someone. She had spent the time while Seles was healing improving what was once thought to be an airtight game – by ratcheting up her service speed, adding a topspin backhand to occasionally complement her slice and learning to finish off points at the net.

Seles had just come back to the tour and had wiped out the field at the Canadian Open. She was taller and stronger and appeared to just as accurate. At the Open, she crushed Jana Novotna and Conchita Martinez to reach the final. Novotna marveled at how Seles could still dictate from inside the baseline and Martinez was impressed how hard Seles was serving, saying that the next time they played she might return serve from the bleachers.

Thrilled to be back, Seles was simply giddy and laughed at even the most mundane questions.
"Everything about life is funny," she said. "If you can't laugh at life, why are you living?"

Graf was emotionally reeling because of her father's dire situation. But, as Stubbs said at the time, Steffi was still able to find refuge on court. "She able to store her emotions in one spot, to put it all away," Stubbs said. "She's had an amazing recovery. When she get out there. She gets in her Steffi Zone."
Graf won tough matches over Amanda Coetzer and Chanda Rubin before surviving Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 7-6 in the semis. "What I have achieved means more than winning Wimbledon or Paris," Graf said before the final. "It's the most demanding time inside of me. It really took much more out of me than any other stage in my life."

Stubbs said that Graf didn't fear Seles, who was most analysts' favorite going into the match. "All then other player go out and they're just in awe of Monica," she said. "Not Steffi. She would never admit that. She wouldn't even think that she can't win."

ELECTRIC TENSION
The atmosphere in the sold-out Louie Armstrong Stadium was so highly-charged that one could actually hear a buzz of electricity ringing the stadium. Fans seemed almost evenly split behind the two players and cries of "We love you, Monica," and pleas of "C'mon, Steffi" loudly bounced off the court.
The first set was the highest level ever reached by two women. Any unforced errors were obscured by graceful, sizzling forehands. deep backhands and Sampras-like first serves. The Graf strategy was to play her backhand slice short and at sharp angles to the Seles forehand so that the gunning grunter couldn't quickly come over the ball. They went into a tiebreaker where Seles had a set point at 6-5. She whipped a first serve down the middle that just missed the line. Seles thought she had the set won, protested and then lost three set points and the set. "To me it was just so in," Seles said.

Graf lost her nerve in the second set while the go-for-broke Seles tattooed her down the line groundies for winners.

But after Graf held in a crucial game to open the third, Seles began to visibly tire, gasping for breath in long rallies in between grunts. Like she had in the first set, Graf served flawlessly and moved like the wind. She pulled Monica back and forth, broke her to go up 3-1 and never looked back, taking the final set and match 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-3.

Graf, who normally pooh-poohed records, was ecstatic that she became the first player to win all four Slam four different times. "This is the biggest win I've ever achieved," she said. There is nothing that comes close to this win. It's unreal."

Seles' reaction to the match was a simple "Wow!"

The rivalry had turned around in Graf's favor and it was the last great match the two would played. They never met in another Grand Slam final, while both of the all-time greats would win only won more Grand Slam title after that – Seles taking the '96 Australian Open for her ninth major crown and Graf winning '99 Roland Garros for her 22nd Slam.

The rivalry had turned around in Graf's favor and the German would win three more Slams in 1996, including a 7-5, 6-4 win over Seles in Flushing Meadows, where she nailed 10 aces and got 71 percent of her first serves in. "I had no chance returning her serve," Seles said.

Seles won only won more Grand Slam title – the '96 Australian Open – and said later that year that Parche put a major crimp in plans. "I was stopped at the height of my career and I literally had to restart instead of continuing like the other players," she said.