{"id":27141,"date":"2025-04-17T09:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T09:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/27141\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T09:19:10","slug":"who-martina-navratilova-picked-as-the-greatest-of-all-time-between-herself-and-steffi-graf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/27141\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Martina Navratilova picked as the greatest of all time between herself and Steffi Graf"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Martina Navratilova enjoyed a legendary tennis career, winning a record 167 singles titles as a professional.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Few players are more worthy of legendary status than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/martina-navratilova\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Navratilova<\/a>, who dominated tennis for several decades.<\/p>\n<p>Navratilova won her first Major title at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/wimbledon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wimbledon<\/a> in 1978, winning her last 12 years later at the same venue.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"672\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-1636927-1-1024x672.jpg\" alt=\"Jul 1990:  Martina Navratilova of the USA holds up the winners'' plate after winning the Wimbledon Championships played at Wimbledon, London, England.   Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK \/Allsport\" \/>Jul 1990:  Martina Navratilova of the USA holds up the winners&#8221; plate after winning the Wimbledon Championships played at Wimbledon, London, England.   Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK \/Allsport<\/p>\n<p>Her longevity was perhaps even more impressive in doubles and mixed doubles, winning her first and last titles 32 years apart.<\/p>\n<p>Such brilliance fairly saw Navratilova considered by many to be the greatest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/wta\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WTA<\/a> player of all time, although some suggested Germany\u2019s Steffi Graf deserved the nod.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2009, Navratilova had her say, as she revealed who she considered to be the best to ever play the game of tennis.<\/p>\n<p>Martina Navratilova said it \u2018would be hard to say no\u2019 when asked if she was the greatest of all time in 2009<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the Tennis Channel 16 years ago, Navratilova gave her honest opinion on who the greatest women\u2019s tennis player of all time was.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAm I the greatest player that ever played the game?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be hard to say no.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like at my best I was better than anybody else that I played against because my game was more complete, I prepared better than anybody, I knew what to do, and I had the ability to do it, I was as fast as anybody, as strong as anybody and I had more shots, and I was a better athlete than everybody.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOverall, the body of work speaks for itself, the records, a lot of them happened because I played for a long time, but the quality as well as the quantity, the combination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Grand Slams, yes, Steffi Graf won more Grand Slams, but in my day, the Grand Slams were not as important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"672\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2184787634-1024x672.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Bongarts\/Getty Images\" \/>Photo by Bongarts\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Navratilova then shared her thoughts on how different eras compare in tennis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople ask me now could you beat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/serena-williams\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Serena Williams<\/a>? It\u2019s all so subjective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, the players are hitting the ball harder than we did, but then we didn\u2019t have the rackets that they have.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"717\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-468610822-1024x717.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images\" \/>Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can do more with the ball now than I could 20 years ago because of the rackets, I\u2019m not as strong as I was 20 years ago but I can do more with the ball because the rackets enable you to do that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s hard to compare players from different eras.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 68-year-old was happy to be considered the greatest of all time, agreeing with another WTA great.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, Steffi Graf says I was the greatest to ever play the game, so who am I to argue, right?\u201d said Navratilova.<\/p>\n<p>Comparing Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf\u2019s career achievements<\/p>\n<p>Graf is one of just two women who have won more Grand Slam singles titles (Open Era) than Navratilova.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li>23 \u2013 Serena Williams<\/li>\n<li>22 \u2013 Steffi Graf<\/li>\n<li>18 \u2013 Martina Navratilova<\/li>\n<li>18 \u2013 Chris Evert<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The German star dominated the sport for years and outperformed the American in several categories.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"669\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2189559694-1024x669.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Mark Sandten\/Bongarts\/Getty Images\" \/>Photo by Mark Sandten\/Bongarts\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Player<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Grand Slam titles<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>WTA Finals titles<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Career WTA titles<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Weeks as WTA #1<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>22<\/td>\n<td>5<\/td>\n<td>107<\/td>\n<td>377<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>18<\/td>\n<td>8<\/td>\n<td>167<\/td>\n<td>332<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Comparing Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf\u2019s career achievements (singles)<\/p>\n<p>Graf and Navratilova played one another 18 times in total during their tennis careers, with the head-to-head finishing at 9-9.<\/p>\n<p>It was Navratilova who edged the Grand Slam head-to-head, winning five of their nine matches at the sport\u2019s four biggest tournaments.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Match<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Winner<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Loser<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Score<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1991 US Open \u2013 SF<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>7-6, 6-7, 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1989 US Open \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>3-6, 7-5, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1989 Wimbledon \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>6-2, 6-7, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1988 Wimbledon \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>5-7, 6-2, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1987 US Open \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>7-6, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1987 Wimbledon \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>7-5, 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1987 French Open \u2013 F<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>6-4, 4-6, 8-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1986 US Open \u2013 SF<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>6-1, 6-7, 7-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1985 US Open \u2013 SF<\/td>\n<td>Martina Navratilova<\/td>\n<td>Steffi Graf<\/td>\n<td>6-2, 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf\u2019s Grand Slam head-to-head record<\/p>\n<p>Navratilova beat Graf in their final-ever meeting at a Major tournament in the semi-finals of the 1991 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/us-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US Open<\/a>, battling past the number one seed in a three-set thriller.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The match is still regarded as one of the greatest tennis matches of all time, as the pair performed at their very best in New York.<\/p>\n<p>Navratilova and Graf\u2019s rivalry remains one of tennis\u2019 most iconic, regardless of who is considered the better player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martina Navratilova enjoyed a legendary tennis career, winning a record 167 singles titles as a professional. Few players&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[11358,79,16458,1068,16,15,5069],"class_list":{"0":"post-27141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-martina-navratilova","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-steffi-graf","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114352564791121622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}