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Los Angeles, California Just months before, she had walked away with her sixth French Open championship. Just weeks prior, she had played in her eighth Wimbledon final. And yet Steffi Graf walked away from the sport of tennis in August of 1999, saying, "I have done everything I wanted to do in tennis – I feel I have nothing left to accomplish." That was then, at a news conference in her native Germany. At the age of 30, she was still among the best. Seven years have passed, and now her husband Andre Agassi, a tennis legend in his own right, has grabbed headlines by announcing his own impending retirement upon the conclusion of this August's US Open. Agassi was greeted with an overwhelming response when he took to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for his first round match at Wimbledon. Questions have swirled with regard to who will bear the American flag now as it relates to men's tennis. Will the popular Andy Roddick be able to put together a career that produces the success of Agassi's?  Court queen: Graf ruled the tennis world for 17 years. It's a stark contrast to Graf's farewell. She'd announced plans for retirement at the end of the year, but surprised the sports world when she waved good-bye shortly before the US Open was set to take place. And, upon her departure, nobody really wondered aloud about who would take Graf's place. The fact is – as today's world of women's tennis will attest – nobody could. When Graf retired, her name was thrown in with the likes of future NFL Hall of Famers John Elway and Barry Sanders, NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan – all of them bidding adieu to their respective sports just prior to the new millennium. Graf's grouping with the aforementioned male superstars was a notion never scoffed. As a multitude of mind-spinning statistics and unquestioned intangibles attests, Graf, like Gretzky and Jordan, is arguably the best in her sport's history. "The mental toughness puts her right up there with the Michael Jordans and the Wayne Gretzkys and the John Elways," tennis great Tracy Austin told the Los Angeles Times upon Graf's retirement. "Just the top, top of their sport forever." Blessed with her trademark forehand that spelled doom for the opposition for nearly 17 years, Graf racked up numbers that put her among the best – male or female. Her seasons of dominance put her into a class unto herself. Graf, an inductee to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004, was a ranked World Tennis Associaton player when she was just 13 years old in 1983. Four years later, she bested future HOFer Martina Navratilova to win her first French Open. Such was merely the beginning of Graf's onslaught upon Grand Slam tournaments, as she'd win 22 in her magnificent career – second only to Margaret Court's 24. She's also third in career tournaments won, boasting 107 in all during a career that saw her play more than 1,000 matches and win an unbelievable 87 percent. During that 1987 season, Graf also began a record-setting tour de force of domination. On August 17th of that year, she became the top-ranked women's player in the world. She'd hold tight to that ranking for a record 186 straight weeks, as she won eight of nine Grand Slams and advanced to 13 straight Grand Slam finals during that span. In all, her career would see her ranked No. 1 for a record 377 weeks. Through all those weeks of supremacy, Graf put together the greatest tennis season of any woman or man.
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