Exhibition Matches
As part of her farewell tour in 1999 and 2000, Graf played a series of global exhibition matches against past competitors. These included games against Amanda Coetzer in South Africa, Jelena Dokic in New Zealand, and Sánchez Vicario in Spain; the latter match was the first head-to-head between the two women since 1996. Graf later participated in a number of other exhibitions in cities including Tokyo, Berlin, and Washington, DC.
In 1999, a panel of experts at the Associated Press named Graf the 20th century's greatest female tennis player. Later, in 2012, Tennis Channel chose her as the greatest female tennis player of all time, a distinction echoed by a Tennis.com reader poll in 2018. Further honors include seven years as International Tennis Federation World Champion; eight years as Women's Tennis Association Player of the Year; and five years as German Sportsperson of the Year. In 2004, Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 2008 entered into the German Sports Hall of Fame.
They were formally introduced after winning Wimbledon the same year
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/andre-agassi-steffi-graf-3-eba71ef1a764435f92b9fc6132136b66.jpg)
Agassi had the chance to meet Graf after winning his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1992. She won the ladies' singles tennis title at the tournament the same year. Agassi was “dying to go” to the Wimbledon Ball that he’d heard about for years because the men’s winner got to dance with the women’s winner. He even purchased a tuxedo from Harrods for the event, but was informed that the dance had been canceled.
