Women's Final: (2) Steffi Graf vs. (5) Serena Williams

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Our women’s final pits the two most accomplished Grand Slam champions of the Open era against each other. Graf’s 22 majors, the most by any woman since 1968, once looked like an unassailable number; that is, until Williams began to assail it. As of this writing, Serena was three behind.

As with our men’s final, between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, Graf vs. Williams pits the last great player of the 20th century against the first great player of the 21st. And as with Pete and Roger, their careers overlapped just long enough for the torch to be passed from an aging legend to a future one.

Graf and Williams split their only two meetings, in 1999. At the start of the year in Sydney, a 29-year-old Graf beat a 17-year-old Williams; that spring, Williams reversed the result over three sets in Indian Wells. Up to that point, Serena had been the second best player in her family; when the match was over, she was officially out of her sister Venus’ shadow, and on her to way to stardom. Two months later, Graf won the French Open, the last of her 22 Slams; three months after that, Williams won the U.S. Open, the first of her 19.

Unlike so many of the other match-ups in this tournament, Graf and Williams in their primes would not have offered a distinct contrast in styles. This would have been power vs. power, speed vs. speed, killer forehand vs. killer forehand, big serve vs. big serve, iron will vs. iron will. Even the key to their success of these two women was essentially the same: It’s hard to think of anyone who detested losing more than Serena or Steffi. “Steffi’s game matches up well with Serena’s,” former No. 1 Chris Evert says. “She was also extremely mentally tough and could cover the court as well as, if not better than, Serena.”

As players, the most significant difference is their backhands. Graf used a one-handed slice to set up her forehand, while Williams’ two-hander is every bit as lethal as a weapon as her forehand. That would seem to give Williams an advantage, but Mark Knowles, for one, thinks the edge goes to Graf because of the low, skidding shots she can produce with her slice. With so few one-handed backhands left on the WTA tour, Serena doesn’t often have to deal with those backspinning balls. “The slice would make it very for hard for Serena to play her game against Steffi,” Knowles says.

Graf, a six-time French Open winner, would likely have the advantage on clay. While the American has made herself into an excellent clay-courter, the German was a more natural mover on dirt, and she would have time on the surface to use her slice to move Williams around and position herself for her big forehand.

But the best tennis between these two enthusiastic sluggers would come in the last two sets, on hard courts and grass. Force would meet force, and both would feel comfortable with that. “Steffi could go toe to toe or forehand to forehand with anyone,” Pam Shriver says. But few, if any, have gone toe to toe with Serena Williams for long and lived to tell about it.

“You’re only as good as you’re second serve,” the saying goes, and that may be what decides this clash of the titans. As strong as Graf’s serve is, Williams’ is stronger, and her kick second delivery is safer and steadier. With Graf ready to leap around and take a cut at a forehand return whenever possible, Williams will need to rely on both of her serves coming down the stretch in a third set.

Tennis, when all is said and done, is a mental game. Who would have the advantage in that department in a contest between the fiercest competitors of their generations? Graf has won more Grand Slam title matches so far, but Williams has lost fewer of them. Graf was 22-9 in major finals; Serena is 19-4. Who would you want to play for your life, in the biggest of all matches?