The German is quite simply one of the most accomplished tennis player and female athlete of all time.
– On This Day: June 14 – England dismiss Canada for 45
Graf, who turns 46 on June 14, 2015, won an incredible 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second behind alltime leader Margaret Court (24 titles). That tally is the most by any tennis player in the Open Era.
In 1988, she also became the first and only tennis player to achieve the Calendar Year Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold in the same calendar year.
Graf was ranked world No1 for a record 377 weeks – the longest reign at the top of the tennis rankings by any player. In all, she won 107 singles titles, which puts her third on the WTA’s all-time list after Martina Navratilova (167 titles) and Chris Evert (157 titles).
Graf retired in 1999 ranked World No3 and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.
1971: Bruce Bowen, American retired basketball player, won three NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs (44).
1972: Danny McFarlane, Jamaican hurdler, won two Olympic silver medals in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 (43).
1976: Massimo Oddo, Italian retired World Cup-winning footballer, current head coach of Pescara in the Serie B (39).
1987: Andrew Cogliano, Canadian ice hockey player, currently a left wing for the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL (28).
