Steffi Graf Trivia
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58 free Steffi Graf trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Steffi Graf is the only tennis player ever to win the Golden Slam and the only one to win every major at least four times, and she walked away at 30 while still ranked third in the world. This quiz follows her whole career: the living-room lessons at three, the 13-year-old at Roland Garros, the 1984 Olympic demonstration event, the first title over Evert, the 1987 breakthrough and the 186 weeks at No. 1. Then comes 1988 in detail: the double-bagel French Open final, the comeback against Navratilova at Wimbledon, Sabatini in New York and Seoul, Pam Shriver's spoiler, and the years after: Sánchez Vicario in Paris, Seles ending the streak, the Bild scandal, the stabbing in Hamburg, the tax case, the 13-deuce game of 1995, the last major over Hingis, McEnroe, retirement, Agassi, Summerlin and the Hall of Fame. Easy questions suit any tennis fan; the expert tier asks for coaches, records and match scores. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Graf and her contemporaries, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you like this, try our quizzes on tennis and on Wimbledon.
30 of 58 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which German city was Steffi Graf born in 1969?
Mannheim
Mannheim was her birthplace; her father Peter, a car and insurance salesman, later gave up his job to coach her full time.
Q 02Which man finally passed Graf's record 377 weeks as world No. 1?
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic began his 378th week at No. 1 in February 2023 and said he was 'flattered' to pass Graf, having beaten the men's record of 310 weeks two years earlier.
Q 03Which woman's 24 singles majors top Graf's 22?
Margaret Court
Margaret Court won 13 of her 24 as an amateur, before the Open Era began in 1968, so Graf's 22 stood as the Open Era record until 2017.
Q 04Graf alone has won every major at least four times, but which one did she win exactly four times?
The Australian Open
The Australian Open, which she won in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1994; injuries kept her out of it in 1995 and 1996, the two years she swept the other three majors.
Q 05Opponents aimed at Graf's backhand side, where she almost always replied with which shot?
A slice
A slice. She seldom hit over the ball on that side, which is why rivals aimed there, yet she kept the shot so low that it set up her next attack.
Q 06Which former teenage prodigy beat the 13-year-old Graf in her first professional match, at Filderstadt in 1982?
Tracy Austin
Tracy Austin, the youngest US Open champion at 16, won 6–4, 6–0 and said there were 'hundreds' like Graf back in America.
Q 07What did the 15-year-old Graf win at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
The tennis demonstration event
The tennis demonstration event carried no medals and was limited to players aged 20 or under; Graf, the youngest in the draw, still won it.
Q 08Where did Graf's father first teach his three-year-old daughter to swing a wooden racket?
In the family living room
In the family living room, where Peter Graf had sawn the handle off a racket so that she could hold it, and the two rallied indoors.
Q 09Whom did Graf beat for her first WTA title at Hilton Head in 1986, never losing to her again?
Chris Evert
Chris Evert had won all six of their earlier meetings; after this 6–4, 7–5 win at Hilton Head, Graf took the remaining seven as well.
Q 10In which city did the 17-year-old Graf win her first major title in 1987?
Paris
Paris. In the French Open final the world No. 1 served for the title at 5–3 in the third set, then double-faulted on match point; 'I'm happy and sorry I won the match,' Graf said.
Q 11Which player later matched Graf's record of 186 consecutive weeks as world No. 1?
Serena Williams
Serena Williams drew level in September 2016, then lost the No. 1 ranking the very next week, one week short of taking the record outright.
Q 12What is the name for Graf's 1988 feat of winning all four majors and the Olympic title in one year?
The Golden Slam
The Golden Slam. She sealed it by beating the same rival in the US Open final and, three weeks later, in the Olympic final.
Q 13Whom did Graf beat 6–0, 6–0 in about half an hour in the 1988 French Open final?
Natasha Zvereva
Natasha Zvereva, a 17-year-old who had beaten the second seed on the way, won only 13 points in the first 6–0, 6–0 major final since 1911.
Q 21What sent Graf running off court in tears seconds after she won her 1989 US Open semifinal?
Leg cramps
Leg cramps. Both thighs had seized up late in the third set, so she threw down her racket at match point and ran for treatment, then came back to win the final.
Q 22Which German newspaper ran the 1990 scandal story about Graf's father that left her in tears at a Wimbledon press conference?
Bild
Bild ran a former model's claim that Peter Graf had fathered her child. Tests later proved that he had not.
Q 23In the 1992 Wimbledon final, Graf's opponent played almost silently after complaints about which habit?
Grunting
Grunting. After a fortnight of complaints and newspaper 'gruntometers', Monica Seles stayed quiet and lost 6–2, 6–1; Graf thought all the talk 'got to her a little bit'.
Q 14Whose run of six straight Wimbledon titles did Graf end in the 1988 final, after trailing by a set and a break?
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova led 7–5, 2–0 before Graf won 12 of the last 13 games; 'I succumbed to a better player,' the champion said afterwards.
Q 15Which American teenager was the first woman to win all four majors in one year, 35 years before Graf?
Maureen Connolly
Maureen Connolly, known as Little Mo, did it in 1953 at 18; a riding accident the following summer crushed her leg and ended her career at 19.
Q 16In which city did Graf win her only Olympic singles gold medal?
Seoul
Seoul. In the final she beat the opponent she had beaten in the US Open final weeks earlier, a rival who was also her doubles partner that year.
Q 17Graf's only major doubles title came at Wimbledon in 1988 with which partner?
Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Sabatini was also her fiercest rival that year: within three months of their Wimbledon title together, Graf beat her in both the US Open and Olympic finals.
Q 18Who upset Graf in the semifinals of the 1988 season-ending championships, only her third defeat of the year?
Pam Shriver
Pam Shriver's 6–3, 7–6 win in New York cost Graf the one big title she missed in 1988, after she had swept all four majors and the Olympic tournament.
Q 19Which 17-year-old ended Graf's run of five straight major titles in the 1989 French Open final?
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario won 7–5 in the third set after Graf had served for the title at 5–3; it was Graf's only loss at a major in 1989 and cost her a second straight sweep of all four.
Q 20Rain during Graf's opening major final of 1988 led to which first for a major final?
Play under a roof
Play under a roof: organisers closed the sliding roof of Melbourne's new stadium after a delay of more than an hour, and Graf went on to win 6–1, 7–6 indoors.
Q 24Who beat Graf in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic final, leaving her with silver?
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati was 16; she lost the first set, then came back to beat the top seed and defending champion for the gold medal.
Q 25In which city was Monica Seles stabbed by a Graf fan in 1993?
Hamburg
Hamburg. Günter Parche said he wanted Graf back at No. 1; he received a suspended sentence, and Seles, out for 27 months, vowed never to play in Germany again.
Q 26Who wept on the Duchess of Kent's shoulder after losing to Graf at Wimbledon?
Jana Novotná
Jana Novotná led the 1993 final 4–1 in the deciding set with a point for 5–1, then lost five games in a row; five years later she came back and won the title.
Q 27Graf's father and manager Peter was jailed in the 1990s for which offence involving her earnings?
Tax evasion
Tax evasion. He was sentenced to 45 months and served 25, and prosecutors dropped their case against Steffi herself once she agreed to pay 1.3 million marks.
Q 28When Graf's rival Monica Seles returned to the tour in 1995, which special status was she given?
A shared No. 1 ranking
A shared No. 1 ranking, because she had held the top spot when she was attacked 27 months earlier. Graf then beat her in three sets in the US Open final, their first meeting since.
Q 29Whom did Graf beat in the 1999 French Open final for her 22nd and last major?
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis, 18 and world No. 1, had said Graf's 'time has passed'; she came within three points of the title, then lost 4–6, 7–5, 6–2 and ended the match in tears.
Q 30Who beat Graf in her ninth and final Wimbledon singles final in 1999?
Lindsay Davenport
Lindsay Davenport won 6–4, 7–5 for her only Wimbledon title; it turned out to be Graf's last match at a major, and she retired six weeks later.