United States Open championship: Top two women’s champion of all times
With the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season just around the corner, it is still not sure as to who is going to be the toughest contender out there at the Flushing Meadows. As far as the women’s side is concerned a number of top seeded players are carrying injuries.
The most painful news out of all others is about the top ranked American tennis ace, Serena Williams, who recently underwent a foot surgery. After the surgery, a lot of people predicted that she might not able to participate in the final major event of the year.
Apart from Williams, Justine Henin is another name who is suffering from a right elbow injury after a not so good performance at the grass court Grand Slam tournament. However, the difference here is that she has already declared that she is not going to participate in the 2010 US Open due to injury. Nevertheless, we are definitely going to miss the former star besides wishing her the very best of health.
Moreover, as far as the recent reports are concerned, Jelena Jankovic who is currently not feeling well as a result of a twisted ankle may skip the US Open as well.
Therefore, in the light of recent injury reports, the question is that who is going to win the title this year; the answer to it seems pretty murky at the moment.
While this year’s US Open champion is still doubtful, let us examine the top two all time US Open champions in terms of the number of final appearances as well as their success ratio.
2. Steffi Graf, a German tennis player
Steffi has contested in a total of eight United States Open finals out of which she succeeded in five final matches. Her success percentage was 73-10. The German tennis ace, grabbed her very first trophy back in 1988 and her last one came at the Flushing meadows back in 1996.
In 1988, Steffi knocked down Argentine Gabriella Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the final match of the US Open. The next season, the German tennis ace once again successfully defended her title by dismissing Martina Navratilova 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the final match of the US Open tournament.
Graf later on won her third US Open trophy back in 1993 by defeating Helena Sukova 6-3, 6-3. Two years later, Steffi Graf successfully won the US Open trophy two times in a row in 1995 as well as 1996. However, Graf’s 1996 final victory turned out to be her last US Open final.
Nevertheless, there is no doubt about the fact that Steffi Graf will always be listed as one of the best women tennis players of all times and her success percentage at the United States Open tournament make her one of its legendary winners.
1. Chris Evert, an American tennis player
One of the greatest tennis players from the women’s side, Chris Evert appeared in a total of nine United States Open championship finals, out of which she won six of them. The American tennis ace has also registered her name in the history to be a player who succeeded on four occasions in a row from 1975 to 1978.
Evert enjoys a winning percentage of 89.3 at the United States Open tournament. She contested at the Flushing meadows for the first time back in 1971 at sixteen with her final appearance back in 1989 at thirty four years of age. Chris won her very first US Open title in 1975 by knocking down Aussie Evonne Goolagong 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 when she was twenty years of age. The following year, the American tennis ace once again successfully defended her title in the city of New York by hammering down Goolagong once again 6-3, 6-0.
Chris grabbed her third US Open title in 1977 by getting the better of an Australian tennis ace, Wendy Turnbull with a final match score 7-6, 6-2. To register her fourth US Open victory in a row, Chris knocked down her compatriot, Pam Shriver, in the final match on Saturday 7-6, 6-4.
Chris then won another US Open title in 1980 by defeating a tennis ace from Czechoslovakia, Hana Mandlikova with a final match score of 5-6, 6-1, and 6-1. Her final US Open trophy came in 1982 when the American tennis ace dismissed once again Mandlikova in the final at the Flushing meadows.
None of the players from the women’s side has so far managed to exceed her totals at the Flushing meadows and it is not sure whether any one will ever surpass her record ever or not.
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