Porsche Tennis Grand Prix - the 1980s: Martina Navratilova collects one Porsche after another
Martina Navratilova shaped the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix like no other player. The Czechoslovakian won five titles in the 1980s, and ended up with six.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 21, 2020, 08:51 am
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2020 is unfortunately canceled due to the corona pandemic. In a tennisnet special, we look back with our partner Porsche in exclusive interviews and extensive articles on the most beautiful stories of the past years.
But Navratilova also had to pay tuition first: In 1979 she had already played for the final, but there she suffered a defeat with 2: 6, 0: 6 against the then long-time winner Tracy Austin. At the time, Navratilova was already 33 times the tournament winner on the WTA tour and the current number 1 in the tennis world. Also in 1981 the final was Austin against Navratilova, again Austin won, this time in three sets.
But then the “grande dame” of tennis took over in Filderstadt: 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987 and 1988, Navratilova, the last two years in the dream final against Chris Evert, won her permanent rival. It was only fitting for Filderstadt that here perhaps the greatest tennis rivalry ever found its way into the record books.
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Steffi Graf only in Filderstadt at the beginning
Even the most successful German tennis player left her mark in Filderstadt. In 1982 Graf - at just 13 years old (!) - still lost to Austin (4: 6, 0: 6). "With tears in her eyes, she thrashed the balls over the net," recalls tournament founder Dieter Fischer. And Austin? There were hundreds of young girls of Graf's skill level in America, she said at the subsequent press conference. How to be wrong ...
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However, Graf then only competed three times in Filderstadt. In 1983 she lost in round two to Jo Durie, in 1984 to Catarina Lindqvist in the final and in 1985 to Pam Shriver in the semifinals. Here, however, there was a disagreement: Graf, allegedly provoked by Shriver, demolished her racket - to the displeasure of the audience. "She never plays in Filderstadt anymore," scolded father Peter, who had noticed during the tournament because of unauthorized coaching. In 1999, however, there was almost a happy ending: Graf was already planning to play in Filderstadt, but ended his career a few weeks earlier .
The 1980s go down in tournament history as the Navratilova decade. In addition to her six wins in Filderstadt, she celebrated her 1,000 individual victory on the tour in 1986.
Austin, however, announced her retirement from professional tennis in 1984 at the age of 21. In the 1990s, she made a comeback and made it into the top 100 again, but did not compete in Filderstadt. But in Indian Wells against Steffi Graf, once taken lightly, now number one in the world rankings. Austin picked up a 0: 6, 0: 6 here - the maximum penalty in tennis - and played her last tournament in June.
The tournament winners of the 1980s in Filderstadt
| year | Winner | Opponent | Result |
| 1980 | Tracy Austin | Sherry field | 6: 2, 7: 5 |
| 1981 | Tracy Austin | Martina Navratilova | 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 |
| 1982 | Martina Navratilova | Tracy Austin | 6: 3, 6: 3 |
| 1983 | Martina Navratilova | Catherine Tanvier | 6: 1, 6: 2 |
| 1984 | Catarina Lindqvist | Steffi Graf | 6: 1, 6: 4 |
| 1985 | Pam Shriver | Catarina Lindqvist | 6: 1, 7: 5 |
| 1986 | Martina Navratilova | Hana Mandlikova | 6: 2, 6: 3 |
| 1987 | Martina Navratilova | Chris Evert | 7: 5, 6: 1 |
| 1988 | Martina Navratilova | Chris Evert | 6: 2, 6: 3 |
| 1989 | Gabriela Sabatini | Mary Joe Fernandez | 7: 6, 6: 4 |
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