No day like any other: Steffi Graf’s most bitter defeat – first round loss in Wimbledon

In her impressive career, Steffi Graf had set many records. But the Brühler woman would have preferred to do without this. At the 21. June 1994 Graf became the first defending champion to be eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon.

Graf never found his rhythm against the American Lori McNeil, then number 22 in the world rankings. She acted very passively, barely came on the net and had to admit defeat 5:7 and 6:7 (5:7) after 1:41 hours of play.

It was the end of an impressive winning streak. The then 25-year-old had won the last three All England Championships and was unbeaten in 21 games in London.

Immediately after the defeat, Graf openly admitted that the defeat hurt her. “It hurts that I lost,” she said. “It’s very disappointing. Obviously it didn’t help me that it started raining. But we both had the same conditions. And she played better than me.”

The match had to be interrupted several times due to heavy rain showers. It was one of the few games that could even be completed that day.