Steffi & Monica: The Greatest Rivalry That Never Was

From basement drills in Brühl to center court at Amelia Island, Steffi Graf’s rise wasn’t a solo act—and it definitely wasn’t quiet. In this episode, we zoom in on Peter Graf: the restless figure pacing the stands, flashing “support” signals, arguing with officials, and clashing with the press long before tax scandals and tabloid headlines.

We follow Peter and his growing friction with journalists, and the way his courtside behavior finally spills over at Amelia Island, where Steffi faces Claudia Kohde-Kilsch for the title.

If you’re interested in the line between de...

Relive the electric 1986 US Open semifinal where 17-year-old Steffi Graf went toe-to-toe with world No. 1 Martina Navratilova and came within a swing or two of the biggest win of her young career. We walk point-by-point through that epic third-set tiebreak, break down Steffi’s ruthless run through the draw, and revisit contemporary reports from New York that crowned her Martina’s “natural successor.” A deep-dive for tennis fans, Graf obsessives, and anyone who loves high-stakes, coming-of-age sports drama.

Before Steffi Graf became a 22-time Grand Slam champion, she was a teenager grinding through Futures events, qualifiers, and lonely early-round losses. In this episode, we zoom in on the moment everything changed: her first WTA Tour title in Hilton Head, 1986, where a 16-year-old Steffi finally breaks through and beats Chris Evert in the final.

We follow Steffi from the satellite circuit and junior dominance to the setbacks that almost sent her back to school, the thumb injury in Australia, the “I never want to play on grass again” meltdown, and the Olympic breakthrough in Los Angeles. Then we...

In this episode of Steffi & Monica: The Greatest Rivalry That Never Was, we hit pause on Graf and Seles and step back into the kingdom they inherited: the long, sprawling era of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

For more than a decade, women’s tennis is basically a two-woman empire. Evert, the icy, error-proof baseline queen, and Navratilova, the explosive lefty serve-and-volleyer, build a rivalry that defines the sport. They win most of the majors, meet in 14 Slam finals, and become the template every little girl with a racket grows up watching — including a young Steffi in West...

In this episode, we follow Monica Seles from a Hungarian-speaking family in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, all the way to her first big-stage appearance at the 1988 Virginia Slims of Florida in Boca Raton—her early life before Grand Slams, before world No. 1, before the headlines. We trace how her father, Károly Seles, an Olympic-caliber triple jumper turned cartoonist, turned a cracked parking lot into a homemade tennis court, sketching flipbook cartoons to teach her strokes while neighbors complained about scuff marks on their cars; how Monica’s obsession with hitting “just a few more balls” led from local courts to the Or...

Before Steffi Graf was a Grand Slam legend, she was a shy German kid smashing lamps in her parents’ living room and grinding on cold club courts. In this episode, we follow Steffi from basement practices with her dad in Mannheim and early junior heartbreak at the Sport Scheck tournament in Munich, to her brutal training days in Leimen alongside a young Boris Becker and her first pro match against Tracy Austin in Filderstadt—complete with the now-famous “hundreds like her” quote that seriously aged badly. If you love women’s tennis history, German tennis, or just want to know how a...

Steffi Graf and Monica Seles didn’t become legends alone. In this episode, we go inside the Graf and Seles families: Peter and Heidi in Mannheim, Karolj and Ester in Novi Sad. A hard-driving car-and-insurance salesman and a creative cartoonist/PE teacher each decide tennis is their child’s ticket out. We trace how two very different parents, cultures and childhoods helped forge two of the fiercest champions in tennis history—and set the stage for the Graf–Seles rivalry that would change women’s tennis forever.

In our debut episode, we rewind to the late 1960s and ’70s and drop in on two very different childhoods: Steffi Graf growing up in postwar West Germany and Monica Seles in socialist Yugoslavia. As women’s tennis explodes into the Open Era—with Billie Jean King, the “Original 9,” the Battle of the Sexes, and the Nikola Pilić boycott reshaping the sport—we trace how this new world of money, power, and politics quietly sets the stage for the Graf–Seles rivalry that would change tennis history.

Two women’s tennis legends. One rivalry cut short by a deranged tennis fan. In this narrative podcast, host Josh Hughes sets up the stage for the unfinished story of the tennis rivalry between Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Episode by episode, we revisit 80s/90s WTA history, reimagine the missing Graf–Seles seasons, and ask: what if the greatest rivalry in women’s tennis had been allowed to play out?