Just like old times: Steffi and Martina match down to the wire...
Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova always did bring out the best in each other.
The tennis legends played the exhibition “Dream Match 2008” before a sellout crowd at Tokyo’s Ariake Stadium on Saturday and Steffi managed to edge Martina in a one-set contest 8-7 after winning a tiebreaker 10-5. It was their first match in 14 years,
“It was great that it went to a tiebreaker,” Graf said afterward. “It was a lot of fun playing Martina again. It brought back so many memories.”
Martina summed it up this way: “It was almost a surreal experience. I felt like we went back in time. People always asked me who the toughest player to play against was and if it wasn’t Steffi, I don’t know who it was.”
Before retiring, the two had met 18 times and each won nine times.
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.