GRAF SAYS GOODBYE; `FRAULEIN FOREHAND' ENDS BRILLIANT CAREER.

Byline: Roy Kammerer Associated Press 

When the fun stopped, Steffi Graf did what so many superstars have done in recent months. She said goodbye.

After 22 Grand Slam singles titles, 107 tournament wins on the WTA Tour and a record 377 weeks as the No. 1 player in the world, Graf retired Friday from the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.

One of just five players to sweep the Grand Slam in a single year, she said she had ``nothing left to accomplish.''

``I'm not having fun anymore,'' Graf, fighting back tears, said at a news conference near her hometown of Bruehl.

Her announcement, foreshadowed by statements that she would not return to play Wimbledon or the French Open anymore, was the latest retirement this year by a dominant athlete. Graf followed the path taken by Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, John Elway, Barry Sanders and Boris Becker, another German whose rise to the top of men's tennis in the mid-1980s paralleled her own leap to stardom.

She had fought through numerous injuries in recent years and throughout her 17-year career, a tenure that also was plagued by off-court distractions.

It wasn't that the 30-year-old found it hard to keep up with today's generation of teen-age stars: Graf proved she still was a contender by beating Martina Hingis in this year's French Open and reaching the final at Wimbledon.

``It was almost too easy to catch up to the top players again,'' Graf said. ``I have nothing left to prove.''

But the wins have been fewer and farther between in recent years.

After winning three Grand Slam tournaments in 1996, Graf won only one tournament in 1997 and four more in 1998. The French Open was her only title this year and her first Grand Slam in three years.

Graf said the decision to quit came two weeks ago as she was flying to a tournament in San Diego, where a thigh injury later caused her to pull out of her first-round match against American Amy Frazier. It turned out to be her last official appearance on tour.

``The weeks following Wimbledon weren't easy for me,'' Graf said. ``I was pulled back and forth, but when I made my decision, I didn't think about it one minute afterward.''

She also said her decision had nothing to do with injuries.

``Right now, I'm perfectly fit,'' Graf said.

Graf turned pro in 1982 at the age of 13, and even as a pigtailed teen-ager presented a stern and determined figure on the court - a contrast to her modest, almost shy demeanor off-court.

She won her first tournament in April 1986, beating Chris Evert in Hilton Head. Graf beat Evert again 11 months later in Key Biscayne, becoming the youngest player to pass $1 million in earnings.

Graf won her first Grand Slam title in June 1987, beating Martina Navratilova at the French Open, and in August of that year earned the No. 1 world ranking for the first time.

Nicknamed ``Fraulein Forehand'' for her devastating trademark shot, Graf won more than $20 million during her career. In 1988, she won all four majors - the Australian, French and U.S. opens and Wimbledon - and completed a ``Golden Slam'' with the women's singles title at the Seoul Olympics.

Graf, Margaret Court and Maureen Connolly are the only women to complete the slam. Rod Laver twice swept all four majors and Don Budge did it once.

Graf won Wimbledon seven times, the French Open six times, the U.S. Open five times and the Australian Open four times.

Her growing popularity was accompanied by personal setbacks, including her father spending 15 months in jail in 1997 and 1998 for tax evasion on her tennis winnings.

In the early '90s, Graf met her match in the young Monica Seles. But Seles was stabbed by a deranged Graf fan during a tournament in 1993 in Hamburg, interrupting her career for two years.

Graf's injuries - more than 50 in all - peaked in June 1997. She underwent knee surgery and her career appeared to be over. Despite the 8-1/2-month layoff, Graf fought through several other injuries to reach the top again - winning this year's French Open in a dramatic, emotional final against Hingis.

Graf said she plans a farewell tour of exhibition matches later this year and will concentrate on her marketing company and developing young German talent. But the first thing Graf plans to do is travel - without a racket.

``On the plane coming back from San Diego, I just started poring through these magazines and thinking of all the places I could go,'' Graf said, laughing.

GRAND DAME

Tennis great Steffi Graf walks away from the sport with 22 Grand Slam titles. Here's a breakdown of her illustrious career:

Australian Open

Champion - 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994

Runner-up - 1993

Quarterfinalist - 1991

Fourth Round - 1997

Third Round - 1984

First Round - 1983

French Open

Champion - 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999

Runner-up - 1989, 1990, 1992

Semifinalist - 1991, 1994

Quarterfinalist - 1986, 1997

Fourth Round - 1985

Third Round - 1984

Second Round - 1983

Wimbledon

Champion - 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996

Runner-up - 1987, 1999

Semifinalist - 1990,

Fourth Round - 1984, 1985

Third Round - 1998

First Round - 1994

U.S. Open

Champion - 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996

Runner-up - 1987, 1990, 1994

Semifinalist - 1985, 1986, 1991

Quarterfinalist - 1992

Fourth Round - 1998

First Round - 1984

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, 2 Boxes

Photo: (1--Color) In one of her final appearances, Steffi Graf waves after a win over Anna Kournikova at the French Open in May.

Laurent Rebours/Associated Press

(2) Steffi Graf after winning her first of seven Wimbledon titles back in 1988. Graf announced her retirement from tennis yesterday.

Associated Press file photo

Box: (1) BY THE NUMBERS

(2) GRAND DAME (See text)