A love/hate triangle (Part I)

What must Steffi Graf be thinking these days? The boyfriend of Andre Agassi was a stoic champion in her day who won so many matches, so many championships, so many majors, so many French Opens and Wimbledons, because of one thing: mental toughness.

When Jana Novotna choked in 1993 at the Big W, Graf was there to pick up the title. That stands as her most memorable title achieved by mental toughness and pure stoic unshakability.

At the 1999 French Open -- the most dramatic, emotional and satisfying of all her Grand Slam titles -- Graf had the fortitude to fight back from the brink in the second set, as Martina Hingis stood three points away from her first title on la terre battu in Gay Pah-ree. Graf absorbed everything Hingis had to give, and as the third set wore on, it was the elder stateswoman who wore down the (then) teenager from Switzerland. Trying to stay in the match, a crabby, whining and totally discombobulated Hingis resorted to the bush tactic of serving underhanded.

No matter -- Graf ran down every desperation shot Hingis used, dictated each point, and gained an emotional stranglehold on Hingis and the match. After Graf won the third set and the championship, Hingis tried to leave the court for the presentation of the runner-up and championship awards. However, mother Melanie Molitor rightfully forced Hingis to stand in the center of Stade Roland Garros, speak to the French crowd, and watch Graf -- a noble, dignified champion -- gracefully and joyfully accept the trophy she worked harder to get than any other in her storied career.

Along with everyone else who watched that match and the unraveling of Hingis' emotions that took place within it, I realized one more time how much Graf -- who would retire a month later after losing to Lindsay Davenport in the '99 Wimbledon finals -- used mental toughness to make her career as great as it was.

With this French Open memory firmly in place, Graf surely had to have said a few words to her boyfriend, Andre Agassi, as the 2001 French Open continued. Then again, since Agassi won his first (and only) French title the day after that momentous win by Graf in 1999, maybe Steffi didn't think she had to say anything to the special person in her life.