It was Steffi's 79th career singles title, tying her with Margaret Court of Australia. "It's been a great, great year (winning three of 1993's four Grand Slams).
I'm incredibly happy to end the year winning this tournament (in New York). It couldn't be any better. I’m happy to have a break now. I'm looking for some time away from tennis."
The total attendance at Madison Square Garden in 1993 was 100,784, the fourth straight year the event exceeded 100,000.
Only the top 16 singles players and the top eight doubles teams qualified for the $3.5 million Virginia Slims Championships. 1993 marked the beginning of the end for Virginia Slims' sponsorship of the sport, which began in 1971. Kraft General Foods sponsored the women's tour. Both Kraft and Virginia Slims were divisions of Philip Morris.
WTA's then executive director and chief executive officer Gerard Smith told the press shared sponsorship created recognition problems. "We want to simplify marketing of the tour. Right now (in 1993), we have the Kraft Tour, the Virginia Slims rankings, the Virginia Slims information system, you earn Kraft Tour bonus points to get into the Virginia Slims Championships, which is the culmination of the Kraft Tour.
"Yet, how you're seeded in the Virginia Slims Championships is on the basis of your Virginia Slims rankings, even though it has nothing to do with the Kraft Tour bonus points. It's very confusing. I'm not sure I know what I just said. What we're trying to do … is really trying to simplify the whole concept. We're looking for a relationship where we have one sponsor who's going to work with us in that regard."
The format of the weeklong run event held in November of that year featured Round of 16 tournament-style draw, unlike men's tennis which played round robins with two groups of four players and the top four would then play for the title. The women's singles final offered the best-of-five-set match. In 1992, Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, then 20, played a record 167 matches. Steffi and Arantxa played seven times in 1993. All but one, the Australian Open, came in a final. "This is the first time I will go best-of-5. Probably if I would play two out of three, I would not even win the third set (6-3). It would be over in two sets (6-1, 6-4)."
Steffi had missed two tournaments (Brighton, England and Essen, Germany) to recuperate from surgery in early October for bone splinters on her right foot which she had sought treatment during Wimbledon. Steffi's first tournament back was Philadelphia which was won by Spain's Conchita Martinez (6-3, 6-3) ending Steffi's 45-match winning streak.
"The Italian Open was really unbelievable but beating the No. 1 in the world I think is more important and also that I beat her on the Supreme Court (indoor carpet), which is not my surface." In May 1993, Conchita Martinez, then 21, finally broke through and won her first major tournament at the Foro Italico defeating Gabriela Sabatini ("the queen of Rome") 7-5, 6-1.
Steffi also suffered from aching back since mid-August. Before the final, Steffi received a prematch injection to ease the pain of an inflamed sacroiliac. "Knowing my back wasn't perfect and not knowing how it was going to be, I didn't try to pace myself. I knew every game would be important and to take every point as early as possible. That's how I played the first set (6-1) and won that quickly (28 minutes)."
Arantxa: "When Steffi plays well, she doesn't make aces, she just uses her serve to set up her forehand and hit a good shot. You just have to be ready to keep running and hit the ball back. I haven't seen her play as good in a long time. Steffi won a lot of free points with her serve and in the first set she didn't make any mistakes at all.
"I thought I had to do something different, so I started hitting the ball a little harder, taking more risks. I was very proud to win the third set. I'm not disappointed. Today I had a very tough opponent. Steffi played great. She played so many good shots on the lines. She served better than any day before against me. Her forehand is the best. When she plays well she just waits for her forehand and hits a good shot. That's what she did today. She was just too strong."
The key to Steffi's game was her excellent footwork. Steffi served seven aces and hit 27 forehand winners either deep into both corners or down the lines. Her backhand helped set up points won by the forehand. "Arantxa knew she wouldn’t be able to outrun me or play long points against me today, and that's why she went for a lot (in the third set) and she did it well. I needed to be more aggressive and I didn't serve that well (in the third), so I was trying to concentrate a little better on that as well as stepping into the balls. I also wanted to play more forehands. I had a lot more control over the points in the fourth (6-1)."
In the 36 hours before the singles final, Arantxa defeated Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic in the 2:57 quarterfinals (6-7, 7-6, 6-4) and in the semifinals defeated then 18-year-old Mary Pierce of France in 2:34. The final lasted 2 hours and 14 minutes.
Arantxa, one of the quickest players on the tour and usually could run down almost any shot, also played in the doubles. In the third set against Steffi, Arantxa sought courtside medical attention for fatigue from long matches during the week.
"I feel a little tired. I played a lot of tennis the last few days. At one point my legs were very dizzy, so I had to lean on my racket. I just think I've been playing a lot. But also, I have my period, it's not an excuse, but everything came together. At one point, I thought I was going to fall to the court." The second set of the semifinals match (7-5) took 1:10. "Mary is a player that hits the ball harder than anyone. She can play some great points, and then make unbelievably easy mistakes. So you just have to be patient. It doesn't matter if she hits three winners in a row because she can then make four mistakes in a row. You just have to concentrate and keep playing (6-2, 5-7, 6-2)."
In the first round, Mary Pierce, who was born in Canada, defeated Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina 7-6, 6-3 in two hours. On her winless year (for the first time since 1985, Gaby did not win a title in 26 tournaments played over 18 months): "It's kind of hard to finish the year like this. I was very mad (at match point) because I thought it (Mary's backhand which clipped the baseline for a winner) was clearly out.
"I'm glad this year is over. It is a matter now of winning some matches, that's all. I'm glad that the season is over and I'm looking forward to next year. This has been a very - I don't know - a weird year. It is kind of tough, but I can't look back now. I don't think I have played my best tennis." Gaby suffered her biggest loss at the 1993 French Open to Mary Joe Fernandez after leading 6-1, 5-1 with five match points.
At 37, Martina Navratilova by far the oldest in the field had won five titles in 1993. Mary Pierce was less than half Martina Navratilova's age defeated the sport's biggest winner (at the time winner of 166 singles titles) in the 1:56 quarterfinals (6-1, 3-6, 6-4).
"She hit a couple of forehands as hard as anything that I have seen. I know she's going to smack a few. She's tall and she's got a lot of leverage and she's strong so when she connects, it is a bomb. Not only was she hitting them hard, she was placing them well. The pace doesn't bother me - but when she hits it in the corner, the point is over."
Steffi reached the final of 14 of the 15 tournaments played in 1993, winning 10 with a 76-6 record in singles. Arantxa had a 77-14 record. Steffi finished 1993 the world's No.1 female player and Arantxa the No. 2-ranked tennis player in the world.
