The Final Top Ten

1993 Wimbledon Final

Steffi Graf def. Jana Novotna

7-6,1-6,6-4

LONDON - Steffi Graf used an old good luck charm Saturday to help her win her fifth Wimbledon singles title ... maybe
it cast a spell on her opponent Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic.

The top-seeded Graf admitted she was 'out of it" after losing 10 of 12 consecutive games to trail 1-4 in the final set.
So she decided to change her racket in a bid to change her luck. Magic or not, Novotna's game fell apart and Graf
rallied from a 1-4 deficit to win the 100th edition of the Wimbledon women's crown 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4.

The 24-year-old German said the desperation racket-change was a trick she had used before. "I did that once against
Martina Navratilova) When I was down 7-5, 2-1 and came back to win the last two sets 6-2, 6-1.
"So I said to myself: 'Okay, let's try it.'"

Novotna, also 24, captured only a handful of points after the match turned.
"I felt bad for her," Graf said. 'There have been a few matches where I choked."

But the eighth-seeded Novotna insisted she had lone no such thing and said the credit belongs to Graf: "She lifted her
game a lot and she started to play much better. In the end, she won it herself."

Novotna, often dismissed as an extremely gifted player but a perpetual under-achiever, was visibly distraught after her
late collapse. In a understandable breach of protocol, she buried her head on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent, who
was presenting the runner-up trophy and got a royal pat on the back plus some words of encouragement in return.

Graf, who took home $550,000 in addition to her 13th Grand Slam title, won here for the fifth time in the last six years.
Novotna had another chance to win a championship later in the day in the women's doubles tinal, but she and Larisa
Neiland of Latvia lost to American Gigi Fernandez and Natalia Zvereva of Belarus 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.