The 30-year-old German, the greatest tennis player of her generation, loved playing on grass and the All England Club provided her with some of her greatest triumphs.

``It is very special to go out there,'' Graf said after losing 6-4, 7-5 to Lindsay Davenport in the singles final today and then announcing she would not play again at Wimbledon.

``Stepping out on court today was again a great moment. Now I have another good memory to look back on. I was sad in a lot of different ways but in another way I felt pretty fine with it,'' she said of her retirement decision.

Graf played at Wimbledon for the first time as a gawky but supremely athletic 15-year-old, reaching the fourth round at a time when Martina Navratilova reigned supreme in SW 19.

When she first met the powerful Czech-born American in a Wimbledon final in 1987 she went down 7-5, 6-3 butit was the last time she lost here to the nine-time champion.

Graf is a firm favourite with Wimbledon fans alongside compatriot Boris Becker who has also retired. During the final, the Centre Court crowd was willing her on, yelling ``come on Steffi''.

But it wasn't always so. Her brisk manner on court and diffident approach off it meant she took some time to endear herself to London tennis fans. ``I wish I could have shown more for them and maybe gone into a third set or something,'' Graf said.

Having taken over her number one ranking she knocked Navratilova off her Wimbledon perch in 1988 to prove her agile whole-court game could be a match for the older woman's serve and volley skills.

That victory remains the one she will remember best.

``They've all been so special but I guess the first match is the one you always look back on and that one has it,'' Graf said. In 1989 she overcame Chris Evert in the semifinals and Navratilova again in the final.

Two years later, she beat Gabriela Sabatini, whoworried and chased the German from the baseline, until Graf finally ground her down 6-4, 3-6, 8-6.And in 1992, she outplayed the Monica Seles 6-2 6-1 for her fourth title and revenge for the Yugoslav-born American wresting the number one ranking from her the previous year.

``The best tennis I played was against Monica in the final,'' Graf said, but she added that the struggle she had had against Sabatini meant the match was a big one, personally.

In 1993, she beat Jana Novotna in a final she came close to losing until the Czech's nerve failed at 4-1 in the third set and she handed the German the match on a plate.

After going out in the first round to Lori McNeil in 1994, she swept back to beat Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 in a baseline war of attrition the following year and again 6-3, 7-5 in 1996.

It was to be her last Wimbledon victory. Injury intervened in 1997 and she went out in the third round in 1998.

Paes-Lisa in final

India's Leander Paes took a firmstep towards atheir second Wimbledon title after winning the men's doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi by reaching the final of the mixed doubles event partnering Lisa Raymond of the United States.Paes and Raymond, the top seeds, stormed into the final beating the fourth seeded Mark Knowels of Bahama and Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals today.

In the final, Paes-Raymond will take on Swede Jonas Bjorkman and Russian teen queen Anna Kournikova, the third seeded pair who got a walkover from John McEnroe and Steffi Graf in the semi-finals.