Sports Letters: Graceless Graf

Sir: Being indecisive about when to call it quits seems to be the latest sporting trend.

Boris Becker retired in 1997, only to carry on playing; Damon Hill is retiring one minute and not the next; and now Steffi Graf has decided that she will not play either the French Open or Wimbledon again. She told an interviewer that she would retire, only to say she had been misquoted. It is inconceivable for a player of her stature to stop playing in the Grand Slams and carry on in smaller tournaments. What is she playing at? She should take a leaf out of Stefan Edberg and Chris Evert's books, and have a retirement year, leaving with her dignity intact.

J WHITELOCK

Yorkshire