I didn't feel that I was playing so well."Still, she appreciated the surroundings and her supporters. "It's very special to go out there and stepping on court today was again a great moment," she said. The German made little encouraging fists to herself and slaps on the thigh after successful points. They were mannerisms we did not see as much as usual.Graf again had her left thigh bandaged but the leg did not inconvenience her The same could not be said of Davenport, the quiet champion.

"The few chances that I had I either played them tentatively or always made a mistake," Graf said "There was something missing today. She dropped serve in the first game.The spectators were behind Steffi but it was hardly a sulphurous response spilling from the seats There was polite applause It was very British. It was very Sunday.It seemed most of the viewing emotion was being reserved for the men's final. It was going to be a long day out there and they didn't want to go too early with their sentiments.They saw a sparkless Steff. "There have been difficult times, they've been well documented, and there have been unbelievable, great times.

It's been a lot of fun but there's got to be a certain time when I've got to move on with something else in my life."The 31st and almost certainly last Grand Slam singles final of Graf's career was conducted in a curious atmosphere. The women's final is not used to being treated as an appetiser, yet this was indeed a consomme of an affair with little for the crowd to get their teeth into.The audience itself was small at the outset, a contempt that may have unsettled Graf at the beginning of her final act. Now there will be some kind of release."In a way I feel like a winner getting out of this tournament," she said. Her father, Peter, served time behind bars for tax evasion and his daughter, too, has been in a prison of sorts for much of her sporting life. But Graf would not even commit herself to next month's US Open so this, the 53rd Grand Slam of her career, may have been the last.At the end, Graf had a smile for Alan Mills, the tournament referee She had a smile for everybody She seemed rather relieved it was all over. Soon Graf will no longer be a member of the tennis troupe at all. There was no definitive word yesterday on an actual retirement date.

"It will hit me in a couple of weeks, I'm sure."Richard Williams, page 3. IT WAS a modest farewell. Steffi Graf scattered no roses after her valedictory performance in SW19 yesterday There was not even a wave. The German preferred to leave the greatest stage to her conqueror, Lindsay Davenport.