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Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former tennis champion highly regarded as the most graceful tennis player of all time. Though she made headlines off the court with her private marriage to men’s tennis great Andre Aggasi, Steffi Graf holds many records for her remarkable tennis career.Born Stefanie Maria Graf on June 14, 1969 in Germany, Stefi was introduced to tennis by her father Peter Graf. She began developing her skills on the court at the age of four and played in her first tournament at the age of five. She was performing well in junior tournaments and won the European Championships for the 12 to 18 age group in 1982.
In October of 1982, at 13 years of age, Stefi played in her first professional tennis tournament at Filderstadt, Germany losing 6-4, 6-0 to former World No. 1 player, Tracy Austin. Graf began playing professionally in the first full season of 1983 and ascended through the rankings to No. 6 by 1985. She had represented West Germany in the tennis demonstration event at the Olympic Games in 1984 and won the gold.
In 1986 at Hilton Head, South Carolina, Graf won her first tour title, defeating Chris Evert in the final. She went on to win seven subsequent tournaments and finished her 1986 season ranked at Number 3. Stefi’s breakthrough year came in 1987 when she finished the season with a 75-2 match record and claimed the Number 1 ranking that had previously belonged to Martina Navratilova.
Graf achieved a new status in 1988, claiming what the media dubbed the “Golden Slam” by winning all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, The Australian Open, The French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, along with the Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s singles. The only two women to previously achieve victory in all four Grand Slam singles tournaments were Maureen Connolly and Margaret Court.
By the end of Graf’s career in 1999, when she announced her retirement, Graf was ranked Number 4 and held the record for 377 weeks at Number 1, the most weeks at that ranking of any male or female player in history. She is the only player to have one at least four singles titles at each Grand Slam event.
Prior to her retirement in 1995, Graf was accused of tax evasion and her father, being her financial manager, was sentenced to jail and served 25 months. In 1997 the case was dropped and she made restitution to German authorities.
Stefi Graf returned to the headlines in 2001 when she married Andre Agassi. They have two children together. Today, Graf and husband Aggasi advertise for the Deutsche Telekom in a series of T-Mobile “Try to find me” television spots. Graf is also the founder of Children For Tomorrow, an organization that provides therapeutic and medical treatment to children recovering from mental or physical trauma.
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