TUNE IN LIVE
Innovative format at this iconic event, featuring four tennis legends competing for a 200M cash purse in the fastest growing sport in America, Pickleball, live on ESPN.
FEBRUARY 4, 2024 || 8:30PM EST
THE AMATEUR SLAM
The Amateur Slam 2 will take place from February 2-3, 2024, in Miami Beach on world famous Lincoln Road at 1665 Lenox Avenue – between Michigan and Lenox Avenues. The tournament will welcome single-gender or mixed-gender doubles teams with a maximum combined DUPR rating of 8.5.
Interested players can sign up today here.
UNIQUE EXPERIENCES
VIP packages including premium events, meet and greet with players, courtside seating and more!
Exhibition Matches
As part of her farewell tour in 1999 and 2000, Graf played a series of global exhibition matches against past competitors. These included games against Amanda Coetzer in South Africa, Jelena Dokic in New Zealand, and Sánchez Vicario in Spain; the latter match was the first head-to-head between the two women since 1996. Graf later participated in a number of other exhibitions in cities including Tokyo, Berlin, and Washington, DC.
In 1999, a panel of experts at the Associated Press named Graf the 20th century's greatest female tennis player. Later, in 2012, Tennis Channel chose her as the greatest female tennis player of all time, a distinction echoed by a Tennis.com reader poll in 2018. Further honors include seven years as International Tennis Federation World Champion; eight years as Women's Tennis Association Player of the Year; and five years as German Sportsperson of the Year. In 2004, Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 2008 entered into the German Sports Hall of Fame.
Career Earnings
During her career Steffi earned $21 million in tournament prizes. That's the same as around $40 million in today's dollars. She earned tens of millions more from endorsements.
In 1995 Steffi was accused of tax evasion by German tax authorities. Authorities actually went so far as to arrest Steffi's father, a former used car salesman who managed her finances, for failing to pay income on $25-35 million of her earnings. That constituted roughly every penny she had earned up to that point playing tennis professionally. The Grafs were also accused of writing off $700,000 worth of legal and other expenses that were allegedly used to cover up an extramarital affair conducted by Peter.
Steffi was questioned but placed the blame entirely on her father, who was eventually convicted and sentenced to 45 months in prison. He served 25 months. Steffi had to pay 1.3 million Deutsche Marks in penalties and fines.
At a particularly low point during the saga, July 1996, Steffi was playing in a Wimbledon match when a fan yelled out "Steffi, will you marry me?!" After attempting to gather herself and holding back a laugh for a bit, Steffi finally replied "how much money do you have?!" much to the audience's delight:
Jaden, el orgullo de Andre Agassi y Steffi Graf
Los especialistas subrayan que tiene un puesto en el béisbol profesional, aunque las previsiones son diferentes este año debido al coronavirus, que ha dejado el Draft en cinco rondas y no las 40 habituales. Además, el vástago de la famosa y laureada pareja de ex campeones de tenis acaba de operarse un codo.
Independientemente de lo que suceda en la elección, tiene puesto asegurado para debutar, a sus 18 años, en la Universidad del Sur de California (USC), tras destacar en un campus como uno de los nuevos talentos del estado de Nevada, ya que la residencia oficial familiar es Las Vegas.
“Amo el béisbol. Amo a los compañeros de equipo, sobreviviendo y peleando como hermanos. Cada partido es un nuevo conjunto de desafíos y realmente me encanta resolverlos”, señala Jaden en la web oficial de la MLB.
Satisfacción parental y también cierto alivio, ya que el estadounidense y la alemana nunca escondieron que no querían que Jaden ni la más pequeña Jaz Elle (16 años) se asomasen al tenis.
Steffi era profesional a los 14 años, empujada por un padre dominante, Peter, que acabó en la cárcel por sus trapicheos económicos. Andre se declaró con el tiempo víctima de la obsesión del ex boxeador iraní Mike Agassi, llegó a aborrecer el tenis. No querían una experiencia igual para sus niños. “No queríamos entrometernos, queríamos que hicieran su camino”, explicaba Andre. Jaden nunca cogió la raqueta, si jugaba más, de vez en cuando, Jaz. “Si me dijera que quería ser tenista, hubiera respirado hondo y la hubiera apoyado”, matiza.
They have two kids
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The couple welcomed the first of their two children, son Jaden Gil Agassi, in October 2001, followed by their daughter, Jaz Elle Agassi, on Oct. 3, 2003. He revealed in his book that after their daughter was born, he and his wife, like they had done with their son, secretly vowed that Jaz wouldn’t play tennis. Although their son didn’t follow in their tennis footsteps, Jaden plays another sport. In 2019, the baseball player signed with the University of Southern California, while his proud mom and dad stood behind him.
According to Agassi, his kids never had a moment where they realized that their parents were famous — instead, they eventually began to understand why people would come up to them and want to talk to him and Graf in public.
While talking to PEOPLE in March 2024, Agassi said, "You go through a whole phase of them going, ‘Well, this makes no sense that the people are coming up as if there’s a big deal.' And then they start to put together why it's a big deal."
He continued, "They start to realize they're looking behind the Wizard of Oz curtain and they realize it's not all that. So there's a healthy balance that kind of is inevitable through the whole process.”