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.
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THE PICKLEBALL SLAM
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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:
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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.
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Early Life and Career Beginnings
Stefanie Maria Graf was born on June 14, 1969 in Mannheim, West Germany, the daughter of Heidi Schalk and Peter Graf. Her father was an aspiring tennis coach, introducing Graf to the game by teaching her how to wield a wooden racket at the age of three. At the age of four, she began practicing on court, and entered her first tournament when she was five. Soon enough, she was winning the top prize at numerous junior tournaments.
(Photo by Bob Martin/Getty Images)
Graf began 1988 by defeating Chris Evert and winning the Australian Open, not losing a single set during the tournament. She then won the tournament in Berlin, defended her title at the French Open, and conquered Wimbledon by coming from behind to defeat Navratilova. Finally, upon winning the US Open, Graf took the Grand Slam title, the only such title in history completed across three surfaces: clay, hard court, and grass. The cherry on top of this honor came during the summer Olympic Games in Seoul, where Graf beat Gabriela Sabatini in the gold medal match, and became the first and only Golden Slam winner in history.
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