Eleven years ago today, Peter Graf, Steffi Graf’s father, died. Her career of the century would not have been possible without him – a scandal brought him down and put him in prison.
His daughter is considered Germany’s athlete of the century, the nation’s favorite, the athlete who, together with Boris Becker, made tennis great in Germany.
He himself was considered the embodiment of the athlete father par excellence: ambitious, power-conscious and so focused on the well-being of his child that it was ultimately harmful.
11 years ago today, on November 30, 2013, Peter Graf, Steffi Graf’s father and himself a larger-than-life figure in the German sports landscape – died – in both rise and fall.
Peter Graf: He guided Steffi Graf’s career of the century
Peter Graf, born on June 18, 1938 in Mannheim, was a tennis player himself at a young age and was affected by a stroke of fate in his family: his mother Rosemarie died when he was 18, his relationship with his father Alfons was disturbed and the two did not speak to each other for years .
Peter Graf was living a middle-class life as an insurance salesman and used car dealer when, at the age of 27, he discovered the passion of his life: He played tennis at regional league level, became a coach and also bought a tennis hall.
Because of his knowledge, he quickly noticed the special talent of his daughter Stefanie, who was born in 1969. When Steffi was eight years old and demonstrated her potential at children’s tournaments, Peter decided to give up all other activities and devoted himself entirely to promoting her career.
In 1982, Peter Graf registered his then 13-year-old daughter on the WTA tour – earlier than would be possible today. From then on, Peter Graf left the job as trainer to former professional Pavel Slozil from what was then Czechoslovakia, while Papa Graf remained the mastermind as manager.
Scandal revelations moved the tabloids
The success story that followed is well known: Graf won her first tournament in 1986, her first major title and rise to number 1 in the world rankings followed at the French Open in 1987, and the unrivaled Golden Slam in 1988 with victories in all four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympics in Seoul – when he was just 19 years old at the time.
With 107 singles tournament victories, 22 Grand Slam titles and 377 weeks as number 1, Graf emerged in 1999 as a living legend. However, the reputation of her father, who had not left her side for a long time, was seriously damaged at this point.
In 1990, revelations about an alleged affair with a nude model with connections to the red light district and an illegitimate child kept the tabloids in suspense. The model and boxing promoter Ebby Thust were sentenced to prison in 1992 for blackmailing Graf.
In 1995, a scandal of a different kind became public: the Mannheim public prosecutor’s office opened proceedings against Peter and Steffi Graf on suspicion of tax evasion.
Tax scandal landed Father Graf in prison
The patriarch himself had indicated years before that managing his high-earning daughter had grown beyond him. Now, discrepancies in the tax returns and subsequent house searches showed that he had fraudulently defrauded the tax authorities of millions.
Peter Graf ultimately took his daughter out of the line of fire and took all the blame on himself, cooperating with the investigators. In 1997 he was finally sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for evading 12.3 million German marks.
Peter Graf was released early in 1998, the same year he divorced Steffi’s mother Heidi. From then on, Peter Graf withdrew from the public eye, but continued to work as a tennis coach and in consulting jobs.
Peter Graf died of cancer in 2013
In 1999, Peter Graf remarried and, despite the many shocks, he ultimately had a normal father-daughter relationship with his daughter Steffi. Peter Graf also got along well with son-in-law Andre Agassi. “He is a nice, extremely polite and well-mannered guy – we have a lot of fun together,” said Peter Graf in 2007 Rhenish Post.
It was more difficult with Agassi’s father Emmanuel, who died in 2021, a tennis father of the worse kind. According to Agassi, an encounter between the two ended in a heated argument and a near-brawl – topic: which of the two children would have had the better backhand technique .
When Peter Graf turned 70 in 2008, filmmaker Ulreich Stein released a documentary about Graf and tried to put his legacy in the right light: “You shouldn’t just see Peter Graf as a tax evader. Without him, Steffi’s triumph, which all Germans cheered, would never have happened,” said Stein after the two years of filming.
Peter Graf died of cancer on November 30, 2013 at the age of 74.
