Steffi Graf Biography

Steffi Graf

Name: Stefanie Maria Graf

Date of Birth: 14.6.1969

Birth Place: Mannheim, Germany

Height: 1,76m

Weight: 64kg

Wohnhaft in : Las Vegas, NV

Spouse: Andre Agassi, vh seit 22.10.2001

Children: Jaden Gil, geb. am 26.10.2001

Jaz Elle, geb. am 3.10.2003

Parents: Heidi und Peter Graf

Hobbies: Design, Kunst, Photographie, Musik

Seit 1984: Botschafterin fur den “World Wide Fund (WWF)”

Seit 1998: Grunderin der Stiftung “Children for Tomorrow”

Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf (born 14 June 1969) is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.
In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24. Her 22 singles titles mark the record for most Grand Slam wins by a tennis player (male or female) since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968. In 1988, she became the first and only tennis player (male or female) to achieve the Calendar Year Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.
Graf was ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 total weeks—the longest period for which any player, male or female, has held the number-one ranking since the WTA and the Association of Tennis Professionals began issuing rankings.  She won 107 singles titles, which ranks her third on the WTA's all-time list after Martina Navratilova (167 titles) and Chris Evert (157 titles).
A notable feature of Graf's game was her versatility across all playing surfaces, having won each of the four Grand Slams at least four times, the only player to do so, and she is best known for her great footwork and for her powerful forehand drive. Graf won six French Open singles titles (second to Evert) and seven Wimbledon singles titles (third behind Navratilova and Helen Wills Moody). She is the only singles player (male or female) to have achieved a Calendar Year Grand Slam while playing on four different types of tennis courts (Rebound Ace, grass, clay and DecoTurf), as the Calendar Year Grand Slams won by other players before her occurred when the Australian and US Opens were still played on grass. Graf reached thirteen consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, from the 1987 French Open through to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them. She won 5 consecutive Grand Slams (1988 Australian Open to 1989 Australian Open), and 7 Grand Slams out of 8, in 2 calendar years (1988 Australian Open to 1989 US Open, except 1989 French Open). She reached a total of 31 Grand Slam singles finals, third overall behind Evert (34 finals) and Navratilova (32 finals).
Graf is regarded by some to be the greatest female tennis player of all time. Billie Jean King said in 1999, "Steffi is definitely the greatest women's tennis player of all time."Navratilova herself has included Graf on her list of great players. In December 1999, Graf was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the Associated Press. Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, named her as the best female player of the 20th century. In March 2012, Tennis Channel picked Graf as the greatest female tennis player ever in their list of 100 greatest tennis players of all time.

Graf retired in 1999 while she was ranked World No. 3. She married former World No. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi in October 2001. The couple have two children – Jaden Gil and Jaz Elle. Graf was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.

In the 1990s, she briefly dated fellow German tennis player Alexander Mronz and had a long term relationship with racing car driver Michael Bartels.

She married Andre Agassi on 22 October 2001, with only their mothers as witnesses.Four days later Graf gave birth, six weeks prematurely, to their son Jaden Gil. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born in 2003.

In 1991, the Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center in Leipzig was dedicated. She is the founder and chairperson of "Children for Tomorrow", a non-profit foundation for implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises.

Records:

Steffi was the second youngest player ranked in the the WTA Tour ranking 124th

1985:

First time in the top ten of the WTA Tour ranking

August 17th 1987:

Steffi become No 1 in the tennis world. She kept this place for 186 weeks until March 10, 1991.

This fabulous record could not been surpassed by any other player, man or woman, to this date.

1988:

In this year Steffi not only won the Grand Slam, she was also the champion of the Olympic Games. Therefore, her tremendous success was called the “Golden Slam”.

1987-1990 / 1993-1996

For 8 years, Steffi finished the season as number one.

Steffi became the highest-earning female athlete of all times

During her career she gained 22 Grand Slams, divided in seven titles at Wimbledon, five titles at the US Open and six French Open as well as four wins at the Australian Open. She is the only player who could win all four Grand Slam tournaments in 1988.  107 titles, inlcuding the Olympic Gold medal, are an impressive number. Only Martina Navratilova (167) and Chris Evert (157) are in front of Steffi in the overall ranking.

A few of the awards that Steffi has achieved over the years:

1986 “Newcomer of the Year” COREL WTA TOUR

1987-90 “Player of the year” COREL WTA TOUR

1993-96 “Player of the year” COREL WTA TOUR

1998 “Most interesting Player of the year” COREL WTA TOUR

1999 “Prince of Asturias Award” one of the most important awards of Spain named after the apparent heir of Spain, Prince Felipe

1999 “German Television Award”

1999 “Athlete of the Century” for the category “female athlete in ballsports”

1999 “Female Athlete of the Year” by German TV broadcaster ARD

1999 “Female Sports Award of the last Decade” by ESPY, Las Vegas

1999 “Olympic Medal of Honor” granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC,Lausanne

2002 “Medal of Honor” decorated by the Prime Minister of the German Federal State Baden-Wuertemberg, Mr. Erwin Teufel

2007 “German Media Prize” for authentic social commitment.

Singles
Career record 902–115 (88.7%)
Career titles 107 (3rd all-time)
Highest ranking No. 1 (17 August 1987)

Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open W (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994)
French Open W (1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999)
Wimbledon W (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996)
US Open W (1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)

Other tournaments
Championships W (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
Olympic Games Gold medal.svg Gold Medal (1988)

Doubles
Career record 173–72 (70.6%)
Career titles 11
Highest ranking No. 3 (3 March 1987)

Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open SF (1988, 1989)
French Open F (1986, 1987, 1989)
Wimbledon W (1988)
US Open SF (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989)
Other Doubles tournaments
Olympic Games Bronze medal.svg Bronze Medal (1988)

Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open 2R (1991)
French Open 2R (1994)
Wimbledon SF (1999)
US Open 1R (1984)

Team Competitions
Fed Cup W (1987, 1992)
Hopman Cup W (1993)

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Competitor for  West Germany
Gold 1984 Los Angeles Singles
Gold 1988 Seoul Singles
Bronze 1988 Seoul Doubles

Competitor for  Germany
Silver 1992 Barcelona Singles