Stefanie Maria Graf (born June 14, 1969), known as Steffi Graf, is the most famous German professional female tennis player, and is widely considered to be one of the top female tennis players of all-time.
Graf won 22 Grand Slam titles during her great career and in 1988 she became only the third woman to ever win the Grand Slam in tennis when she defeated Chris Evert in the Australian Open final, Natalia Zvereva in the French Open, Martina Navratilova at the Wimbledon championships and Gabriela Sabatini at the U.S. Open. Graf also defeated Sabatini to win the gold medal at the 1988 Olympics Games in Seoul, South Korea and complete the "golden" slam.
Altogether she won 107 WTA tournaments (only Navratilova (167) and Evert (157) are in front in the overall ranking) and was the tour's number 1 ranked player for 377 weeks, longer than any other player. Graf became the highest-earning female athlete of all times and won many awards such as the Olympic Medal of Honor or Athlete of the Century (category ballsports).
Graf started playing tennis at the age of four and turned pro in 1982. Her coaches were Pavel Slozil (1986 to 1991) and Heinz Günthardt (form 1992 until the end of her career in 1999). She played right-handed and has been famous for her forehand (she was sometimes called "Fraulein Forehand" in recognition of this) and her excellent fitness.
Steffi Graf was born in Mannheim, Germany and lived in Brühl until she married the American tennis player Andre Agassi on October 22nd, 2001 and moved to Las Vegas, United States. On the 26th of October, 2001 their son Jaden Gil was born. In the early 90s, Graf was in the news for the scandals of her father Peter Graf (including an extra-marital affair and tax evasion), whereas she herself prefers a life outside media and press coverage. Steffi Graf is a WWF Ambassadress and in 1998 she founded her own foundation "Children for tomorrow", which helps mentally and emotionally traumatised children. She played a guest-role in the film "Otto, der Außerfriesische", loves animals and she is keen on fashion and has created her own labels.