Count of Gotland and Count Haga After the coup d'état carried out by Gustav III in 1772, which, having strengthened the royal power in the country, decisively weakened the previously significant influence of the Russian court on Swedish domestic policy, the king was looking for a comfortable

The name is sure to appear on all sorts of lists of the best tennis players of all time and, as a rule, in the first place. The 22 Grand Slam singles champion has set many records as well. Recall that tennis was part of the Olympic "family" from 1896 to 1924, and then returned in 1988. Few could have imagined that the first champion after a 64-year break would win, in addition to Olympic gold, four titles at Grand Slam tournaments alone.

Of course, the Grand Slam itself is a unique achievement. IN female category all four trophies in one season were won only by Maureen Connolly in 1953 and Margaret Smith-Court in 1970. After 18 years, Steffi became

Born June 14, 1969 in Mannheim, Germany.
Height: 176 cm. Right-handed. One-handed backhand.
Start professional career: 1982. Retirement: 1999.
Career Prize: $ 21,891,306
Singles have 902 wins and 115 losses.
Highest place in the rating list: 1 (17 August 1989).
Number of titles: 107.
Grand Slam tournaments:
Australian Open - victory (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994).
Roland Garros - victory (1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999).
Wimbledon - victory (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996).
US Open - victory (1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996).
Final tournament - victory (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996).
Olympic gold medal - 1984, 1988.
Silver medal of the 1992 Olympics.

In doubles, 173 wins and 72 losses.
Highest place in the rating list: 3 (March 3, 1987).
Number of titles: 11.
Grand Slam tournaments:
Australian Open - semi-finals (1988, 1989).
Roland Garros - final (1986, 1987, 1989).
Wimbledon - Victory (1988).
US Open - semi-finals (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989).
Bronze medal of the 1988 Olympics.

Tennis is designed so that even best players of the world usually reach all the peaks at the end or at least in the middle of a career. Andre Agassi won three "Helmets" and Olympic gold by 1995, and he had to wait another four years for a career "Golden Slam" - only at the age of 29 he conquered Roland Garros. Chris Evert by the age of 20 has assembled three components of the "Grand Slam", and the fourth part of the "puzzle" could be put together only seven years later. Serena Williams had all four major titles at the age of 21, but she won the single Olympic gold at 30. Rafael Nadal has conquered almost all the peaks under 25, but he has never won the Final Tournament.

Steffi Graf won everything before she was 20! Everything. All "Helmets", Olympics, Final tournament, Federation Cup. Of course, she was the first racket in the world. Did not exist prestigious tournament, on whose championship cup the name of the German woman would not have been engraved. At the age of 19, the Graf understood that she would no longer be able to win anything new, but only had a chance to repeat her successes again and again. And she has been doing this for 10 years. Back and leg injuries that prevented her in the second half of the 1990s forced her to end her career at a fairly early age - at the age of 30. It remains to be seen how many more records she could have set if not for these injuries.

We will try to tell you about the curious and unusual facts her biography.

The count tried in every possible way to avoid scandals and not even give the yellow press a reason to compose anything. For journalists, Steffi was a really difficult "client" - she rarely complained about anything or threw an unflattering word about her rivals, and Graf did not like to talk about her life outside the court. In her biography, there was nothing to catch on either. As for her opponents, not everyone remained calm. Arancia Sanchez-Vicario either jokingly or seriously asked Steffi to get married and end her career as soon as possible. In the collections of the best quotes of today's birthday girl, nothing offensive, even as a joke, can be found.

There is, however, a fun fact dating from the mid-1970s. The teacher at the tennis school, where Steffi studied, united the most gifted girls and the least successful boys into one group. The count was one of the best and for some time played with ... Boris Becker.

From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, Graf regularly won all significant tournaments, and the press, in addition to the success on the court, had nothing to write about. Yes, it is known that throughout three years Steffi met with little-known player Alexander Mronets, and then began a relationship with race car driver Michael Bartols, but journalists could not get any details.

Some of them crossed the line in 1993, when there was an attack on the main rival of the Count of those times - Monica Seles. Recall that the case was in Hamburg. During the change of sides, Gunther Parhe ran up to Seles and stuck a knife in her back. Parche was

Vivid statements:

"I am the person who is responsible for my words."
“When I wake up, I don’t think how many tournaments I won. I don’t care too much about that. ”
"Age? And what is it? This is not the number that means anything to me. "
"After a few defeats, you realize how difficult it is to win."
“I don't like the word 'business woman'. The definition of "devoted mother" is more appropriate. "

a fan of Graf and wanted to help her win even more tournaments. Journalists tried to find some kind of connection between Parhe and Graf, but to no avail.

Several years earlier, reporters tried to stir up interest in the person of Steffi through her father, Peter. He cheated on his wife with a model. There was even information that they had a child. The German woman herself, who tried to limit her communication with the press to obligatory press conferences after the matches, easily repulsed all the attacks of journalists - just as she fought off the vast majority of balls on the court. Despite her outstanding achievements, Steffi was and remains modest - she considers Martina Navratilova the best tennis player of all time. She has an excellent relationship with the American, and the meetings on the court ended in a draw - 9: 9. With all the other strong players, the German has a positive balance of personal meetings.

It is to Peter that the tennis world should be indebted for such an outstanding player. He headed a small tennis club and became his daughter's first coach, but then sold his business, hired a real coach Steffi and advised her to drop out of school in order to completely switch to the game. True, Peter forced his daughter to play basketball, but at some point he had to choose one sport.

Many did not believe it when it became known that the shy Graf was dating Andre Agassi, a tennis showman and brawler. But Agassi was like that in the 1980s and 1990s, and after the beginning of the relationship, he changed. In 2001, a private and secret wedding took place. None of the journalists could get on it.

Now Graf lives with his spouse in California. She brings up two children and occasionally takes part in demonstration tennis matches, and devotes more time to his projects - in particular, to the non-profit foundation Children of Tomorrow. In addition, she is fond of contemporary art and photography - as a child, Steffi wanted to become a photo reporter for the National Geographic channel. A tennis center named after Steffi Graf has been operating in Leipzig since 1991.

Steffi Graf

short information
Full name: Stefanie Maria Graf (Stefanie Maria Graf)
Born: June 14, 1969
Homeland: Mannheim in Germany
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 64 kg
Permanent residence: Las Vegas, in the USA
Husband: Andre Agassi
Parents: Heidi and Peter Graf (Heidi and Peter Graf)
Brother: Michael (born 1971), married, two children
Hobbies: painting, photography, music, literature
Pets: dogs Max, Dino, Dusty, Joschi

Since 1984 - Ambassador of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
In 1998 she founded her own foundation "Children for Tomorrow"
Since 1999 Ambassador of the first WORLD-Exhibition in Germany "EXPO2000"

http://www.bobmartin.com/

The real Gretchen
Stefania (or more simply - Steffi) Graf, the greatest tennis player of all times and peoples, also took the racket for the first time at a tender age - at the age of four. The initiator, as usual, was her father Peter.
In general, tennis parents are the subject of a separate story. As a rule, these are people who have not achieved great success in their lives, but very much expecting to amass capital (this is not only about money) at the expense of their children, and therefore begin to scoff at them from infancy, refusing simple childhood joys, depriving them of education. They can hardly be called mentally normal.
Mothers Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova, skating with their children in all tournaments - so that they do not do anything reprehensible. There is a real monster - Marie Pierce's father, who hired guards to scare off his daughter's lovers. Which, however, did not stop the frantic Frenchwoman from making the bodyguards themselves their lovers.
In principle, against this background, Peter Graf is a loving and caring parent. That is, he acted exclusively by the carrot method. When little Steffi successfully coped with tennis lessons, he always brought her favorite delicacy - hot strawberries with ice cream.

http://mediapolis.com.ru/alphabet/g/graf_stefanie/foto/graf_zebra.jpg

Peter freed his champion daughter from tedious financial affairs and undertook to increase her fortune without paying taxes. For which he ended up in prison. The father's file consisted of 170 folders and a 237-page indictment. Peter tried to hide about 45 million marks from taxes. Non-payment of this amount amounted to 19.6 million marks. He simply could not come to terms with the fact that his daughter should share her honestly earned money with someone else. Therefore, he either received royalties for his daughter in cash, or transferred them to the accounts of fictitious companies in various countries of the world. There was even a case (and it is hardly an isolated one) when Peter took out 450 thousand marks at a tournament in Frankfurt. Only in a copier box.
But this story did not actually affect the reputation of Steffi herself. Something like Caesar's wife. Her entire biography consists of continuous testimonies of exceptional virtue. And for this there was no need to be called "the last virgin of Germany." She never commented on her personal life, and the journalists never got hold of the sensational details of the relationship between Graf and her boyfriend, race car driver Mikael Bartels.
"Reporters arrange a real hunt for me just to catch me with someone in their arms. I can tell them that I already had men, only then there was no one with a camera. I understand that the paparazzi will be wildly disappointing, but I'm not going to help them. "
She, of course, has never been seen in pink joys, like many companions from the women's Tour.
She was friends with Princess Diana and gave her sons tennis lessons.
She meets with presidents and prime ministers, and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov begged her not to leave tennis.
She is engaged in charity work, but she has not been seen in the insane waste of money (and on her bank account more than $ 30 million). "Of course, I know that I am very rich. But I also know that there is so much poverty in the world. This thought constantly holds me back, makes me think."
She is elegant and does not allow any loudness in her clothes. "My favorite color is calm black. I love olive and gray. I can't stand variegation. Outfit Agassi at the beginning of her career, in my opinion, was simply monstrous. I have never seen anything more tasteless. "

They call it the "tennis machine". In fact, she just learned to perfectly restrain her feelings. And she worked very hard to achieve perfection, which outwardly seems mechanical.
She is the real Gretchen. A very decent German lady.
Mutual sympathy between Agassi and Graf arose a long time ago. At first, she expressed herself in innocent Christmas gifts to each other. And last year, Agassi was seen leaving Steffi's house. Early morning... This was the time when Andre had his first scandals with Brooke Shields, and Steffi began to feel weary about her sluggish connection with Bartels.
By the way, the engagement of the tennis player and the race car driver was scheduled for the end of 1998. But, apparently, under the impression of a meeting with the ardent Agassi Steffi, she postponed it. Interestingly, this episode did not generate much media hype. And it would seem that such a tidbit ... It is not known what played a role here: whether the Count's impeccable reputation, or simply fantastic, the incredibleness of such a connection - everyone would consider such information for dirty gossip.
And only after finally unleashing their former "partners" Agassi and Graf showed themselves to the world as a happy couple in love.

The most superficial explanation is that opposite poles attract. Sensitive Andre was tired of the absurd capricious women, who were interested in him exclusively as the owner of a solid bank account. Steffi is tired of the surrounding grayness and insane tension recent years... And who is Agassi brighter?
You can come up with such a version of creating a stellar mix. Steffi announced the end of her illustrious career this summer. Agassi is also approaching retirement age. In a few years less and less interest in them. Is it easy to come to terms with these people who are used to being in the spotlight?
And being together, you can constantly throw hot topics to journalists and remain favorite characters of thick tabloids for many years. But nevertheless, it is difficult to suspect our heroes of such a delicate calculation.
Let us not deny them the simplest human feelings. Just love, for example. It's not their fault that celebrities.

Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Count(German: Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf); June 14 (1969-06-14 ) , Mannheim) - German tennis player.

Achievements

• Winner of the 1988 Golden Grand Slam. The only one who achieved such success on four different types coatings (grass, soil, hard Rebound Ace, synthetic Court Supreme).
• The best in the world of sports in 1988.
• Winner of a "non-classical" Grand Slam in 1993-94.
• 7 times was declared the world champion at the end of the seasons (record) - 1987-1990, 1993, 1995, 1996.
• She finished a record 8 seasons in the rank of the first racket of the world.
• A record thirteen times in a row she reached the finals of the Grand Slam tournaments (from Roland Garros-87 to Roland Garros-90).
• Five-time winner of the final tournament of the women's tennis association (Virginia Slims Championships, Chase Championships) (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996).
• Together with Australian Margaret Smith-Court, they are the only tennis players to have won three Grand Slam tournaments five times in one calendar year (Graf has seasons,,,,).

Grand Slam Winner

• Australian Open tennis - 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994
• French Open tennis - 1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999
• Wimbledon Tournament - 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
• US Open Tennis Championships - 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996

Winner and medalist of the Olympic Games

• Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics - Singles Gold
• 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul - Bronze in Doubles (paired with K. Kode-Kilsch)
• 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics - Singles Silver

Biography

The Count is one of the best tennis players of the 20th century. The Graf era began on August 17, 1987, when she officially became the first racket in the world, pushing Martina Navratilova to second place. With few interruptions, Graf has been the best for over 10 years.

In total, she won 22 Grand Slam tournaments in singles and once in doubles (together with Gabriela Sabatini, Graf won Wimbledon in 1988, defeating Soviet tennis players Zvereva and Savchenko in the final). In the period from 1986 to 1999, she repeatedly won various WTA tournaments. Won 107 singles in total WTA tournaments(the third indicator in the history of tennis after Navratilova and Evert).

Steffi Graf competed in three Olympics and won in Los Angeles (1984) ( tennis tournament was indicative) and Seoul (1988), and in Barcelona-92 she received silver, losing in the final to Jennifer Capriati. In 1996, Graf was preparing hard for performances in Atlanta, but literally before the start of the Olympics she was injured. She considers this fact to be the biggest failure in her career.

Twice Graf brought the German national team the championship title of the Federation Cup - in 1987 and 1992.

Steffi Graf's game was originally built on athleticism. Her strongest forehand (right hand) has long been her trump card. A noticeable advantage for Graf was the footwork and very fast movement around the court. She often ran under the right to perform a forehand and opened up a significant part of the court. However, the opponents could not take advantage of this playing advantage, since the Graf's movement around the court was very fast. The Count's game has improved over the years, technical level rose. At the time of the confrontation with Seles, Steffi Graf began to send the ball to the side of the opponents with a twist and very low above the net, which forced the opponents to hit the ball from a low point and make mistakes. In the future, she will only improve this element. Also, Graf was distinguished by high concentration and steadfastness throughout the match. The mental component of her game was extremely high. One of the strongest and most variable serves in the Women's Tour was also the advantage of the German. The only non-attacking blow in the arsenal of the Graf backhand, over time, also turned into a serious weapon. The tennis player more and more often in the 90s began to use slices, which, thanks to their camouflage, confused rivals.

During her long career, Graf was injured many times, but each time she returned victoriously to the court. In 1997, old problems with her back and legs worsened and Graf had to interrupt her performances for almost a year (she did not perform from June 1997 to May 1998). The comeback in 1998 turned out to be painful and difficult, but in 1999 she again entered the top three in the world. After the victory at Roland Garros-99 over Hingis and the final of Wimbledon-99 against Davenport on a positive note, Steffi Graf retired from her professional career.

Throughout Graf's career, journalists tried to get hold of her name. The athlete's reputation was so unsullied, and the achievements were high, that the press tried to find at least some "fried" information regarding the Graf. So in 1990, the press erupted with juicy details from the personal life of the father of the athlete Peter Graf. The media on the front pages put photos of Steffi Graf's father in the arms of a young model (at that time Peter was married to Steffi's mother). Journalists wrote about the illegitimate child of this union. There was also hype surrounding the attack by Steffi's fan Graf Gunther Parhe on Monica Seles, which tarnished Graf's reputation. In 1995, a financial scandal was associated with the name of Peter Graf. He was accused of non-payment of taxes from the huge amount of prize victories of the famous daughter, whose affairs he conducted alone. In 1996, Peter Graf was sentenced to 4 years in prison.

During her career, Steffi Graf has earned over US $ 21 million. This record for prize money among women only in 2007 was surpassed by the American Lindsay Davenport.

Life after the end of a career

In 1989-92, Steffi had a romantic relationship with a little-known tennis player Alexander Mronz. In the period 1992-1999, Graf met with the German race car driver Michael Bartels. But in 1999, Graf's romance with another world tennis star Andre Agassi began to develop rapidly. On October 22, 2001, in Las Vegas, Steffi Graf married Andre Agassi. On October 27, 2001, they had a son, Jaeden Jill, and on October 3, 2003, their daughter, Jaz Elle.

For almost 8 years, Steffi Graf did not play, but since 2006 she has resumed participation in exhibition and charity matches.

Currently Steffi Graf is actively involved in charity work and is the head of the "Children for Tomorrow" charity fund. Owns shops sporting goods under the brand name. In Germany, she plans to build a clinic for refugee children in 2008. The great sportswoman is the face of the Swiss watch brand LONGINES. Advertises clothes and interior items of the most famous companies in the world. In addition, the Graf financially supports some juniors in tennis. At home in Germany there is sports grounds named after Steffi Graf, there is even a monument with her image. Becoming the best tennis player in the world, Graf was elected an honorary citizen of her native Bruhl. And on the eve of 2000, the Germans chose her as the “athlete of the century”. Steffi Graf is often invited as a guest of honor to important tennis competitions. So, in 2009, she presented the winning trophy at Roland Garros to the Russian athlete Svetlana Kuznetsova.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Steffi Graf said about the role of tennis in her life: “ The biggest gift that tennis gave me is my family ... And in second place is the opportunity to freely choose what I would like to do. I am happy to be involved in some great projects. I can travel, visit museums, exhibitions, admire architecture, study different cultures. And the experience that comes with this, I can use in all my endeavors.».

The count speaks German, English, French and Spanish.

He lives in Las Vegas with his family - husband, famous tennis player Andre Agassi, and two children.

Singles Grand Slam history

History of performances at Grand Slam tournaments in doubles

Facts

World # 1 at the end of the calendar year (8)