Steffi Graf’s Controversial Father Was Once Sentenced to Jail Over a 7.3 Million Tax Fraud

German tennis legend Steffi Graf is among the best all-time tennis stars. The German has 22 Grand Slam titles to her name. It’s second only to Serena Williams (23) in the open era. While she sits third overall after Margaret Court and Serena. Like any good player, she also had both good and bad times in her career.

While she had an almost perfect career, there’s something that affected her emotionally. It was her father who served as her coach and manager for quite some time. His mismanagement and wrongdoings severely disappointed Graf.

When Peter Graf got arrested

Peter Graf was in charge of handling the income of his superstar daughter. However, rather than managing it, he mismanaged the funds and committed tax fraud. As per reports, in 1997, Senior Graf failed to pay $7.3 million tax for his daughter’s earnings and attempted to evade $1.8 million.

After the charges were proven, he was sentenced to 25 months in prison. This strained the relationship between father and daughter. The duo reconciled back in 2013 few days before Peter’s death due to cancer. Later Steffi Graf informed about his demise on her website.

Read more: ‘Dazzled by Her Understated Grace’ – When Andre Agassi Disclosed How Steffi Graf’s ‘Effortless Beauty’ Floored Him Despite Her Stale Response

Graf retired in 1999 and later married American tennis star Andre Agassi in the year 2001. The legend got her due credit and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 2004.

Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi on their son Jaden Gill taking up baseball

Stefi and Agassi both have great numbers in their professional tennis career. The tennis couple shares 30 Grand Slam titles between them. With a plethora of experience on offer, anybody would have thought their son, Jaden Gill, will take up tennis. However, to their surprise, the boy is more interested in baseball.

Back in 2019, Graf and Agassi appeared in an interview where they discussed their son. Both of them were happy with their son not taking up tennis as he was really interested in playing baseball. “There is no second generation in our sport,” said Andre Agassi. He further added, “Parents who were active in the tennis circus don’t want that for their children.”

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Interestingly, both Graf and Agassi got their initial tennis training from their father. While parenting, the duo made sure not to impose it on their kids.