25 years ago: Peter Graf was arrested on August 2, 1995

But on August 2nd, this ideal tennis world was shaken to its foundations. The urgent suspicion of tax evasion had led investigators to Brühl near Mannheim, and they also had an arrest warrant in their luggage - against Peter Graf, father, trainer and manager of the German sports darling Steffi Graf. After his talented daughter started playing tennis at the age of four, Peter Graf recognized her potential early on. The trained insurance salesman and used car dealer soon concentrated entirely on promoting them. Steffi Graf would win 22 Grand Slam titles in singles, one in doubles, create the legendary Golden Slam with Olympic gold in 1988 and spend 377 weeks at the top of the world rankings - a picture-perfect career that is unparalleled. His daughter's successes not only brought fame and honor, but also huge amounts of money - and with them considerable problems. Managing a world-class star was too much for Peter Graf. “It's difficult to try to please everyone,” he told Spiegel in 1987: “I think about it every now and then as to whether I might need one or two advisors.” He would definitely have needed this - but the powerful Graf didn't want to give up control either. And so in 1995 the police showed up at the door. Tax investigators and the public prosecutor's office had already searched the house in Brühl in May and seized documents, and Peter Graf was taken into custody in August. On April 17 of the following year, the Mannheim public prosecutor's office brought charges of tax evasion - it involved 19,6 million marks. The investigators always emphasized that there was no evidence that Steffi Graf was involved. What followed was a sensational process and there was huge media interest. On January 27, 1997, the Mannheim district court finally sentenced Graf to 12,3 years and 3 months in prison for tax evasion amounting to 9 million marks, but he was released early in April 1998. Afterwards it became quiet for Peter Graf. On November 30, 2013, at the age of 75, he died of cancer in his hometown of Mannheim.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

25 years ago: Peter Graf was arrested on August 2, 1995

From a German perspective, (almost) everything went according to plan in the tennis summer of 1995. Steffi Graf had once again won the French Open and Wimbledon, Boris Becker only failed on the sacred turf in the final against Pete Sampras.

Suggestions

Comments (0)