25 years ago: Peter Graf is arrested
Peter Graf made his daughter Steffi one of the best tennis players of all time. And turned wrong at some point. He was arrested on August 2, 1995, and later convicted of tax evasion.
by SID
last edit: Aug 01, 2020, 12:00 pm
From a German perspective (almost) everything went according to plan in tennis summer 1995. Steffi Graf had once again won the French Open and Wimbledon, Boris Becker failed on the holy lawn only in the finale to Pete Sampras. On August 2, however, this intact tennis world was shaken to its foundations. The urgent suspicion of tax evasion had led investigators to Brühl near Mannheim, they also had an arrest warrant in their luggage - against Peter Graf, father, coach and manager of German sports favorite Steffi Graf.
After the talented daughter had started playing tennis at the age of four, Peter Graf recognized its potential early on. The trained insurance salesman and used car dealer soon concentrated on promoting them. Steffi Graf was to win 22 single Grand Slam titles, one in doubles, the legendary Golden Slam with Olympic gold in 1988 and 377 weeks at the top of the world rankings - a picture book career that is second to none.
The success of his daughter brought not only fame and glory, but also enormous amounts of money - and with it considerable problems. The management of a world-class star overwhelmed Peter Graf. "It is hard to want to please everyone," he told Spiegel in 1987: "I do worry now and then whether I need one or the other consultant after all."
Peter Graf didn't want to give up control
He would have needed it anyway - but the power man Graf didn't want to give up control either. And so the police stood at the door in 1995. Tax investigators and the public prosecutor's office had already searched the house in Brühl and secured documents in May, and in August Peter Graf was put in custody. On April 17 of the following year, the Mannheim public prosecutor filed charges of tax evasion - it was about 19.6 million marks. However, the investigators always emphasized that there was no evidence of Steffi Graf's involvement.
A sensational process followed, the media interest was huge. On January 27, 1997, the Mannheim district court in Graf finally sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for tax evasion of 12.3 million marks, but he was released early in April 1998.
Then it became quiet around Peter Graf. On November 30, 2013, at the age of 75, he died of cancer in his hometown Mannheim.