In , Andre Agassi went shopping for a tuxedo in anticipation of his first dance with Steffi Graf. Despite how it sounds, the two tennis champions weren't preparing for their wedding — that wouldn't happen for another nine years.
Instead, Agassi was gearing up for the Wimbledon Ball, an event traditionally held at the close of the prestigious English tournament. When he went suit shopping on the eve of the men's final, accompanied by his then-partner, he was determined to win — and not only to secure his first Grand Slam singles title.
In his auto-biography Open , Agassi recalls he was "dying" to attend the ball, knowing the male and female winners traditionally danced together. That year, the women's champion was Stefani Graf.
He'd had a crush on the German athlete, already a Grand Slam winner, since he saw her doing an interview on French television. I tried to get a message to her after ['s] French Open, but she didn't respond," he writes. He was promptly informed the champion's dance had been cancelled for the first time, as players had taken issue with it in previous years. I wasn't looking forward to it in that sense. Agassi was disappointed, but he and Graf were formally introduced at the event, posing for photos with their trophies in their tuxedo and white dress.
Steffi told me two or three sentences [before the match], which means a lot because it was Steffi. I have a lot respect for her. She did her duty on that. Facebook Twitter Email. Steffi Graf keeps low profile as legacy grows. Although Graf was cleared of any wrongdoing, her game was affected by the scandal. In April , fellow tennis player Monica Seles — who had dethroned Graf to sit at the top of women's tennis — was stabbed by a mentally ill Graf fan.
In , Graf admitted, "To know that it was a fan of mine that did it, even though I had nothing to do with it, gives you a guilty feeling for always. There's no way out of that. Although injuries had taken their toll, Graf was still a highly ranked player in She won the French Open that year and almost added another Wimbledon singles title before a close loss in the final. However, she realized that her enjoyment of the game was slipping, so she announced her retirement that August at age Over the course of her career, Graf spent a total of weeks ranked at No.
She won the Australian Open four times , , the French Open six times , , , , the U. Open five times , , and Wimbledon seven times , , , for an Open-era record 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
In , she became a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. On October 22, , Graf married Agassi, another tennis player who had reached the highest echelons of the sport. She regained the No. In Graf won the Australian Open, becoming only the second woman to win a non-calendar-year Grand Slam. Navratilova had done it in The following year, despite having yet again to skip the Australian Open because of injury, Graf won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open defeating Seles , which made her the only woman ever to win each of the four Grand Slam singles titles at least four times.
As she had done in , Graf went on to win the other three major tournaments and beat Seles at the US Open. In she was finally able to compete again in the Australian Open, but she lost to Amanda Coetzer in the last round. The year was also one in which Graf had two knee surgeries and more missed tournaments, dropping the German champ to the world No. Martina Hingis was now No. She missed both the Australian and French major tournaments. She had poor showings at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Graf finished ranked ninth. The icing on the cake was her defeat of rivals Lindsay Davenport No. Although she can afford to live like a countess, Graf prefers a quiet, normal family life with her husband and two children in Nevada.
She and her husband Andre Agassi now make their home in Summerlin, an upscale community in the Las Vegas area. Her father and former manager, Peter, died of pancreatic cancer in Her mother and brother also live in Summerlin. Graf first dated Agassi in , the year she retired from tennis.
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