“People were much more open toward me, I wasn’t used to that” – When Steffi Graf spoke about living through troubled times after her father’s arrest

In 1995, Steffi Graf had to face a tough ordeal after her father Peter was arrested for tax evasion relating to her career earnings. It was revealed that the former World No. 1’s father had not filed tax returns between 1989 and 1993. Her father was subsequently sentenced to 45 months in prison, of which he served 25, and was released when Graf agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government and an unspecified charity.

In an interview for Vault, from 1996, the German athlete divulged how she lived through the prolonged trial. Graf, who was 26 years old in August ’95, said that she found out about her father’s arrest when she was deboarding a flight in Atlanta, where her brother Michael came bearing the bad news. She revealed that she had to hide away from reporters who had already flocked to her apartment in New York.

“I had to flee. I was pursued by everybody. We were always one hour ahead of them as we moved from place to place,” she had confessed.
With everything going on in her life, the tennis star still found herself facing Monica Seles in the final of the US Open in the following weeks, and pulled off a bold victory of 7-6(6), 0-6, 6-3 to clinch her fourth US Open title. Upon returning to Germany after her triumph, Graf said that she noticed a surprising difference in the attitude of her compatriots towards her, despite the uncomfortable circumstances.

“A great many people approached and told me, ‘It’s fantastic how you stuck it out.’ I got so much encouragement. People were much more open toward me. I wasn’t used to that. In the past they were either very loud–‘Look! That’s Steffi Graf over there!’–or they didn’t say anything. I had never experienced this personal approach before,” Graf said.