Graf’s Retirement a Net Loss for Germany

Tennis superstar Steffi Graf devastated German sports fans Friday with her announcement that she is retiring from competition after 17 years as this country’s most admired female role model.

“Steffi Graf is without doubt one of the greatest women athletes in German history,” declared Franz Beckenbauer, the famed soccer star who coached Germany’s national team to World Cup victory in 1990. “What she achieved was phenomenal. Her decision today is a pity, but deserves our respect.”

Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher added his voice to the chorus of fellow Germans lamenting Graf’s departure.

“A great name has been lost from German sports,” he said. “I find it unfortunate, as she had recently shown what great achievements she was capable of. On the other hand, after so many injuries, I can understand her decision.”

Former national tennis coach Klaus Hofsaess proclaimed Graf “the best woman player of all time,” describing her withdrawal from competition as a tragic blow to Germany’s image as a sports power.

Although Graf, 30, had hinted at retirement, her announcement took the tennis world by surprise, coming so close to the U.S. Open.

Her decision amplified the blow dealt to the diminished ranks of national sports heroes by Boris Becker’s decision to retire only two months ago.

Graf and Becker dominated tennis in the mid-1980s and early ‘90s, elevating the sport’s profile in a country that had produced few individual athletic heroes.

Untouched by any scandal of her own making and renowned for cool-headed control on the hard courts, clay and grass she handled with equal success, Graf was hailed by German officials as an uplifting example for young Germans.

“With her unique sports successes, Steffi Graf inspired many young people to take up tennis and has made it the popular sport that it is here,” Baden-Wuerttemberg Gov. Erwin Teufel said after her announcement. “For me, Steffi Graf is one of the outstanding athletes of our century.”

Although Graf lived a rare public life beyond reproach, her father, Peter, served time in prison after having been convicted in 1997 of evading more than $6 million in taxes on her income.