I noticed that Tracy couldn’t hold the racket the way Steffi could. I made a video of her swinging at 5 years old and later saw a film of Tracy Austin at the same age. The strength in her hand was also important. You think she has great concentration now she was always that way. Even if the phone rang, she never looked away. I had taught 6- to 8-year-old players, and Steffi was different. ?” and I said, “if you hit the ball 20 times over we make a party.” And she did, so we had a big party with ice cream and strawberries and – most importantly – music. Then she would say, “Papa, if I hit 20 times …. She wanted so badly to get the ball over 15 times. I had to say, “Steffi, one more light … you hit too hard.” Finally, I sold my billiards table in the playroom downstairs and we started playing there.Įven at that early age Steffi was very competitive. My wife had to buy more and more lights and she was getting mad. We started playing in the living room, but pretty soon Steffi was hitting so hard she was breaking the lights on the chandelier. I’d say, “O.K, now if you hit the ball over the net 10 or 15 times, you get Pepsis.” I would challenge her by saying, “I don’t believe you can do it.” But she always did. We put a string between two chairs in the living room. One thing we did during that time was gamble. Six months later, maybe it was 10 or 12 minutes, but it was always for fun and only as long as she wanted to play. We only played for four, five, or six minutes a day. Everyone says Steffi started playing tennis when she was 4, but you can’t do that. I have to admit, this was not tennis back then. If I said, “Oh, Steffi, I am tired,” she would say, “Oh, please Papa, just a little, O.K?” Every evening when I came home Steffi would be waiting at the door with her racket in her hand. I told her to make a small bow and meet the ball in front of her she could do that too. I was surprised to see that Steffi could hold the racket head up, even at 3 years and 9 months old. Most of the boys and girls went to the wall with a small racket and Steffi wanted to go too. My wife wasn’t a bad player either and we played a lot. 1 at the club, even though I started playing so late. I noticed this when she held up her racket, the handle of which I had cut down so she could play at the club where my wife and I also played. I knew my daughter Steffi was going to be a tennis champion when she was not yet 4 years old because her hand was stronger than most 6 or 7 year-old boys and girls. By Peter Graf with Cindy Schmerler, World Tennis Magazine, May 1988
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