Word: graf
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...good as the good boys, and so I had to practice with the best girls. She was the best girl." Smiles come easily to Boris Becker, especially when the discussion includes Wimbledon. But he glows like a pumpkin at the recollection of those early rallies with Steffi Graf. Now they are both on the last ledge before the peak. "Two kids," he says, "from the same area, who practiced together at twelve . . . ten . . . eight. Isn't it a little incredible...
Eighteen as of June 14, Graf says, "I was never somebody who watched tennis, women's tennis -- no way." She loved only to play, from infancy almost. "Every day," Peter Graf says, "there she was, waiting for me at the door. 'Please play with me, Papa.' Not four years old." Amazed that she had enough wrist strength for a real grip, Graf gave her a few pointers and then set her loose on the house. "One or two days later," he says, "all the lamps were gone...
...string was strung between surviving sticks of furniture, and they began to play tennis. "We played for ice cream," she says, "ice cream with hot raspberries. There was music too. It was fun." Graf is a lean, athletic man, 48, not much taller than his daughter, who can seem smaller than 5 ft. 8. in., sometimes quite delicate. A latecomer to tennis, he was a soccer player of local note, given to working so excessively hard that he routinely ripped his muscles and powdered his bones. Of all the world's Little League parents, tennis may produce the most virulent...
...fact, remembering broken-down prodigies like Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger, her father has required her to rest every year from late November to mid-January, and to the dismay of tournament promoters, has kept her schedule reasonable. "Sometimes I have to be Mr. Graf," he says. "It's no fun." But the results have been as sweet as hot raspberries. "She is a champion from within. All from within," he says. "But her extra advantage may be the circle around her -- her mother and brother too." (A practice partner, Czech Pro Pavel Slozil, takes care to coach in whispers...
...baseliner-in-waiting. They are doubles partners and friends but could start a Centre Court rivalry next week in the quarterfinals. Evert says, "I can't believe how hard Steffi hits the ball." Her forehand especially. "She's wonderful," says Billie Jean King, who spotted Graf early. "Steffi always had better footwork than the other kids, more discipline, and she quite frankly liked the pressure. Becker is another one. They love pressure -- they thrive...