Even after having a marvelous career in tennis, Steffi Graf left a void in her fans’ hearts when she retired. She left the tennis arena at the age of 30 back in 1999 and never looked back towards the sport. While her fans might not be aware of the reason behind why she took this huge step at such a young age, his childhood friend Boris Becker knows it all.

The 56-year-old German tennis star goes into great detail in his book on how, for one simple reason, the girl who used to fight day and night to succeed on the court left everything behind. Let’s take a look at the reasons why Steffi Graf took that huge career step in 1999.

The truth behind Steffi Graf’s early retirement 

Becker, in his autobiography, ‘The Player’, talked in detail about his childhood friend, who has also won 22 Grand Slam championships on the WTA tour. He said, “Even as a child, Steffi was focused and introverted and sometimes trained like a robot. Steffi was too determined for some people’s liking—too correct, too cool, too ‘Made in Germany’.”

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Not only did he talk about the 54-year-old tennis legend’s nature towards the sport, but at the same time, he also detailed how her father’s tax scandals took a toll on her. While Graf was a perfectionist by nature, at the same time she was extremely sensitive and a compassionate person, as she was someone who couldn’t really live out her emotions in the best way possible.

Even though tennis was the most important part of her life, there was a time when other things also mattered more to her. Becker highlighted what the 22-time Grand Slam champion might be thinking regarding what she wants to do after lifting her eighth Wimbledon title. “She probably told herself: To hell with my feelings, what I want now is to win Wimbledon for the eighth time.”

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Although she had everything in the world, her father’s 7.3 million tax fraud got on her mind. He further wrote, “The tax scandals concerning her father, the court case, and his imprisonment took their toll on Steffi. I believe this also changed her way of dealing with her feelings. Steffi cried, and the people at home in front of the television cried with her. At last, something came from the heart, and the nation took her into its embrace. We’ve been comrades in arms over the years.” 

The German tennis player’s father reportedly tried to escape paying $1.8 million in taxes and neglected to pay a $7.3 million tax on his daughter’s earnings, according to allegations from 1997. He was then given a sentence of twenty-five months in prison. The father-daughter connection was strained as a result of the tax fraud, but it was restored in 2013, shortly before Peter Graf passed away from cancer.

It won’t be wrong to say that it was just a devastating moment that changed Graf’s career path in the most shocking way. Subsequently, after retiring in 1999, she turned her life her own way and got married to Andre Agassi in 2001, leaving a calmer life with her own family.

Nevertheless, what are your thoughts about the retirement of Steffi Graf at the age of 30? Do let us know in the comment section below.

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