"It's a difficult situation, I can't talk about it" - When Steffi Graf was heartbroken about her father's struggles in prison amid tax evasion trial
Steffi Graf once opened up about her devastating experience of witnessing her father's struggles in prison. The German's father, Peter, was incarcerated for tax evasion, standing accused of evading payment of 12.3 million Deutsche Marks of his daughter's earnings.
Having catapulted to tennis stardom at a young age, Graf relied on her father and the family's tax adviser to manage her finances. However, the German's world was rocked by the news of her father's and their tax consultant's arrest for evading taxes on her income.
Given that the scandal involved her earnings, Steffi Graf faced intense scrutiny about her potential role in the scheme. The situation became particularly overwhelming when she heard an announcer on the radio question the credibility of her claim that she was unaware of her father's actions.
The remark deeply shook the German, leading her to stop driving and start "crying like crazy." She revealed in a 1996 interview with Sports Illustrated that she even thought of quitting tennis and leaving Germany to escape the noise.
"At that moment, really, I felt I wanted to disappear. I pulled the car over, and I was crying like crazy. I couldn't drive anymore. That was the lowest point. I felt I couldn't take it anymore. I was thinking of quitting everything. Leaving Germany, tennis. Everything," she said.
Steffi Graf's father was imprisoned in Mannheim during his trial. The German traveled to visit her father every week but refrained from attending his trial to avoid becoming a media spectacle.
Graf observed the severe impact of imprisonment on her father's well-being, not just physically but mentally. She lamented the "difficult situation," admitting that she found it hard to talk about the ordeal.
"It's a difficult situation. It's changed. If you had seen him yesterday morning, you would probably have seen what has changed. Not physically, but mentally. I can't talk about it. It goes so deep," she said.
"There was no sign for me that everything wasn't in order" - Steffi Graf on her father's tax evasion scandal
During Peter Graf's trial for tax evasion, the chief prosecutor Peter Wechsung revealed that Steffi Graf was believed to be "aware of the tax manipulation" orchestrated by her father. However, Wechsung admitted that the prosecution had found "no evidence" of her involvement, allowing her to avoid any charges.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Graf argued that she had no choice but to trust her father and his advisers with her finances as a teenager, disclosing that she had no reason to suspect something was amiss.
"What else was I supposed to do when I was 15, 16 or 17 years old, besides trust my father and his advisers? And later, why should I do anything differently, when everything appeared to be running well? There was no sign for me that everything wasn't in order," Steffi Graf said.
After being found guilty of tax evasion, Steffi Graf's father Peter was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison in January 1997. However, he was released early in April 1998 after his sentence was reduced.