"I started destroying the furniture" - Steffi Graf fondly recalls her childhood memories getting into tennis
Steffi Graf recalled how she got involved with the sport at a very young age and the role that her mother Heidi and father Peter played in her early days during a recent MasterClass discussion in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
The German was in the city for the SportsFestival and took part in an exhibition mixed doubles match alongside husband Andre Agassi and local favourites Simona Halep and Andrei Pavel on Saturday. The power couple ultimately lost the match.
Following that, Graf shared how her parents contributed to her career, recalling that she used to use the furniture in their house as a net. As she got better, she eventually broke the furniture, prompting her mother to tell her to go practice on a real court.
"For me, it was both parents who were into tennis and played. My dad was a trainer and so his intensity was always a little stronger. I started playing tennis as early as when I was three-and-a-half or four years old. I'm not sure if it was tennis but I was carrying around the racket," Steffi Graf said.
"It started that we used the furniture around the house as the net. And then when I got too good and started destroying the furniture, my mom told me to get out of the house and to get on the court. So it was an early introduction and a fascination with the sport. And someone who pushed me a bit into the sport. My mom would help me get to the tournaments and supported me. It gave me the balance of a family," the German added.
Steffi Graf turned pro at the age of 13
Steffi Graf, who turned 55 on June 14, went on to play professional tennis at a very early age. She was only 13 years old when she competed in her first pro tournament in October 1982 at Filderstadt, Germany, where she lost in straight sets to American Tracy Austin.
The German went on to win her first Grand Slam at the 1987 French Open and became World No. 1 that same year. By the end of her glittering career, she had won 22 Grand Slam titles, the second most by any woman in the Open Era, and had held the top spot for 377 weeks.