Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf, the world's top-ranked woman player, has dropped out of the $500,000 Nokia-Masters tennis tournament with a stomach injury. The 20-year-old Graf, who won the Virginia Slims Masters tournament last week in New York, notified officials late Thursday that she was dropping out shortly after defeating American Mary Joe Fernandez 6-3, 7-5 in 77 minutes. Graf was diagnosed as having a torn stomach muscle by a local doctor, who advised her to rest at least two weeks.

All-time loves Babe Didrikson and George Zaharias: Didrikson won two gold medals and a silver in track and field at the 1932 Olympics, won 41 LPGA events and is the only woman to make the cut in a PGA Tour event. Zaharias was a professional wrestler whose nickname was "The Crying Greek From Cripple Creek. " They were married from 1938 until her death in 1956. Don Drysdale and Ann Meyers: Drysdale appeared in "The Brady Bunch" and was apparently a baseball player of some sort.

Gabriela Sabatini defeated top-seeded Steffi Graf 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) today in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, winning their 2 1/2-hour match in a third-set tiebreaker. Sabatini said it was one of the best matches the two had ever played. "I kept putting pressure on her and played aggressively even when I was down," she said. Martina Navratilova, the No. 3 seeded playing in her first tournament since knee surgery in November, breezed past fellow American Robin White 6-2, 6-3.

Thursday morning, well before summer in the city got dirty and gritty, dozens of girls gathered at the Central Park public tennis courts to await visiting royalty. About 8:30 a.m., the two queens arrived, first Billie Jean King and then Steffi Graf. Make that Stefanie Graf, who, the program director/master of ceremonies explained to the gathering, "does not like to be called Steffi. Other people put that on her. " Like the Wizard of Westwood who didn't want to be a wizard but could never quite shed the label, Stefanie Graf will never quite stop being Steffi.

Steffi Graf, the world's top-ranked female tennis player, is suspected of tax evasion and is being investigated by German authorities, officials said Wednesday. Her father and manager, Peter Graf, also is under investigation, Mannheim prosecutor Peter Wechsung said. Ten prosecutors and tax investigators searched the posh, heavily protected Graf family compound in her hometown of Bruehl on May 23, Wechsung said.

Like Mike Tyson, Steffi Graf has already written off 1990, the year they both want to forget. While the seemingly invincible Tyson lost his world heavyweight boxing title, Graf succumbed to outside pressures her tennis skills could not overcome. Illness, injury and allegations surrounding her father took their toll as the world's No. 1 woman player watched three of the four Grand Slam titles go to other players.

According to Ed Schuyler Jr. of the Associated Press, when Steffi Graf was asked what caused the turnaround in her win over Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon, she said, "I don't remember." What did Navratilova say to her after the match? "I don't remember." What did the Duchess of Kent say to her at the presentation ceremony? "I don't remember." Schuyler: "It sounded like a Senate hearing."

Let's not waste any time today. We'll get right to the good stuff. I'm reading The Sun where it says (no, where it screams) in big, bold letters: "THIS TART IS RUINING MY GAME, SAYS STEFFI." The tabloids, if not the players, are in mid-tournament form, and if Steffi Graf never quite said those words, well, we've got papers to sell, folks, and we need scandal to sell them. Maybe you've heard of the play, "No Sex Please, We're British." Who in the name of Mandy Rice Davies are they trying to kid?

The emerging moods of Steffi Graf are somehow reassuring. She is as skittish as any other 20-year-old, with the startling exception that she possesses a Grand Slam and two Wimbledon titles. Masses of shagged blond hair fall in her face, and her hand shyly covers what little is left of it. She wears bulky sweaters and loafers. She is blunt, humorous, impatient. Graf, about to enter her third year as the No. 1-ranked woman in tennis, has seen some of the world and it has seen some of her.

Steffi Graf will not need surgery to repair her broken thumb, the world's top-ranked woman tennis player learned today when she was also told that she will not be able to resume swinging a racket for about six weeks. Graf, after speaking with doctors, said she is certain she will be ready to play in the French Open starting May 28 and continue her quest for a second Grand Slam.

Steffi Graf will be back on the tennis court again in public view. Briefly. If you blink, you could very well miss her "season" for Houston of World Team Tennis. It was announced Tuesday that Graf had been selected by Houston. Her season apparently will consist of one appearance in July. Graf, 35, retired from pro tennis in 1999. She played an exhibition in September against Gabriela Sabatini in Berlin.

A consumer's guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it's in play here. One exception: No products will be endorsed. What: "SportsCentury: Steffi Graf." Where: ESPN Classic, today, 5. No question Steffi Graf was one of the best tennis players in history. She won 107 singles titles, 22 Grand Slam titles, and spent a record 377 weeks -- a little more than seven years -- ranked No. 1.

One of the rare times that the busy, often sleepless mother of two young children slows down happens to be during one of her husband's tennis matches. Then, her mental agony unfolds. So, is it harder to watch tennis or play in big matches? "Oh, you're talking about watching whom?" said Steffi Graf, joking. "I'm a very active person and I want to control things, and I can't. So in a sense, it's harder watching."

The highly anticipated on-court pairing of tennis greats Andre Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, at the French Open won't be happening because of a family addition. Graf, the winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, is pregnant with their second child and is expected to deliver in November. Agassi and Graf have a son, Jaden Gil, who was born in October 2001.

So, Steffi, how's your forehand looking? Some people use a travel agent or the Internet to plan vacations. Andre Agassi booked a romantic tennis trip to Paris for his wife, Steffi Graf, and toddler Jaden Gil, using the Australian Open to do the job. Nearly everyone in the sellout crowd at Rod Laver Arena knew there was more on the line than an Australian Open title. Agassi knew it, of course. His opponent Rainer Schuettler, being German, seemed to realize it better than anyone else.

Andre Agassi enlivened an ordinary day here when he told of a bet he'd made with his wife, Steffi Graf. If Agassi wins the Australian Open, she will have to play mixed doubles with him at the French Open. The news broke late Tuesday when Agassi did an interview with retired Australian doubles star Mark Woodforde, telling him about the bet. The information then was posted on the Australian Open's official Web site.

Tennis Grand Slam winner Steffi Graf arrived for the Olympics today and caused a near-riot at Kimpo Airport. Though protected by a wall of Korean security officials, the 19-year-old West German was hustled and jostled as she tried to follow her teammates to a waiting bus outside. Roped barriers, hastily erected to clear Graf's path, were knocked down by reporters and photographers, tripping several people. Graf was shaken but unhurt.

Steffi Graf, the world's top-ranked female tennis player, is suspected of tax evasion and is being investigated by German authorities, officials said Wednesday. Her father and manager, Peter Graf, also is under investigation, Mannheim prosecutor Peter Wechsung said. Ten prosecutors and tax investigators searched the posh, heavily protected Graf family compound in her hometown of Bruehl on May 23, Wechsung said.

Steffi Graf gave birth to a healthy son three weeks early, and father Andre Agassi attended the birth. The baby, Jaden Gil, was born at Valley Hospital in Las Vegas on Friday and weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces, Graf's representatives said Saturday. "This is the most proud day of our lives," Graf and Agassi said in a statement. "We are thankful for this wonderful gift and are excited to begin our new lives as parents."

Now we know why Andre Agassi hasn't been himself lately. He yelled at a spectator in his fourth-round match at the French Open and lost in the next, and many thought it was the sudden appearance of sports-fan-in-chief, former president Clinton, that caused his exit. A couple of weeks later, Agassi melted down against Patrick Rafter in the semifinals at Wimbledon. He hit a ball in the general direction of a lineswoman who angered him then tersely implied, unflatteringly, that she was uptight.