The death of Peter Graf – father of tennis legend Steffi Graf – Saturday in Germany reminds us that there is no stage parent quite like a tennis parent. We are taught never to speak ill of the dead, and yet as Shakespeare observes in “Julius Caesar,” “the evil that men do lives after them.” Peter Graf, who died of pancreatic cancer at age 75, was a manipulative, even abusive, father who mismanaged his daughter’s winnings and embarrassed her with a Playboy model liaison. (He was convicted of tax evasion and served a little more than two years in prison.)  

But he was also the man who spurred and inspired Steffi to become the only tennis player to date to win the Golden Slam – the four Grand Slam events plus the Olympic gold medal – in a calendar year. So there had to be something there, right? Read more