Hall of Fame... Steffi Graf: Germany's golden girl was queen of the court and the greatest sportswoman who ever lived

Published: 18:00 EST, 12 February 2014 | Updated: 19:59 EST, 5 March 2014

Steffi Graf overcame personal upheavals and associated tragedy to become arguably tennis’s greatest ever player and, by extension, possibly the most complete female athlete of all time.

Before anyone had heard of her, back in the early Eighties, the German Tennis Federation carried out extensive sporting aptitude tests on more than 100 of its top eight-to-12-year-olds players.

Not only did she come top in every single one, the then groundbreaking research also suggested that she had the capability to become an Olympic 1500 metres champion, something she backed up when training with the country’s top runners at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

A familiar pose: Steffi Graf displays her ladies' singles trophy at Wimbledon in 1991 after beating Gabriela Sabatini 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 PKT5395 - 395553 REXMAILPIX.

Queen of the court: Graf was arguably the greatest tennis player of all time

Golden girl: Graf did the 'Golden Slam' of all four majors and the Olympics in 1988 - here she is with the Wimbledon trophy (left) and showing off her Olympic medal

Smashing records: Graf is the only tennis player to have won the quartet of Slams four times

Dazzling on and off court: At a charity event in 2008 (left) and playing a backhand in 1997

American dream moment: Lifting the US Open trophy after beating rival Monica Seles (left) in 1995

That was the year Graf carried off the still unparalleled ‘Golden Slam’, winning all four Majors plus the gold medal, marking out an incredible consistency and versatility on all the different surfaces.

She is the only player of either sex to have won the quartet of Slams four times each and by the time she had finished, in 1999, she had won 22 in all, as well as topping the world rankings for a staggering 377 weeks.

This included seven titles at Wimbledon, where her sliced backhand proved so effective in backing up a ferocious forehand drive, extreme concentration and superb coverage of the court.

If there was any weakness it was a reluctance to use a topspin backhand, but in a broader sense her only vulnerabilities came from forces mostly outside her control.

One was the behaviour of her tempestuous father Peter, who died in November last year. Having begun teaching her to play aged three, he was among the prototype tyrannical tennis fathers, with his erratic conduct towards others in the game often creating difficult overspill for his daughter.

His cavalier attitude towards financial matters eventually led to him being jailed for tax evasion in 1997 but, for the most part, off-court distractions did not stop her winning title after title.

Sealed with a kiss: Graf gives her husband Andre Agassi a smooch at an exhibition event in 2009

Winning smiles: The pair share a lighter moment during that match against Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters

Love match: Agassi and Graf pictured at the All England Club in 2012

What a doubles pairing! Agassi and Graf at a benefit concert in 2006

You cannot be serious: Graf laughs as she takes to the court with John McEnroe at Wimbledon in 1999

Her career was also haunted by the terrible events of May 1993 when a deranged fan, Gunther Parche, stabbed her then great rival Monica Seles in Hamburg, an act that surely changed the course of women’s tennis history.

Prior to that Seles had ended Graf’s period of dominance that began in 1987. The Yugoslav had won seven of the previous eight Slams she had entered and, naturally enough, she was never quite the same afterwards, missing more than two years of competition altogether.

That led to a second phase of dominance for the girl from Mannheim, and she had won 10 more majors by the end of 1996.

We will never know what would have transpired if Seles’s career had not been so cruelly interrupted, if Graf would have solved that problem, but she was otherwise peerless at the time.

Outside Wimbledon, Martina Navratilova was a fading force by the early Nineties and, although the game (and media) were desperate to position Gabriela Sabatini as a serious rival that was never quite reality.

Aside from the memorable 1990 US Open final the striking Argentine was never quite a match for her, and Graf tended to have more problems dealing with the diminutive and crafty Spaniard, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Early success: A young Graf pictured with some of the trophies she won as a junior

Having her cake and eating it: A youthful Graf celebrates her 19th birthday

Compatriots: Graf and fellow German Boris Becker with the Wimbledon women's and men's trophies in 1989

Champions: Graf and Agassi (before they were a couple) celebrate their Wimbledon wins in 1992

Another area where truth was often detached from reality was in the public perception of a player sometimes dubbed ‘Fraulein Forehand’, and considered somewhat dour and detached.

While hugely determined, and never a great socialiser in the locker room –  characteristic of many female tennis champions – Graf has always been a very considerate and thoughtful person with a wonderfully natural smile (if not always seen too often).

Unlike some, there was no faking it when she said she did not enjoy the limelight, her reticence was entirely genuine. She was not fond of giving interviews, but when they happened they were always worth it, as her reflections were unfailingly honest and intelligent, delivered quietly and politely.

A rare exception was while talking to her at a hotel in Brighton in 1997, when her father’s financial travails were engulfing the family. She disappeared, sobbing, into a broom cupboard for five minutes before re-emerging composed, and continuing with remarkable calm.

Fully focused: Graf takes pictures in Brighton in 1991

It's all in the jeans: Graf accompanied by models presenting a new 'Steffi Graf' jeans fashion collection in 1996

Stretching a point: Graf limbers up with the help of a physio in Eastbourne in 1998

Playing physio: The world No 1 rubs ice on to the knee of opponent Janette Husarova

Reading the game well: Graf kicks back with a book during a break in play

Those off-stage problems and the blooming of Martina Hingis, in particular, brought a final end to her near monopoly, although there was one more French Open title, in 1999.

Graf was to marry Andre Agassi, with whom she shared the spotlight at Wimbledon’s Champions’ Dinner in 1992, and has subsequently settled in Las Vegas, an unlikely harbour for one of distinctively European temperament.

There she has lived in relative obscurity and, now 44, prefers to be known as Stephanie. Her kindness and thought for others is focused on not just her family but her active charity foundation, that supports children who have been traumatised by war.

She may prefer to be remembered for this kind of work, rather than for being the best and most high achieving female athlete that set foot on a tennis court.

Try as she might, Serena Williams has not quite usurped her in that status, at least not yet.

Terrible event: The stabbing of Monica Seles by a deranged fan in Hamburg in 1993 almost certainly changed the course of women's tennis

Tempestuous: Graf's father Peter was a controversial figure, the prototype tyrannical tennis dad

Stalkde: Egyptian businessman El Sayed Ali (left) followed Graf around for 14 years

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