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Nazvi Careem

WHEN Sue Heady approached Steffi Graf's agent in 1994, expressing an interest in writing a biography on the German star's life, the response was, as expected, negative.

Former Hong Kong-based freelance journalist Heady was told by Graf's agent that the player felt her career was far from over and that she was not ready for a biography.

'The agent told me that Steffi would not co-operate, but, as they could not stop me from going ahead and writing the book, I was asked to be fair in what I wrote,' said Heady.

'I was happy with that because my publisher, Virgin Publishing, wanted me to balance anything negative, if there was anything negative, with positive aspects. They didn't want it to be a tabloid thing.' But Heady was soon to discover just how much Graf's agent was opposed to the book.

'I was refused accreditation for all the subsequent tournaments that Steffi was taking part in after I first approached her agent,' said Heady.

However, that did not stop her from coming out with Steffi - Public Power, Private Pain, released in mid-1995.

The book covers Graf's life from when she was growing up in Mannheim, Germany, pestering her father Peter to hit with her, to the years she dominated women's tennis as the world's number one player.

It illustrates Graf's machine-like discipline which made her a player which set new standards in women's tennis and also her famed aloofness and the personality shell she has been living in since she hit the big time.

While the book was written in London, Heady had to travel to Germany and the United States for her research.

Before being banned from the tournaments, however, the 28-year-old Heady had made a crucial trip to the US Open where she made many contacts who would help her in her venture.

With Graf refusing to co-operate, Heady had to rely mostly on second-hand accounts during her research, but she got as close to her subject as possible through neighbours, schoolteachers, friends, fellow-players and someone who knew her better than anybody else, apart from her family, during her childhood, coach Boris Breskvar. Breskvar took on a five-year-old Graf at the request of Peter when he was coaching for the sport's governing body in Germany, the Deutscher TennisBund, in Leimen.

But after the book was finally printed, Heady realised that her work was still not over.

Almost as soon as the first copies hit the stores, Graf's father was arrested by German police for allegedly hiding millions of marks his daughter's earnings from the tax authorities. He still remains in a German jail.

'I'm in the process of updating the book,' said Heady, who has already written two travel books, on Mauritius and Seychelles, and History of the Hong Kong Country Club.

'I don't think I have to change much. I'll probably have to omit one of the chapters, add another chapter and make a few other changes.' Heady devotes a whole chapter to Peter, who is credited with much of Graf's success, but is also known for being over-protective of his daughter.

Although Heady never got to speak to Graf personally, from the months of research, in which she spoke to hundreds of people, and from the piles of newspaper clippings, she was able to form an opinion on the player's personality.

'The amazing thing about her is her discipline,' said Heady. 'You look at the problems she has had to deal with, when her father was linked with Playboy girl Nicole Meissner, and now, with the tax problems, she is still able to concentrate on her tennis and be the best in the world.

'I was talking to other women on the tour, and they agreed if they had problems like that, it would definitely affect their tennis.

'Steffi seems to be able to put all those things out of her mind and get on with her game.' But Heady also believes that Graf has not been the best ambassador for tennis, despite the position she is in.

'She has not put enough back into the sport,' said Heady. 'She has never really thought about what she could do for the sport and she could be a bit more available with her spare time.

'She is the hero of many youngsters.' In her book, Heady relates an incident which happened in Hong Kong at the First Pacific Bank Challenge in January, 1994.

As part of her contract, she was due for a 20-minute appearance at a sponsored lunch.

She was contacted at her room and said she would be down straight away.

The MC introduced Graf to the audience, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Graf had apparently decided to go shopping for 30 minutes and when she finally did show up, she apparently took one look at the gathering and said 'Oh no, do I have to talk to everybody?' But as Heady points out, Graf will continue to have people queueing up for her services and the German star can afford to remain aloof.



Unco-operative Graf makes biographer write between the lines