STEFFI (Stefanie) GRAF – Tennis champion

(Neckerau, Germany, 1969 – )

Stefanie Maria Graf was born in Neckerau from Peter and Heidi Schalk. She began to play tennis at age four. Her first position in the world charts was 214th place; in 1985 she entered the charts among the first ten best tennis players of the world. Three years after she won the Grand Slam and was Olympic champion in 1988. In 1990 Seffi Graf won all four Slams and was the only female tennis player in the world to reach such an achievement. Her story is made of numbers: seven victories at the Wimbledon tournament, five at the United States Open tournament, six at the Open tournament of France and four at the Open tournament of Australia. Steffi Graf can boast 103 single titles. In 1991 Steffi Graf was called to interpret four spots directed by Ken Nahoum in which, a fascinating model rigorously dressed in black, she wears jewelry made of pasta: fusilli as earrings, farfalle (butterflies) as pins, conchiglie (shells) in two different versions as rings, and penne as a necklace. In 1993 Bob Giraldi directed her in three new spots for Barilla Pasta, in which Steffi interpreted herself as a tennis player in a dynamic, ironic carefree way: since the serving bowl gets broken in the spot she serves her friends spaghetti in her Wimbledon trophy, or in another spot, since she cannot find a pasta colander she cleverly uses her racquet to drain the pasta.

Cecilia Farinelli