Seems like Steffi is having a very busy schedule during her NY trip, Kid's clinic followed by Longiness event and then the Legend's Ball as this is Andre's HOF induction year. Here are the articles/photos/videos covering the events in that order:
http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/at-clinic-for-young-players-graf-emphasizes-the-fun/
http://www.onthebaseline.com/2011/09/08/tennis-legend-steffi-graf-takes-part-in-longines-women-who-make-a-difference-awards-and-longines-center-court-for-kids-clinic-in-harlem/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OnTheBaseline+%28On+the+Baseline%29
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110909/harlem/steffi-graf-promotes-tennis-harlem-on-renovated-court
http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/Tennis_35/Steff_Graf_goes_to_Harlem.shtml
Longiness Event: Some great pictures in the first article.
http://www.hauteliving.com/2011/09/towncountry-and-longines-partnered-for-the-third-annual-women-who-make-a-difference-awards/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tennis-legend-stefanie-graf-takes-part-in-longines-women-who-make-a-difference-awards-and-longines-center-court-for-kids-clinic-2011-09-09
Video of the Longiness Event on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JddT0uyN4q4
Steffi attended the Legend's Ball with Andre. Both look great in this picture. Few more pictures from the event are available on Tennis HOF twitter account
http://yfrog.com/hw26kvj
Reading this article about how tennis is still stuck in the past and so the current generation do not have enough space to make their mark as most retired players either are still visible as commentators or experts on the game reminded me of one player who let the younger generation have their space and promptly stopped making the headlines as "her time is done" and that is Steffi Graf. Ironically, the day this article was published on SI, the main photo on the website leading to the article started with a plague of Steffi on the walls of US Open.
Worth mentioning that from Virgina Wade to Margaret Court to Navartilova to Evert to Seles to Serena Williams (also many other great players and not so great) have autobiographies but not Steffi and per Andre "never going to happen". Respect her for that.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jon_wertheim/09/01/tennis-past/index.html
Actions mean more than words and that's Steffis' way of showing admiration to a great player. Interesting perspective since Steffi lost a tough SF match to Martina the same day. Oldies were goldies on that day but for once Martina did not get enough space for her achievement as Connors stole the show.
"On the day Connors beat Krickstein, Steffi Graf was set to play the next match. Twice she was asked if she wanted to move her match to Grandstand so she wouldn't have to wait. Both times she declined, saying she wanted to see Connors play".
http://m.yahoo.com/w/sports/home/blogs/article?offset=2&urn=urn%3Anewsml%3Asports.yahoo%2Cyhoo%3A20050301%3Aten%2Carticle%2Cyhoo-ept_sports_ten_experts-wp3003%3A1&.ts=1315335781&.ysid=7GmZLOB.ybnqc_80O5K_Rj_x&.intl=US&.lang=en
Steffi Graf's foundation "Children for Tomorrow" gets the Marion Doenhoff Prize for committement for kids:
http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article2021480/Marion-Doenhoff-Preis-an-Hamm-Bruecher-und-Steffi-Graf.html
And finally from the real world to the world of fantasy: Steffi reached the finals in this fanstasy tournament and guess who her opponent is: Henin. Believe both of them never played against each other as Pros, just in exhibition matches. Fantasy for sure.
http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/u-s-open-pointcounterpoint-steffi-graf-vs-justine-henin/
A sepcial mention to Kerber for being the first German to make it to US Open SF since Steffi Graf in 96 and she has been flying under the radar despite an incredible tournament. Coincidentally, she was born in 1988, the year of Steffi's Golden Slam.
http://www.tennis.com/players/player_info.aspx?player_name=Angelique+Kerber
