Graf Gets Tax Help, but Loses on Court

Steffi Graf has turned over management of her finances to the accounting firm Price Waterhouse, Sport-Bild magazine reported in Frankfurt, Germany.

The tennis star has been questioned by prosecutors in the case involving Peter Graf, who acted as his daughter’s manager and was arrested in August. The magazine reported Steffi Graf may soon be cleared.

A Price Waterhouse spokesman in Berlin confirmed the company is working with Graf, but declined to elaborate, citing Germany privacy laws.

Graf, playing in her first tournament since winning the U.S. Open, lost, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, to South African qualifier Mariaan de Swardt in Brighton, England.

Her loss follows an announcement by Opel, the German subsidiary of General Motors, that it would not renew its four-year sponsorship contract with Graf, worth about $1.2 million a year.

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Top-seeded Pete Sampras turned back Guy Forget, 6-3, 6-4, in the opening round of the Lyon Open in France. Sampras has won the tournament three times. . . . Top-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria defeated MaliVai Washington, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, in the opening round of the CA Trophy indoor tournament in Vienna. Third-seeded Michael Stich of Germany defeated Austria’s Wolfgang Schranz, 6-4, 6-4. . . . Mark Philippoussis upset Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 7-5, in his first match at the Marlboro Championships in Hong Kong. Philippoussis also beat Krajicek on his way to the finals last week in Tokyo. The hard-hitting, 18-year-old Australian climbed from No. 60 in the rankings to No. 32 after that tournament.

Basketball

The NCAA rejected New Mexico’s appeal on behalf of freshman Kenny Thomas, the school’s top recruit who was declared ineligible because of a science course he took as a high school freshman and Lobo Coach Dave Bliss accused the organization of employing a double standard in meting out penalties.

“While I’ve been a head coach for 21 years, I’ve seen a multitude of sins,” Bliss said. “I’ve seen pillaging and plundering from the East Coast to the West Coast and still I believed in the system. I believed in the sanctity of the NCAA standing up for the college athlete. At this moment, all my beliefs are dashed by today’s decision.”

Heartened by vows of government support, trustees of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., backed off a threat to change sites and made plans to expand while promoting nearby development.

Trustees voted unanimously to move forward with plans to double the hall’s size at its current site to 100,000 square feet by 1999. Plans call for the expanded shrine to offer more virtual reality games and give more attention to high school and women’s basketball.

Boxing

World Boxing Council super-bantamweight champion Hector Acero-Sanchez and Daniel Zaragoza, who fought to a 12-round majority draw in June, will meet in a 12-round rematch Nov. 6 at the Forum.

Acero-Sanchez, 28, of the Dominican Republic, has a 32-2-3 record with 20 knockouts. Zaragoza, 37, of Mexico City, is 50-7-3 with 25 knockouts.

Delaware County, Okla., authorities are looking into allegations that heavyweight Tommy Morrison struck the mother of his 5-year-old son. The incident allegedly occurred late Saturday night at a party in Jay, where Morrison grew up and is building a ranch.

Morrison’s attorney denies the allegation; his promoter calls it “total garbage.”

Olympics

As many as 15,000 athletes and officials from 197 countries will participate in the Centennial Olympic Games next summer in Atlanta, an organizer said.

“We are planning for an event of a magnitude beyond any the world has ever seen,” said A.D. Frazier, chief operating officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Up to 60% of the world’s population is expected to see the event on television.

Georgia Dome officials announced that work on permanent improvements will begin immediately on the facility’s 8.6-acre Teflon-coated fiberglass roof. The work is expected to be completed in five months. Several Olympic events will be held in the Dome, which lost four panels in the roof during a heavy rainstorm on Aug. 20.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is lavishing money on elite athletes at the expense of the nation’s sedentary children, teen-agers and adults, former pro basketball player Tom McMillen said.

McMillen, co-chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, asked Congress to audit the Olympic Committee to see whether it’s spending enough on grass-roots sports activities.

Miscellany

Raymond Floyd, second-leading money winner on the Senior PGA Tour, withdrew from this week’s $800,000 Ralphs Senior Classic at Wilshire Country Club.

Gus Gouvitsa, the owner of the Chattanooga Express of the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, drowned off Ft. Myers, Fla., after panicking and yelling “shark.” Gouvitsa, 47, had just checked out of his hotel and had planned to meet his wife in Atlanta.