Posts RSS
Printer friendly version
Email to a friend
RSSMonica Seles – Rock Solid Determination
 |
Monica Seles though may have retied now, but she is rated by many experts as one of the best players of lawn tennis. Though Seles was unlucky to be hit by a Steffi Graf fan due to her supremacy over the German counterpart, Seles did manage to gather enough fame and recognition to be officially inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame at a special ceremony at the 2009 Rogers Cup.
Born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) on December 2, 1973, Monica Seles became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1994 and won nine grand slam singles titles (8 with citizenship of Yugoslavia and 1 with US citizenship). Seles had the distinction of being the youngest-ever champion at the 1990 French Open at the age of 16. The former World No. 1 professional tennis player, Seles, won 53 singles titles and six doubles titles and spent a total of 178 weeks on top of the rankings. Monica Seles finished 1991 and 1992 as world No.1.
Monica Seles was listed as the 13th greatest player of all times (men and women) by (U.S.) Tennis magazine and one of the fifteen women named by Australian Tennis magazine as the greatest champions of the last 30 years.
During a quarterfinal match with Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg (April 30, 1993) in which Seles was leading 6–4, 4–3, an obsessed fan of Graf named Günter Parche stabbed her with a boning knife between her shoulder blades. This proved to be the end of Seles’ illustrious career but she tried to make a comeback until February 2008 when he made her official retirement announcement.
