Monica Seles.html



Monica Seles
Country	Yugoslavia  United States
Residence	Sarasota, Florida, United States
Date of birth	December 2, 1973 (1973-12-02) (age 34)
Place of birth	Novi Sad, Yugoslavia
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb/11 st)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	February 14, 2008
Plays	Left; Two-handed both sides
Career prize money	US$14,891,762
Singles
Career record:	595–122
Career titles:	53
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (March 11, 1991)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996)
French Open	W (1990, 1991, 1992)
Wimbledon	F (1992)
US Open	W (1991, 1992)
Major tournaments
WTA Championships	W (1990, 1991, 1992)
Doubles
Career record:	89–45
Career titles:	6
Highest ranking:	No. 16 (April 22, 1991)
Infobox last updated on: August 24, 2007.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Competitor for  United States
Bronze	2000 Sydney	Singles

Monica Seles (Hungarian: Szeles Mónika, Serbian: Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš, pronounced [/sɛlɛʃ/], born December 2, 1973) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player. She was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents but became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994. According to published reports in Canadian and Hungarian news media (including two newspapers of record¹), she also received Hungarian citizenship^{2 3} in June 2007.^{4 5 6} She won nine Grand Slam singles titles, winning eight of them while a citizen of Yugoslavia and one while a citizen of the United States.

She became the youngest-ever champion at the 1990 French Open at the age of 16. She was the World No. 1 player in the women's game during 1991 and 1992, but in 1993, she was forced out of the sport for two years following an on-court attack in which a German spectator stabbed her in the back with a knife. She enjoyed some success after returning to the tour in 1995, including a singles title at the Australian Open in 1996, but was unable to consistently reproduce her best form.

Seles played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open, but her official retirement announcement was not issued until February 2008.

Biography

Early years

Seles began playing tennis at the age of six, coached by her father, Károly Szeles. Her nickname was "Mala Mo" or "Little Mo."^{citation needed} She won her first tournament at the age of nine, despite not fully understanding the scoring system of the game and having only a vague idea of whether she was leading or trailing her opponents during matches.^{citation needed} In 1985 at the age of 11, she won the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, and caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. In 1986, the Seles family moved from SFR Yugoslavia to the United States, and Seles enrolled at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years. In her early years, famous^{citation needed} singer from Vojvodina Đorđe Balašević helped her by building a tennis court in his backyard where she could practice.^{citation needed} She attended Sonja Marinkovic elementary school in Grbavica, Novi Sad.^{citation needed}

Seles played her first professional tournament in 1988 at the age of 14. The following year, she joined the professional tour full-time and won her first career title at Houston in May 1989, where she beat Chris Evert in the final. A month later, Seles reached the semifinals of her first Grand Slam singles tournament at the French Open, where she lost to World No. 1 Steffi Graf, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. Seles finished her first year on the tour ranked World No. 6.

1990–92

Seles won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 1990 French Open. Facing World No. 1 Steffi Graf in the final, Seles saved four set points in a first set tiebreaker, which she won 8–6, and went on to take the match in straight sets. In doing so, she became the youngest-ever French Open singles titlist at the age of 16 years, 6 months. She also won the 1990 year-ending Virginia Slims Championships, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in five sets. She finished the year ranked World No. 2.

1991 was the first of two years in which Seles dominated the women's tour. She started out by winning the Australian Open in January, beating Jana Novotná in the final. In March, she replaced Graf as the World No. 1. She then successfully defended her French Open title, beating the former youngest-ever winner, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, in the final. Instead of playing at Wimbledon, however, Seles took a six-week break, blaming shin splints. But she was back in time for the US Open, which she won by beating Martina Navratilova in the final to cement her position at the top of the world rankings. She also won the year-ending Virginia Slims Championships, defeating Navratilova in four sets.

1992 was an equally dominant year. Seles successfully defended her titles at the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open. She also reached the final at Wimbledon but lost to Graf in the final 6–2, 6–1. Some observers, however, attributed her lop-sided loss to her decision to remain silent throughout the match, resulting in less penetrating shots.^{citation needed} Two opponents (including Navratilova in the semifinals) had strongly complained about Seles's grunting.

From January 1991 through February 1993, Seles won 22 titles and reached 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments she played. She compiled a 159–12 win-loss record (92.9% winning percentage), including a 55–1 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments. In the broader context of her first four years on the circuit (1989–1992), Seles had a win-loss record of 231–25 (90.2% winning percentage) and collected 30 titles. Only Chris Evert had a better first four years in terms of winning percentage (91.1% from 1971 to 1974) and titles (34) in the open era.^{citation needed}

1993 stabbing

Seles was the top women's player heading into 1993, having won the French Open three consecutive years and both the US Open and Australian Open in consecutive years. In January 1993, Seles defeated Graf in the final of the Australian Open, which to date was her third win in four Grand Slam finals with Graf.

Everything changed, however, following an incident that shocked the tennis world on April 30, 1993. During a quarterfinal match with Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg in which Seles was leading 6–4, 4–3, a 38-year-old deranged fan of Graf, Günter Parche, ran from the middle of the crowd to the edge of the court during a break between games and plunged a boning knife between Seles's shoulder blades. She was quickly rushed to a hospital. Her physical injuries took a few weeks to heal, but the psychological scars from this incident apparently left a much deeper impression on Seles. She did not return to competitive tennis for over two years.

Parche was charged following the incident but was not jailed because he was found to be psychologically abnormal and was instead sentenced to two years' probation and psychological treatment. The incident prompted a significant increase in the level of security at tour events.⁷ Seles vowed never to play tennis in Germany again. "What people seem to be forgetting is that this man stabbed me intentionally and he did not serve any sort of punishment for it... I would not feel comfortable going back. I don't foresee that happening."⁸

Young Elders, a band from Melbourne, Australia sent their song called Fly Monica Fly to Seles while she was recuperating from the 1993 stabbing incident. According to her autobiography,⁹ the song provided inspiration to her at that time and Seles subsequently met the band (who later changed their name to The Monicas) following her victory at the Australian Open in 1996.

The stabbing incident is also the subject of Dan Bern's 1998 tribute to Seles, Monica.

Comeback

Seles returned to the tour in August 1995 and won her first comeback tournament, the Canadian Open, beating Amanda Coetzer in the final 6–1, 6–0. The following month at the US Open, Seles lost the final to Graf 7–6, 0–6, 6–3 after Seles failed to capitalize on a set point in the first set.

In January 1996, Seles won her fourth Australian Open, beating Anke Huber in the final. But this was her last Grand Slam title. Seles struggled to recapture her best form on a consistent basis. Her difficulties were compounded by having to cope with her father and long-term coach Károly being stricken by cancer and eventually passing away in 1998. Seles was the runner-up at the US Open to Graf again in 1996. Her last Grand Slam final came at the French Open in 1998 (a few weeks after her father's death). She defeated World No. 3 Jana Novotná in three sets and World No. 1 Martina Hingis in straight sets before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the three set final.

While she did not reach another Grand Slam singles final, she did consistently reach the quarterfinal and semifinal stages in those tournaments and was a fixture in the WTA Tour's top 10. In 2002, her last full year on the tour, she finished the year ranked World No. 7 and defeated Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, and Lindsay Davenport and reached at least the quarterfinals at each Grand Slam tournament.

After becoming a U.S. citizen in 1994, Seles helped the U.S. team win the Fed Cup in 1996 and 2000. She also won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Period of hiatus

In the spring of 2003, Seles sustained a foot injury that sidelined her from the tour after the 2003 French Open. She never again played an official tour match.¹⁰

In February 2005, Seles played two exhibition matches in New Zealand against Navratilova. Although Seles lost both matches, she played competitively and announced that she could return to the game early in 2006; however, she did not do so. Seles played three exhibition matches against Navratilova in 2007. On April 5, Seles defeated Navratilova in Houston, Texas on clay 7–6(1), 2–6, 10–1 (tiebreak).¹¹ On September 14, Seles defeated Navratilova on an indoor court in New Orleans, Louisiana 6–2, 6–4. On September 16, Seles defeated Navratilova on clay in Bucharest, Romania 3–6, 6–3, 10–7 (tiebreak).¹²

In December 2007, Seles said to the press that Lindsay Davenport's successful return to the tour had inspired her to consider her own limited comeback to play Grand Slam tournaments and the major warm-up events for those tournaments. However, on February 14, 2008, Seles announced her official retirement from professional tennis.¹³

Playing style

With punishing, sharp-angled two-fisted forehand and backhand shots and a dominating return of serve, Seles is considered by many to be the first "power player" in the women's game, paving the way for players such as Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova.^{citation needed} She was also well-known for grunting loudly on court. On a few occasions, her opponents claimed that the grunting was distracting and prevented them from hearing the ball make contact with her racquet.^{citation needed}

A remarkable aspect of her style, the two-handed forehand, was expected to make her reach shorter, but she managed to compensate for the shorter reach by being able to hit balls much harder, with more top-spin, allowing her to hit sharper angles. Also, she had very fast feet, which allowed her to run down balls and get into a position to return a shot.

Career assessment

Seles was listed as the 13th greatest player of all time (men and women) by (U.S.) Tennis magazine and was also one of 15 women named by Australian Tennis magazine as the greatest champions of the last 30 years (players were listed chronologically). Seles is also known as one of the greatest "big point" players of all-time, having tremendous mental fortitude during the toughest situations on the court.^{citation needed}

Like Maureen Connolly, whose career was cut short by injury, Seles's career probably was affected by the stabbing incident, although it is impossible to know the course of her career had this not happened. Her trajectory was indicative of continuing future greatness. During the height of her career (1990 French Open through the 1993 Australian Open), she won 8 of the 11 Grand Slam singles tournaments she contested.

Until her loss to Martina Hingis at the 1999 Australian Open, Seles had a perfect record at the event (33–0), which is the longest undefeated streak for this tournament (although Margaret Court won 38 consecutive matches there from 1960 to 1968 after losing a match in 1959). It also marked her first defeat in Australia, having won the Sydney tournament in 1996. Seles was the first female tennis player to win her first six Grand Slam singles finals: 1990 French Open, 1991 Australian Open, 1991 French Open, 1991 US Open, 1992 Australian Open, and 1992 French Open. Seles was also the first female player since Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in 1937 to win the women's singles title three consecutive years at the French Open. (Chris Evert, however, won the title four consecutive times she played the tournament (1974, 1975, 1979, and 1980). In 2007, Justine Henin won her third consecutive French Open singles title.) With eight Grand Slam singles titles before her 20th birthday, Seles holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a teenager.

Shortly after her retirement, Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim summed up her later career:

Seles was a popular player, winning the inaugural Sanex Hero of the Year award in 2002. This award was voted by fans around the world.

Humanitarian work

In October 2007, Monica Seles was appointed by the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition, IIMSAM, as a Goodwill Ambassador and Spokesperson for its Global Sports for Peace and Development Programme Initiative to counter malnutrition and for the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.¹⁵

Competing on Dancing with the Stars

On March 25, 2008, Seles and her partner were eliminated from season 6 of the U.S. version of Dancing with the Stars.

Performances

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (9)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1990	French Open	Steffi Graf	7–6(6), 6–4
1991	Australian Open	Jana Novotná	5–7, 6–3, 6–1
1991	French Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–4
1991	US Open	Martina Navratilova	7–6(1), 6–1
1992	Australian Open (2)	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–2, 6–3
1992	French Open (3)	Steffi Graf	6–2, 3–6, 10–8
1992	US Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–3
1993	Australian Open (3)	Steffi Graf	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
1996	Australian Open (4)	Anke Huber	6–4, 6–1

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1992	Wimbledon	Steffi Graf	6–2, 6–1
1995	US Open	Steffi Graf	7–6(6), 0–6, 6–3
1996	US Open	Steffi Graf	7–5, 6–4
1998	French Open	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–6(5), 0–6, 6–2

Titles (59)

Singles (53)

No.	Date	Tournament name	Location	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
1.	April 30, 1989	Virginia Slims of Houston (1)	Houston, Texas, U.S.	Clay	Chris Evert	3–6, 6–1, 6–4
2.	March 25, 1990	Lipton International players Championships (1)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Judith Wiesner	6–1, 6–2
3.	April 1, 1990	Post Cereals U.S. Hardcourt Championships	San Antonio, Texas, U.S.	Hard	Manuela Maleeva	6–4, 6–3
4.	April 22, 1990	Eckerd Tennis Open	Tampa, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Katerina Maleeva	6–1, 6–0
5.	May 13, 1990	Italian Open (Peugeot Open Cup) (1)	Rome	Clay	Martina Navratilova	6–1, 6–1
6.	May 20, 1990	Lufthansa Cup German Open	Berlin	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–4, 6–3
7.	June 10, 1990	French Open (1)	Paris	Clay	Steffi Graf	7–6(6), 6–4
8.	August 19, 1990	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles (1)	Los Angeles	Hard	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 3–6, 7–6(6)
9.	November 4, 1990	Virginia Slims of California (1)	Oakland, California, U.S.	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6–3, 7–6(5)
10.	November 18, 1990	Virginia Slims Championships (1)	New York City	Carpet (I)	Gabriela Sabatini	6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
11.	January 27, 1991	Ford Australian Open (1)	Melbourne	Hard	Jana Novotná	5–7, 6–3, 6–1
12.	March 24, 1991	Lipton International players Championships (2)	Key Biscayne, Florida, U.S.	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	6–3, 7–5
13.	April 21, 1991	Virginia Slims of Houston (2)	Houston, Texas, U.S.	Clay	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–4, 6–3
14.	June 9, 1991	French Open (2)	Paris	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–4
15.	August 18, 1991	Virginia Slims of Los Angeles (2)	Los Angeles	Hard	Kimiko Date	6–3, 6–1
16.	September 8, 1991	US Open (1)	New York City	Hard	Martina Navratilova	7–6(1), 6–1
17.	September 22, 1991	Nichirei International Championships (1)	Tokyo	Hard	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–1, 6–1
18.	October 6, 1991	Milano Indoor	Milan, Italy	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
19.	November 17, 1991	Virginia Slims of Philadelphia	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet (I)	Jennifer Capriati	7–5, 6–1
20.	November 24, 1991	Virginia Slims Championships (2)	New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 6–0
21.	January 26, 1992	Ford Australian Open (2)	Melbourne	Hard	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–2, 6–3
22.	February 9, 1992	Nokia Grand Prix	Essen, Germany	Carpet (I)	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–0, 6–3
23.	March 1, 1992	Matrix Essentials Evert Cup	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Conchita Martínez	6–3, 6–1
24.	April 19, 1992	Virginia Slims of Houston (3)	Houston, Texas, U.S.	Clay	Zina Garrison	6–1, 6–1
25.	April 26, 1992	Open Seat of Spain (1)	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
26.	June 7, 1992	French Open (3)	Paris	Clay	Steffi Graf	6–2, 3–6, 10–8
27.	September 13, 1992	US Open (2)	New York City	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–3
28.	September 27, 1992	Nichirei International Championships (2)	Tokyo	Carpet (I)	Gabriela Sabatini	6–2, 6–0
29.	November 8, 1992	Bank of the West Classic (2)	Oakland, California, U.S.	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6–3 6–4
30.	November 22, 1992	Virginia Slims Championships (3)	New York City	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	7–5, 6–3, 6–1
31.	January 31, 1993	Ford Australian Open (3)	Melbourne	Hard	Steffi Graf	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
32.	February 14, 1993	Virginia Slims of Chicago	Chicago	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	3–6, 6–2, 6–1
33.	August 20, 1995	du Maurier Ltd. Open (1)	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Amanda Coetzer	6–0, 6–1
34.	January 14, 1996	Peters Invitational	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	4–6, 7–6(7), 6–3
35.	January 28, 1996	Ford Australian Open (4)	Melbourne	Hard	Anke Huber	6–4, 6–1
36.	June 23, 1996	Direct Line Insurance Championships	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Mary Joe Fernandez	6–0, 6–2
37.	August 11, 1996	du Maurier Ltd. Open (2)	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 7–6(2)
38.	September 22, 1996	Nichirei International Open (3)	Tokyo	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–4
39.	August 10, 1997	Acura Classic (3)	Los Angeles	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	5–7, 7–5, 6–4
40.	August 17, 1997	du Maurier Open (3)	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Anke Huber	6–2, 6–4
41.	September 21, 1997	Toyota Princess Cup (4)	Tokyo	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 3–6, 7–6(5)
42.	August 23, 1998	du Maurier Open (4)	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3 ,6–2
43.	September 27, 1998	Toyota Princess Cup (5)	Tokyo	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
44.	April 11, 1999	Bausch & Lomb Championships (1)	Amelia Island, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	6–2, 6–3
45.	February 27, 2000	IGA Superthrift Classic (1)	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.	Hard (I)	Nathalie Dechy	6–1, 7–6(3)
46.	April 16, 2000	Bausch & Lomb Championships (2)	Amelia Island, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6–3, 6–2
47.	May 21, 2000	Tennis Masters Series Roma (2)	Rome	Clay	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 7–6(4)
48.	February 25, 2001	IGA U.S. Indoors	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. (2)	Hard (I)	Jennifer Capriati	6–3, 5–7, 6–2
49.	September 16, 2001	Brasil Open	Bahia, Brazil	Hard	Jelena Dokić	6–3, 6–3
50.	October 7, 2001	AIG Japan Open	Tokyo	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	6–3, 6–2
51.	October 14, 2001	Kiwi Open	Shanghai, China	Hard	Nicole Pratt	6–2, 6–3
52.	February 17, 2002	Qatar Total FinaElf Open	Doha	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	7–6(6), 6–3
53.	May 25, 2002	Open de Espana (2)	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Chanda Rubin	6–4, 6–2

Doubles (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
1.	May 13, 1990	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Helen Kelesi	Laura Garrone Laura Golarsa	6–3, 6–4
2.	March 31, 1991	San Antonio, Texas, U.S.	Hard	Patty Fendick	Jill Hetherington Kathy Rinaldi Stunkel	7–6(2), 6–2
3.	May 12, 1991	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Jennifer Capriati	Nicole Bradtke Elna Reinach	7–5, 6–2
4.	May 10, 1992	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Helena Suková	Katerina Maleeva Barbara Rittner	6–1, 6–2
5.	September 21, 1997	Tokyo (Princess)	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Julie Halard-Decugis Chanda Rubin	6–1, 6–0
6.	September 27, 1998	Tokyo	Hard	Anna Kournikova	Mary Joe Fernandez Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–4, 6–4

Runner-ups (35)

Singles (32)

Doubles (3)

Singles performance timeline

• SF-B = lost in the semifinals but then won the bronze medal match
• A = did not participate in the tournament
• SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played
• ¹ This table includes only those tournaments that were Tier I at the time they were played.

WTA Tour career earnings