Monica Seles is a former world No 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States.
66 Facts About Monica Seles
2.
Monica Seles won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States.
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In 1990, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion at the age of 16.
4.
Monica Seles went on to win eight major singles titles before her 20th birthday and was the year-end No 1 in 1991 and 1992.
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Monica Seles did not return to tennis for over two years after the stabbing.
6.
Monica Seles played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open, but did not officially retire until February 2008.
7.
Several players and historians have stated that Monica Seles had the potential to become the most accomplished female player of all time had she not been stabbed.
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Monica Seles was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.
9.
Monica Seles was born in Yugoslavia to an ethnic Hungarian family.
10.
Monica Seles's parents are Ester and Karolj and she has an older brother, Zoltan.
11.
Monica Seles began playing tennis at age five, coached by her father, a professional cartoonist employed for decades at the Dnevnik and Magyar Szo newspapers, who drew pictures for her to make her tennis more fun.
12.
Monica Seles is responsible for developing her two-handed style for both the forehand and backhand.
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Monica Seles played her first professional tournament as an amateur in 1988 at age 14.
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Monica Seles then won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 1990 French Open.
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Monica Seles then won the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles title against Martina Navratilova and then defeated Navratilova again in winning the Oakland California tournament, in straight sets.
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Monica Seles won the 1990 year-end Virginia Slims Championships, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in five sets, becoming the youngest to ever win the season-ending championships.
17.
Unable to play at Wimbledon, suffering from shin splints, Monica Seles took a six-week break.
18.
Monica Seles won the year-end Virginia Slims Championships for the second consecutive time, defeating Navratilova in four sets.
19.
Monica Seles successfully defended her titles at the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open.
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Monica Seles reached her first-ever final at Wimbledon, but lost to Graf.
21.
Monica Seles ended up losing the game and the break, but broke back and closed out the match.
22.
From January 1991 through February 1993, Monica Seles won 22 titles and reached 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments she played.
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Monica Seles was the top-ranked women's player heading into 1993, having won the French Open for three consecutive years and both the US Open and Australian Open in consecutive years.
24.
In January 1993, Monica Seles defeated Graf in the final of the Australian Open, which, at that time, was her third win in four Grand Slam finals against Graf.
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Monica Seles then won the Virginia Slims of Chicago over Martina Navratilova in three sets.
26.
Monica Seles was known to have received death threats in relation to the Yugoslav Wars.
27.
Monica Seles was quoted in 2011 as saying, "From the time I was stabbed, I think the security hasn't changed".
28.
Monica Seles vowed never to play tennis in Germany again, disenchanted by the German legal system.
29.
Monica Seles died in a nursing home in August of 2022 at the age of 68.
30.
Young Elders, a band from Melbourne, Australia, sent their song called "Fly Monica Fly" to Seles while she was recuperating from the stabbing incident.
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Monica Seles later said that the song provided inspiration to her at that time, and subsequently met the band following her victory at the Australian Open in 1996.
32.
Monica Seles did not play tennis for two years and suffered from depression as well as an eating disorder as a result of the attack.
33.
Graf supported Monica Seles' co-ranking, but not the additional proposal that Monica Seles' co-ranking not be determined by the minimum participation of 12 tournaments a year required of everyone else.
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Monica Seles won her first comeback tournament, the Canadian Open, beating Amanda Coetzer in the final and setting a tournament record for the fewest games dropped by the champion throughout the tournament.
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In January 1996, Monica Seles won her fourth Australian Open, beating Anke Huber in the final.
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Monica Seles came back from 2 points from defeat to triumph and reach the final.
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Monica Seles was the runner-up at the US Open to Steffi Graf again in 1996.
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Monica Seles competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where she beat Sabatini in a third round match before losing to Jana Novotna in the quarterfinals.
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Four years later, at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Monica Seles captured her first Olympic medal, a bronze in singles.
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Monica Seles helped the US team win the Fed Cup in 1996,1999, and 2000.
41.
Monica Seles was forced to withdraw during the second set of a match against Nadia Petrova at the Italian Open.
42.
In February 2005, Monica Seles played two exhibition matches in New Zealand against Navratilova.
43.
Monica Seles played three exhibition matches against Navratilova in 2007.
44.
In December 2007, Monica Seles told 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.
45.
However, on February 14,2008, Monica Seles announced her official retirement from professional tennis.
46.
In January 2009, Monica Seles was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
47.
Monica Seles is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
48.
Monica Seles won eight Grand Slam titles during her teenage years.
49.
Some involved with the sport have declared that Monica Seles could have become the most accomplished female player ever.
50.
Until her loss to Martina Hingis at the 1999 Australian Open, Monica Seles had a perfect record at the event, which is the longest undefeated streak for this tournament.
51.
Monica 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.
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Yet, transformed from champion to tragedienne, Monica Seles became far more popular than she was while winning all those titles.
53.
Monica Seles was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 11,2009.
54.
In 2011, Monica Seles was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time.
55.
Monica Seles was a baseline player who was known for her highly aggressive playing style.
56.
Monica Seles was an aggressive return player, and would stand within the baseline to return serves.
57.
Monica Seles was known for accompanying her shots with loud grunting, and was the first player in the women's game to do so, and was frequently criticized for doing so.
58.
Monica Seles used a Prince original graphite racquet on court.
59.
When she returned to the tour in 1995 after the stabbing sabbatical, Monica Seles wore apparel by Nike and used a Yonex racquet on court.
60.
Monica Seles was born and raised in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia to an ethnic Hungarian family.
61.
Monica Seles became a naturalized American citizen in 1994 and received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007.
62.
Monica Seles is married to businessman Tom Golisano, who is 32 years her senior.
63.
Monica Seles would eat normal amounts of food at meals, and then secretly eat large amounts of junk food when she was alone.
64.
In 1996, Monica Seles made a guest appearance in the TV sitcom The Nanny.
65.
Monica Seles appeared in 2008 in the TV series Dancing with the Stars as one of the contestants.
66.
Monica Seles had a walkover in the second round of the US Open of 1996.