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Twenty-seven years ago, a mentally confused fanatic stole Monica Seles, stopping her steep climb.
Monica Seles is one of the most successful tennis players in history. But despite the former No. 1’s 53 tournament titles (including 9 Grand Slams), many sports fans initially think of a bad event by the name of Seles: the attempted assassination of Hamburg.
Without the knife attack, we would talk about Monica as the player with the most Grand Slam titles.
On April 30, 1993, Seles competed against Magdalena Maleewa in the WTA tournament in the Hanseatic city in the quarterfinals. When they switched sides, the incredible happened: Günter Parche, a psychologically disturbed fanatic of Seles’ worst rival, Steffi Graf, stabbed the 19-year-old in the back and caused one of the biggest scandals in tennis history.
Surreal scenes on the tennis court in Hamburg
Mónica Seles had to be treated after a knife attack and taken to the hospital.
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My goal was to deactivate it for a while so that Steffi Graf would return to be number 1 in the world ranking.
The author later stated in court that he had only hurt Seles, he never wanted to kill: “My goal was to disable it for a while so that Steffi Graf would again be number 1 in the world ranking.” Your wish should come true five weeks later.
Nine-time Grand Slam winner
Despite the long injury break, Monica Seles is one of the most successful tennis players of the professional era.
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The difficult way back on the tour
Seles did not play professional games for two years after the attack. The physical injuries from the knife attack soon healed, but the former super talent subsequently had to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive moods for years. The Yugoslav native was particularly struggling with the fact that Patch never had to go to prison.
Before April 30, 1993, Seles was in the shape of his life. Of the previous 9 Grand Slams, he won 7. He only returned after the assassination attempt in 1995. Although Seles won the Australian Open the following year, he was never able to build on the success of his early days.
Would Seles Court have succeeded?
Many experts believe that without the assassination attempt, Seles would have won many more tournaments in his career. Examples of this are the statements of Martina Navratilova, who said in an interview in 2013: “Without the knife attack, we would speak of Monica as the player with the most Grand Slam titles, ahead of Margaret Court and Steffi Graf.” Meanwhile, Serena Williams is in second place with 23 Grand Slams, and therefore a title before Graf and a title behind the court.
