"A lot of joy for the game, even for life, was just gone" - When Monica Seles told Chris Evert what led to her disillusionment with tennis
Monica Seles' career was truly remarkable, not just for her on-court achievements but also because of unfortunate events that hampered her progress and tested her resolve on multiple occasions.
During a conversation with Chris Evert, the nine-time Grand Slam champion looked back at the trials and tribulations that she faced as a result of her father's illness in the backdrop of her recovery following the infamous stabbing incident of 1993.
Seles, who was out of action for more than two years after the attack in Hamburg, revealed that her retirement was the result of factors that caused her to lose her joy for the game and even for life.
"I look back at 1995, Christmas time, when I learnt my dad was very sick. It was really tough because I thought, okay, I've just come out of darkness from one thing and here comes totally another thing. It was just like the one-two punch starts hitting you. It really got me extremely down. So for me a lot of joy for the game, even for life, was just gone," she said on WTA's One-on-One With Chris Evert show.
Monica Seles' father, who was also her coach, succumbed to cancer in May 1998.
"I realized overnight that everything can be taken away" - Monica Seles
Monica Seles was stabbed by an obsessed Steffi Graf fan during a match with Magdalena Maleeva. She stated that she never imagined in her wildest dreams that anything of the kind could ever happen to her on a tennis court.
On this day in 1993, 19-year-old World No.1 Monica Seles was stabbed on court by an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf while playing Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg.
He narrowly missed her spinal cord.
She quickly recovered from her physical injuries but did not play for two years. https://t.co/J78Qnq6u4i
She told Chris Evert that the incident made her grow up quickly and realize how everything could be taken away in an instant. The former World No. 1 also talked about how the war in Yugoslavia played on the minds of the family, despite them being in the US.
"It (the stabbing) was something I never imagined in my wildest dreams that would happen to me, let alone on a tennis court. I was just coming back from a long injury, I didn't play for a few months before Hamburg. It was a very difficult time for me and my family because of everything that was going on back in my former country. It was a really heartbreaking time in the big picture in my tennis career."
"I was playing probably some amazing tennis but everything else was very tough. So, I had to very quickly grow up in terms of what was going on. Hamburg made it even faster because I realized overnight that everything can be taken away."
The WTAs two biggest unforced errors I can recall would be against Monica Seles:
- Letting her competitors decide on her #1 ranking after she got stabbed. No support.
- Moving YEC to Germany and not telling her while she was on players council. She found out from USA Today. twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
Monica Seles recalled that her family was the only source of support she had during the trying times.
"Thankfully, at that point, I had my dad and mom and my brother around me, but not many people from the outside world, outside my family. The trust factor was gone," she said.