Monica Seles' brother who could have become as great as Boris Becker & Stefan Edberg | Tennis siblings you never knew
Monica Seles' story is well-known in the world of sports. A teenage prodigy, she had won eight Major titles even before she was out of her teens. She made a triumphant return after a stabbing attack while on court and continued to play for years.
However, there was a distinct possibility of there being another famous Seles during the same time. In an old interview with Sportstar in 2003, she mentioned that her brother, Zoltan, was more talented than her in their youth. A promising junior, he was from the same generation as Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker.
"My great stroke of luck was finding tennis as early as I did, and it really was by pure luck because my brother, Zoltan (now 37), was the player, the talent in the family. And I'm totally not kidding about that. He was an extremely promising junior, part of the same generation as Boris (Becker) and Stefan (Edberg). My dad wanted Zoltan to be the player, so when I bothered them to go to the courts my father just shrugged, "Oh sure, you can come on along with us," - Monica Seles on her brother.
However, talent doesn't always guarantee success. Seles added that what she lacked in raw talent, she made up for it with her work ethic, and the rest is history. Her brother, meanwhile, opted for a life away from the media frenzy.
"But if Zoltan had the talent, I had the work ethic. The experience taught me that if I ever had a child to coach, in the long term I would take the one with the work ethic over the one with talent. I saw firsthand in Zoltan that talent will take you only so far. But you can't force it — Zoltan made his choice. Now he lives quietly and I respect his privacy. He doesn't want to be known as my brother. He doesn't want to be in my limelight," - Monica Seles added.
Had Seles' brother also made it big, they would've been one of the most high-profile siblings in the sport. Venus and Serena Williams, Bob and Mike Bryan, and Marat Safin and Dinara Safina are some of the other siblings who tasted similar levels of success in the sport. Nevertheless, her solo success outranks the majority of players who've ever played the game.
Monica Seles reached the upper echelon of women's tennis in no time
Monica Seles broke into the top 10 of the WTA rankings in her second year on the tour. She claimed her maiden Major title at the French Open in 1990, just her third year on the women's circuit. She won six of the seven Majors that she contested in 1992 and 1993.
The tragic attack on Seles in April 1993 sidelined her for a while but she wasn't out for the count. While she didn't taste the same highs as before, she won the Australian Open in 1996, the final Major title of her career.
Seles still won 21 titles following her return to the tour and was ranked in the top 10 for eight consecutive seasons. She played her last professional match in 2003, and her achievements landed her in the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009, and she's still lauded as an all-time great even now.