"There is nothing else I can do about it" - When Steffi Graf commented on winning the 1993 French Open without Monica Seles' participation
Steffi Graf won her third French Open title in 1993 by beating Mary Joe Fernandez in the final.
Graf entered the tournament as the top seed and reached the title clash with straight-set wins over Cecilia Dahlman, Andrea Strnadova, Laura Gildemeister, Iva Majoli, Jennifer Capriati, and Anke Huber.
Here, the German was up against fifth seed Mary Joe Fernandez and came back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and clinch her 12th Grand Slam singles title. She also managed to reclaim the World No. 1 ranking from Monica Seles.
The 1993 French Open was the first Major to take place after Seles' stabbing incident in Hamburg. Seles was the three-time Roland Garros defending champion at the time.
Speaking about Monica Seles' absence from the 1993 French Open, Steffi Graf said that there was nothing she could do about it.
"I mean, obviously you want to have everybody in the field and then you want to win it," Graf said in her post-match interview. "But I won it the way I did and I mean, there is nothing else I can do about it."
The German also said that while she didn't play her best tennis throughout the final, she came out on top because of playing better tactically than Fernandez.
"I have no idea how much longer I will be around, but what I see, I mean I obviously didn't play great tennis, but I won it because at the end I was tactically playing it better," Steffi Graf said.
Steffi Graf won the French Open six times
Steffi Graf is one of the greatest competitors in the history of the French Open with six titles to her name. The clay-court Major was the German's very first Grand Slam title when she won in 1987. She successfully defended her title in 1988.
After her third title in 1993, the German won in 1995 and 1996, beating Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final in both years. She endured a quarterfinal exit in 1997 before missing the tournament in 1998.
The 1999 French Open was Graf's final participation in the clay-court Major and she reached the final following wins over Magdalena Maleeva, Ines Gorrochategui, Asa Karlsson, Ana Kournikova, Lindsay Davenport, and Monica Seles.
Here, the German faced then-World No. 1 Martina Hingis and came back from a set down to beat her 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, and win her 22nd Grand Slam singles title.