"One of the worst times in my life, I just wanted to go home" - When Monica Seles lamented being sent to Nick Bollettieri's academy with her brother
Monica Seles once opened up about her distressing experience of being sent to train at renowned coach Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy. Although Seles was accompanied by her older brother Zoltan, she found it very difficult to be separated from her parents.
Tennis legend and nine-time Grand Slam champion Seles began her tennis journey at five years old in Yugoslavia, under her father Karolj's tutelage. The former World No. 1 attracted the attention of Nick Bollettieri with her impressive triumph at the 1985 Junior Orange Bowl tournament in Miami.
Subsequently, Seles' parents made the decision to send her and her brother Zoltan to the United States to train at Bollettieri's prestigious tennis academy, which Andre Agassi once described as a "glorified prison camp."
In a 2003 interview with Sportstar, Monica Seles opened up about how difficult it was to leave her home country at the young age of 12, emphasizing the "nightmare" of dealing with the linguistic, cultural and educational changes.
"Anytime you leave home at that young stage is very, very hard. You're being shaped as a person, and all of a sudden everything changes — language is a nightmare, the school system is entirely different... On the other hand, you see the opportunity. For me, it was simple: the chance to play tennis in the winter. Imagine that!" Monica Seles said.
Seles also shared that she and her brother Zoltan found it very challenging to live away from their parents for a prolonged period. The former World No. 1 described it as one of the "worst times" of her life, admitting that she constantly wished to return home.
"Zoltan and I came out on kind of a trial, for six months, when I was 12. That was really hard because we had never been away from our parents that long. It was one of the worst times in my life because every night I just wanted to go home," she added.
Monica Seles' situation improved when her parents joined her and Zoltan in Florida nine months later.
"We had no adult supervision, no curfew, no nothing" - Monica Seles on her and her brother Zoltan's experience at Nick Bollettieri's academy
During the same interview, Monica Seles disclosed that she and her brother Zoltan lived in a rented apartment without any adult supervision while attending Nick Bollettieri's academy, echoing Andre Agassi's sentiments about the experience of "teenagers raising themselves."
Seles also recounted being "dead tired" due to her demanding routine, which revolved around going to school and playing tennis until she was exhausted.
"We stayed in town, just outside the Academy, in a rented apartment. We had no adult supervision, no curfew, no nothing. Actually, I have zero memories about it except that I was learning so much in school (the Bradenton Academy) and playing tennis so much that I was dead tired all the time," Seles said.
"We would hit in the morning, go to school from 1.00 p.m. until 3.00, hit again, study, maybe do the gym or something. I remember I couldn't wait until it was Sunday," she added.
Monica Seles also disclosed that her "game went down" when she initially arrived at Nick Bollettieri's academy. While the former World No. 1 acknowledged the care provided by Bollettieri and his staff, she emphasized that only her father Karolj "really understood her game."