"This woman said, 'You look like a boy, you look terrible!" - When Monica Seles bemoaned intense scrutiny on her appearance after stabbing incident
Monica Seles once expressed frustration over the intense scrutiny she endured upon her return to action after the traumatic stabbing incident that nearly ended her tennis career. She recounted a troubling interaction with a stranger who made a rude comment about her appearance during her comeback.
Seles emerged as one of the greatest teen prodigies in tennis history, winning eight Grand Slam titles before turning 20. However, her career was derailed in 1993, when Gunther Parche, an obsessive fan of her arch-rival Steffi Graf, viciously stabbed her between her shoulder blades during her quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva at the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany.
Monica Seles spent over two years on the sidelines following the attack, struggling with an eating disorder during her hiatus. Adding to her struggles, her father was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Not wanting to "pile other worries" on her father, as he underwent chemotherapy, Seles confessed that she buried her feelings in food.
In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Monica Seles admitted that an overindulgence in potato chips became her "downfall."
"And of course a plate of food in Florida is bigger than one in Europe. Potato chips were my downfall. Just as I had been a champion tennis player, now I became a champion potato-chip eater," she said.
As a result, when the Yugoslav-born American made her comeback at an exhibition event with Martina Navratilova, she was 25 pounds heavier. She disclosed that her weight gain became fodder for rude comments about how "big" she was.
Seles also bemoaned that people didn't understand her reliance on food for comfort, especially after being "nearly stabbed to death" and dealing with her father's terminal illness.
"I remember coming back to play Martina in an exhibition before the Toronto event and I was maybe 25lb heavier than I had been, And I could hear the comments: 'Oh my God! What happened to Seles? Did you see how big she was?'" Monica Seles said.
"I mean, I had been nearly stabbed to death. I had been out of the game for two years. My father was extremely sick. I was no longer a teenager. I turned to food for comfort. What did they expect?" she added.
During her return to tour at the 1995 Canadian Open, Monica Seles also sported a new hairstyle, which was not well received. She recalled that one woman even told her that she resembled a boy and looked "terrible."
"I went to my first tournament with this new hair and this woman comes up to me. I'd never met her and she said: 'What happened to you - you look like a boy, you look terrible!'" Seles recalled.
Despite the intense scrutiny and her two-year hiatus from the sport, Seles made a triumphant return to action in Toronto, beating Amanda Coetzer 6-0, 6-1 in the final to clinch her first title since the stabbing incident.
Monica Seles: "A guy would always end up mentioning my weight in some form or other... it was too painful for me"
During the same interview, Monica Seles revealed that her boyfriends also contributed to her insecurities about her weight, despite her making it clear that the topic was too "painful."
"A guy would always end up mentioning my weight in some form or other. They knew they should not go there; it was too painful for me. But they always did. It seemed so simple for them: stop eating, win grand slams, be happy," Monica Seles said.
Nevertheless, the nine-time Grand Slam champion shared that she had become a "great believer in keeping things in balance," having struggled with her relationship with food throughout her childhood and tennis career.
"I was paying for that imbalance in my childhood maybe, who knows?" she said. "Food was the one area of my life that was out of control. Everything else was looked after for me."
After searching in vain for a "miracle diet," Monica Seles admitted that she was eventually able to address her issues regarding her weight by being "honest with her emotions."