On This Date in Sports January 27, 1996
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Monica Seles wins the Australian Open, beating Anke Huber of Germany in straight sets (6-4, 6-1). It is the first and only Grand Slam singles title that Seles would win after her stabbing in 1993. Seles had been the top-ranked player on the women’s tour, prior to being attacked by a deranged fan of Steffi Graf at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany and missed two full years, recovering mentally and physically.
Born on December 2, 1973, in the part of Yugoslavia that is now Serbia, Monica Seles emigrated to the United State at the age of 12 in 1986. At that age, she was already a tennis champion having won a Junior tournament in Miami a year earlier. Monica Seles played in her first professional tournament at the age of 14, and joined the WTA Tour fulltime, as a professional in 1989.
Monica Seles won her first Grand Slam title in 1990 at the age of 16 becoming the youngest ever French Open Champion. Seles would dominate the clay courts at Roland Garros, winning the French Open three straight years. In 1991, at the age of 17, Seles won three-quarters of the Grand Slam, with just the Wimbledon eluding her, as she added the Australian and U.S. Open to her French Open Title. A feat she would repeat in 1992, with her only Grand Slam loss coming in the Wimbledon Final against Steffi Graf.
As 1993 began, there was no question that Monica Seles at the age of 19, was the best tennis player in the World, having won six of the last eight women’s Grand Slam titles. She was well on her way to another great season, winning the Australian Open, with little effort in 1993. While preparing for the 1993 French Open, Seles was participating in the Citizen Cup on April 30th in Hamburg. Facing Magdalena Maleeva in the quarterfinals, Monica Seles was stabbed in the back, during a break. The assailant was Gunter Parche, who was an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf, who was the second-ranked player in the world and a native of Germany. Parche was not punished by the German legal system for the attack as he was declared psychologically abnormal and put into treatment. The lack of charges shocked and upset, Seles who vowed never to play in Germany again.
The knife had struck Monica Seles in between her shoulder blades. While the physical damage was not substantial, the psychological damage was overwhelming. For two years, Seles sat out as she had to overcome the mental scars left by the attack. While she recovered, Monica Seles became a citizen of the United States in 1994. When she finally returned in 1995, the WTA made the unusual decision to give her a share of the number one ranking with Steffi Graf, feeling she never lost it on the court. In her first Grand Slam after the attack, Seles made it all the way to the final of the U.S. Open, losing a three-set battle to Graf (7-6, 0-6, 6-3).
The 1996 title at the Australian Open, would be the final won by Monica Seles who struggled to regain the consistency she enjoyed before the attack. However, with nine Grand Slam titles, she is still regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the Women’s Tour.