On This Date in Sports January 27, 1996: Monica Seles Championship Return
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 before 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 States at the age of 12 in 1986. She was already a tennis champion at that age, 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 full-time 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. In 1991, at the age of 17, Seles won three-quarters of the Grand Slam, with just 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. Seles would dominate the clay courts at Roland Garros, winning the French Open for three straight years.
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 on her way to another great season, winning the Australian Open with little effort in 1993. While preparing for the 1993 French Open, Seles participated 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. The German legal system did not punish Parche 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, Seles became a citizen of the United States in 1994. When she finally returned in 1995, the WTA decided 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 to the final of the U.S. Open, losing a three-set battle to Graf (7-6, 0-6, 6-3).