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Monica Seles

Country (sports)	Yugoslavia and  United States
Residence	Sarasota, Florida, USA
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1989
Plays	Left; Two-handed both sides
Prize money	$14,891,762
Singles
Career record	595-122
Career titles	53
Highest ranking	No. 1 (March 11, 1991)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996)
French Open	W (1990, 1991, 1992)
Wimbledon	F (1992)
US Open	W (1991, 1992)
Doubles
Career record	89-45
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 16 (April 22, 1991)
Last updated on: N/A.

Olympic medal record
Women’s Tennis
Representing  United States
	2000 Sydney	Singles

Monica Seles (born December 2 1973) is a Hungarian-American professional tennis player born in Yugoslavia, present day Serbia. She has won nine Grand Slam singles titles playing for Yugoslavia and the United States. She became the youngest-ever champion at the French Open in 1990. She was the top ranked player in the women's game during 1991 and 1992.

Biography

Monica Seles (Serbian : Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; Hungarian: Szeles Mónika (pronounced /sɛlɛʃ/); was born in Novi Sad, SFR Yugoslavia (present-day Vojvodina, Serbia); in an ethnic Hungarian family.

Considered to be one of the best players of all time, Seles began playing tennis at the age of six, coached by her father Károly Seles. She won her first tournament at the age of nine, despite not fully understanding the scoring system of the game and having only a vague idea of whether she was leading or trailing her opponents during matches. In 1985 at the age of 11, she won the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, and caught the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri. In 1986, the Seleš family moved from Yugoslavia to the United States, and Seles enrolled in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, where she trained for two years.

Seles played her first professional tournament in 1988 at the age of 14. The following year, she joined the professional tour full-time and won her first career title at Houston in May 1989, where she beat Chris Evert in the final. A month later, Seles reached the semifinals in her first Grand Slam singles tournament at the French Open, where she lost to World No. 1 Steffi Graf, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 . Seles finished her first year on the tour ranked World No. 6.

With punishing, sharp-angled two-fisted forehand and backhand shots and a dominating return of serve, Seles is considered by many to be the first "power player" in the women's game, paving the way for players such as Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova. She was also well-known for grunting loudly on court. On a few occasions, her opponents claimed that the grunting was distracting and prevented them from hearing the ball make contact with her racquet.

Seles won her first Grand Slam singles title at the French Open in 1990. Facing World No. 1 Graf in the final, she saved four set-points in a first-set tie-breaker, which she won 8-6, and went on to take the match in straight-sets. In doing so, she became the youngest-ever French Open champion at the age of 16 years, 6 months. She also won the 1990 season-ending championships, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in five sets, finishing the season ranked No. 2.

1991 was the first of two years in which Seles dominated the women's tour. She started out by winning the Australian Open in January, beating Jana Novotná in the final. In March, she replaced Graf as the World No. 1. She then successfully defended her French Open title, beating the former youngest-ever winner Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final. However, instead of playing at Wimbledon, she took a six-week break, blaming shin splints. But she was back in time for the U.S. Open, and won it beating Martina Navrátilová in the final to cement her position at the top of the world rankings. She also helped Yugoslavia win the Hopman Cup that year and won the season-ending championships, beating Navratilova in four sets.

1992 was an equally dominant year. She successfully defended her titles at the Australian Open, the French Open, and the U.S. Open. She also reached the final at Wimbledon, but could not manage to break Graf's dominance on the grass court surface and lost 6-2, 6-1. Some observers, however, attribute her loss to her decision to remain silent throughout the match, resulting in less penetrating shots. Two opponents (including Navrátilová in the semifinals) had strongly complained about Seles's grunts.

During the period from January 1991 to February 1993, Seles won 22 titles and reached 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments she played. She compiled a 159-12 win-loss record (92.9% winning percentage), including a 55-1 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments. In the broader context of her first four years on the circuit (1989-1992), Seleš had a win-loss record of 231-25 (90.2% winning percentage) and collected 30 titles. Only Evert had a better first four years in terms of winning percentage (91.1% from 1971 to 1974) and titles (34) in the open era. However, Seles was unable to maintain that high a winning percentage for the remainder of her career.

Seles was the top women's player heading into 1993. In January 1993, Seles defeated Graf in the final of the Australian Open, which was her third win in five Grand Slam matches with Graf.

However, everything changed following an incident that shocked the tennis world on April 30, 1993. During a quarterfinal match with Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg that Seleš was leading in 6-4, 4-3, a 38-year-old deranged fan of Graf, Günter Parche, ran from the middle of the crowd to the edge of the court during a break between games and plunged a steak knife between Seleš's shoulder blades. She let out a piercing scream and was quickly rushed to a hospital. Her physical injuries took a few weeks to heal, but the psychological scars from this incident left a much deeper impression on Seles. She did not return to competitive tennis for over two years. Parche was charged following the incident but was not jailed because he was found to be psychologically abnormal and was instead sentenced to two years' probation and psychological treatment. The incident prompted a significant increase in the level of security at tour events. She vowed to never play tennis in Germany again.

After the incident, Graf re-established herself as the leading player on the women's tour and regained the World No. 1 ranking. During her layoff from competitive tennis, Seles became a United States citizen on May 17, 1994.

Seles returned to the tour in August 1995 and won her first comeback tournament, the Canadian Open, beating Amanda Coetzer in the final 6-1, 6-0. Many believed that she would soon be dominating the circuit again in the way she was before the 1993 stabbing incident. The following month at the U.S. Open, Seles lost the final to Graf 7-6, 0-6, 6-3, after having held set-point in the first set.

In January 1996, Seles won her fourth Australian Open, beating Anke Huber in the final. But this was to be her last Grand Slam title. Seles struggled to recapture her best form on a regular basis. Her difficulties were compounded by having to cope with her father and long-term coach Karolj being stricken by cancer and eventually passing away in 1998. Seles was runner-up at the U.S. Open to Graf again in 1996. Her last Grand Slam final came at the French Open in 1998 (a few weeks after her father's death). She defeated world No. 3 Novotna in three sets and world No. 1 Martina Hingis in straight sets before losing to Sánchez Vicario in three sets, a match that even Sánchez Vicario said Seles should have won.

After becoming a U.S. citizen in 1994, Seles helped the U.S. team win the Fed Cup in 1996 and 2000. She also won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

In the spring of 2003, Seles sustained a foot injury that has sidelined her from the tour ever since. In February 2005, she played two exhibition matches in New Zealand against Navrátilová. Although Seles lost both matches, she played competitively and announced that she could return to the game early in 2006. She has not done so, however, though she has said that she intends to play a few more tournaments before officially retiring.

She was listed as the 13th greatest player of all time (men and women) by Tennis magazine and was also one of 15 women named by Australian Tennis magazine as the greatest champions of the last 30 years (players were listed chronologically). Seles is also known as one of the greatest "big point" players of all-time, having tremendous mental fortitude during the toughest situations on the court.

Seles is currently single and lives in Florida.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (9)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1990	French Open	Steffi Graf	7-6(6), 6-4
1991	Australian Open	Jana Novotná	5-7, 6-3, 6-1
1991	French Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-3, 6-4
1991	U.S. Open	Martina Navratilova	7-6(1), 6-1
1992	Australian Open (2)	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-2, 6-3
1992	French Open (3)	Steffi Graf	6-2, 3-6, 10-8
1992	U.S. Open (2)	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-3, 6-3
1993	Australian Open (3)	Steffi Graf	4-6, 6-3, 6-2
1996	Australian Open (4)	Anke Huber	6-4, 6-1

Runner-ups (4)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1992	Wimbledon	Steffi Graf	6-2, 6-1
1995	U.S. Open	Steffi Graf	7-6(6), 0-6, 6-3
1996	U.S. Open	Steffi Graf	7-5, 6-4
1998	French Open	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7-6(5), 0-6, 6-2

Titles (59)

Singles (53)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	April 30, 1989	Houston, USA	Clay	Chris Evert	3-6, 6-1, 6-4
2.	March 25, 1990	Miami, USA	Hard	Judith Wiesner	6-1, 6-2
3.	April 1, 1990	San Antonio, USA	Hard	Manuela Maleeva	6-4, 6-3
4.	April 22, 1990	Tampa, USA	Clay	Katerina Maleeva	6-1, 6-0
5.	May 13, 1990	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Martina Navratilova	6-1, 6-1
6.	May 20, 1990	Berlin, Germany	Clay	Steffi Graf	6-4, 6-3
7.	June 10, 1990	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	7-6(6), 6-4
8.	August 19, 1990	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Martina Navratilova	6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6)
9.	November 4, 1990	Oakland, USA	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6-3, 7-6(5)
10.	November 18, 1990	WTA Championships, New York City, USA	Carpet (I)	Gabriela Sabatini	6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
11.	January 27, 1991	Australian Open	Hard	Jana Novotná	5-7, 6-3, 6-1
12.	March 24, 1991	Miami, USA	Hard	Gabriela Sabatini	6-3, 7-5
13.	April 21, 1991	Houston, USA	Clay	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-4, 6-3
14.	June 9, 1991	French Open	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-3, 6-4
15.	August 18, 1991	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Kimiko Date	6-3, 6-1
16.	September 8, 1991	U.S. Open	Hard	Martina Navratilova	7-6(1), 6-1
17.	September 22, 1991	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-1, 6-1
18.	October 6, 1991	Milan, Italy	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6-3, 3-6, 6-4
19.	November 17, 1991	Philadelphia, USA	Carpet (I)	Jennifer Capriati	7-5, 6-1
20.	November 24, 1991	WTA Championships, New York City, USA	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
21.	January 26, 1992	Australian Open	Hard	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-2, 6-3
22.	February 9, 1992	Essen, Germany	Carpet (I)	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-0, 6-3
23.	March 1, 1992	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Conchita Martínez	6-3, 6-1
24.	April 19, 1992	Houston, USA	Clay	Zina Garrison	6-1, 6-1
25.	April 26, 1992	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	3-6, 6-2, 6-3
26.	June 7, 1992	French Open	Clay	Steffi Graf	6-2, 3-6, 10-8
27.	September 13, 1992	U.S. Open	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-3, 6-3
28.	September 27, 1992	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet (I)	Gabriela Sabatini	6-2, 6-0
29.	November 8, 1992	Oakland, USA	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	6-3 6-4
30.	November 22, 1992	WTA Championships, New York City, USA	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	7-5, 6-3, 6-1
31.	January 31, 1993	Australian Open	Hard	Steffi Graf	4-6, 6-3, 6-2
32.	February 14, 1993	Chicago, USA	Carpet (I)	Martina Navratilova	3-6, 6-2, 6-1
33.	August 20, 1995	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Amanda Coetzer	6-0, 6-1
34.	January 14, 1996	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	4-6 7-6(7) 6-3
35.	January 28, 1996	Australian Open	Hard	Anke Huber	6-4, 6-1
36.	June 23, 1996	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Mary Joe Fernandez	6-0, 6-2
37.	August 11, 1996	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-1, 7-6(2)
38.	September 22, 1996	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-1, 6-4
39.	August 10, 1997	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	5-7, 7-5, 6-4
40.	August 17, 1997	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Anke Huber	6-2, 6-4
41.	September 21, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5)
42.	August 23, 1998	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-3 ,6-2
43.	September 27, 1998	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	4-6, 6-3, 6-4
44.	April 11, 1999	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Ruxandra Dragomir	6-2, 6-3
45.	February 27, 2000	Oklahoma City, USA	Hard (I)	Nathalie Dechy	6-1, 7-6(3)
46.	April 16, 2000	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Conchita Martínez	6-3, 6-2
47.	May 21, 2000	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Amélie Mauresmo	6-2, 7-6(4)
48.	February 25, 2001	Oklahoma City, USA	Hard (I)	Jennifer Capriati	6-3, 5-7, 6-2
49.	September 16, 2001	Bahia, Brazil	Hard	Jelena Dokić	6-3, 6-3
50.	October 7, 2001	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	6-3, 6-2
51.	October 14, 2001	Shanghai, China	Hard	Nicole Pratt	6-2, 6-3
52.	February 17, 2002	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Tamarine Tanasugarn	7-6(6), 6-3
53.	May 25, 2002	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Chanda Rubin	6-4, 6-2

Doubles (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	May 13, 1990	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Helen Kelesi	Laura Garrone Laura Golarsa	6-3, 6-4
2.	March 31, 1991	San Antonio, USA	Hard	Patty Fendick	Jill Hetherington Rinaldi Stunkel	7-6(2), 6-2
3.	May 12, 1991	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Jennifer Capriati	Nicole Bradtke Elna Reinach	7-5, 6-2
4.	May 10, 1992	Italian Open, Rome, Italy	Clay	Helena Suková	Katerina Maleeva Barbara Rittner	6-1, 6-2
5.	September 21, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Julie Halard-Decugis Chanda Rubin	6-1, 6-0
6.	September 27, 1998	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Anna Kournikova	Mary Joe Fernandez Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	6-4, 6-4

Runner-ups (35)

Singles (32)

Doubles (3)

Singles performance timeline

NH = tournament not held

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played
The Indian Wells tournament achieved Tier I status only in 1996.

WTA Tour career earnings

Trivia

• Seleš was the first female tennis player to win her first six Grand Slam singles finals: 1990 French Open, 1991 Australian Open, 1991 French Open, 1991 U.S. Open, 1992 Australian Open, and 1992 French Open.
• Seleš won the first five set women's singles match in many years, in 1990 against Gabriela Sabatini at the year end WTA Tour Championships.
• Until her loss to Martina Hingis at the 1999 Australian Open, Seleš had a perfect record at the event (33-0), which is the longest undefeated streak for this tournament. It also marked her first defeat in Australia, having won the Sydney Tournament in 1996.
• Seleš was the first female player since Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in 1937 to win the women's singles title three consecutive years at the French Open. Chris Evert, however, won the title four consecutive times she played the tournament (1974, 1975, 1979, and 1980).
• Seleš' final against Martina Navratilova at the 1991 U.S. Open was the only all left-handed women's singles final of a Grand Slam event.
• The age gap between Seleš (17 years old) and Navratilova (34 years old) at the 1991 U.S. Open was the largest in a Grand Slam women's singles final.
• Seleš appeared on the sitcom The Nanny as herself.
• Seleš won the inaugural Sanex Hero of the Year award in 2002. This award was voted by fans around the world.
• Young Elders, a band from Melbourne, Australia sent their song called Fly Monica Fly to Seles while she was recuperating from the 1993 stabbing incident. According to her autobiography , the song provided inspiration to her at that time and Seles subsequently met the band (who later changed their name to The Monicas) following her victory at the Australian Open in 1996.
• Singer/songwriter Dan Bern has a song about Seles on his Fifty Eggs album entitled "Monica".

References

1. She started to play for USA from 1995 season
2. "Tennis Magazine Interview". www.monica-seles.com. 2003-03-24. Retrieved 2006-10-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
3. Seles, Monica (1996). Monica: From Fear to Victory.

External links

• Monica Seles at the Women's Tennis Association
• Fed Cup record
• Monica Seles unofficial website
• Monica Seles Site -unofficial website, has Video clips of her matches and a very active forum

See also

• List of female tennis players

• Yugoslav tennis players
• American tennis players
• Australian Open champions
• French Open champions
• US Open champions
• Olympic tennis players of the United States
• Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Olympic bronze medalists
• People of Vojvodina
• People from Novi Sad
• People from Sarasota, Florida
• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• Hungarian-Americans
• 1973 births
• Living people