Tennis great Monica Seles will be inducted into the International tennis Hall of Fame tomorrow in a ceremony that also includes the induction of Andres Gimeno, Donald L. Dell and Dr. Robert Johnson.
Seles--who tallied a 180-31 win-loss record at the four majors, and who won nine of them--won 53 singles titles throughout her 15-year career. She also won six doubles titles, won three consecutive year-end championships, and held the number 1 ranking for a total of 178 weeks.
A left-hander who hit both her forehand and backhand with both hands, Seles played with uncommon aggression, finding angles that often left her opponents stunned. She was the youngest player to ever win the French Open, and the youngest to win the year-end championships. In 2000, Seles won a bronze medal at the Olympics.
It is generally agreed that if Seles had not been the victim of a stabber in 1993, her career would have included even more major titles. The incident caused Seles to leave the tour for over two years, and was made even more bitter by the fact that her perpetrator never served a day in prison.
In addition to being one of tennis's brightest stars, Seles was also part of a wonderful rivalry. She and Steffi Graf thrilled fans for years with their close, high-quality matches.
3 comments:
I will never be able to stop wondering what would have happened had that incident never occurred. 16 years later, I still get upset about it. It just was horribly horribly unfair. Monica must have the most incredible strength and determination to keep going and to stay positive.
...she also raised "grunting" (shrieking, yelling, screaming, yelping, howling, cheating, etc) to an art form, and as a result probably did more damage than good to the world of women's tennis. Thanks for that, Monica...
I was disappointed that the induction speech was edited out by Tennis Channel. Apparently, it was given by Mary Joe Fernandez.
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