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| Birth Name(s) : Monica Seles |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Monica Seles Biography
Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a former world No. 1 professional Yugoslav-American tennis player, who played for both Yugoslavia and the United States. Although born in the former Yugoslavia, she became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994. She has won nine Grand Slam singles titles, including four Australian Open women's singles titles. 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.
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.
A remarkable aspect of her style, the two-handed forehand, was expected to make her reach shorter, but she manages to compensate for the shorter reach by being able to hit balls much harder, with more top-spin, allowing her to hit sharper angles. Also, she had very fast feet, allowing herself to run down balls and get into a position to return a shot.
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 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 lop-sided 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' screams.
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), Seles 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..
Seles was the top women's player heading into 1993, having won the French Open three consecutive years, and the US Open and Australian Open both in consecutive years. In January 1993, Seles defeated Graf in the final of the Australian Open, which was her third win in six Grand Slam matches with Graf.
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 never to play tennis in Germany again.
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 Károly 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.
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.
Grand Slam SRN/A9 / 400 / 00 / 31 / 33 / 33 / 41 / 10 / 00 / 11 / 40 / 30 / 30 / 40 / 30 / 20 / 40 / 2 |
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