Stabbed In The Back: Monica Seles Hurt By Success

On April thirtieth, nineteen ninety three, the number one women's tennis player in the world, Monica Cellas, is stabbed while at a tournament in Germany by a deranged fan, which changed the course of her career in tennis history forever. Here's the story behind this iconic moment today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive in sports history every day now. Monica Cellias was born in Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents, and she began playing tennis at the age of five when she was coached by her father, who was a cartoonist and would use cartoons to help make tennis more fun for her and gave her her signature's two handed style for not only the backhand, but the forehand as well, and she caught the attention of many tennis pros at the Junior Orange Bowl, specifically Nick Balati, who had an academy back in the United States, and he brought over Monica and her brother Zoltan to the United States to train at his academy in nineteen eighty six, where after nine months, her mother and father would join her and her brother, and she would train there for two years. She would have her first professional tournament in nineteen eighty eight at the age of fourteen, but she wouldn't turn pro until the following year, where she would join the tour full time as a fifteen year old. But that didn't mean she wasn't ready for her moment. After a slow start to the season, she went on a thirty six match winning streak and won six consecutive tournaments, starting in Miami, and this would lead her to her first Grand Slam singles title versus number one in the world, Sephanie Graff, beating her at the nineteen ninety French Open, becoming the youngest ever to win the French Open at sixteen and a half years old. But the winning streak wouldn't stop until she made it all the way back to the Wimbledon quarter finals, and she would finish the nineteen ninety season number two in the world. In nineteen ninety one, she wouldn't stop, winning the Australian Open and in March of that year, she would surpass Stephanie Graff as the number one tennis player and she defended her French Open title before having to take a break due to shin splints wmenssing Wimbledon that year. After her break, she'd returned to the US Open, where she won, beating legendary Martina Navratulova in the finals, which made her third Grand Slam that year, and she likely would have won all four if not for her shin splints, and she was the clear best tennis player and she wasn't even eighteen. That year, she won ten out of sixteen tournaments she entered and made it to the finals in every single one, and was still the number one tennis player at the end of the year. She continued her dominance into the following year, winning the Australian Open, the French Open, and the US Open, and making it to her first ever Wimbledon final, but lost to Steffi graff So. In the three years to start her career, she had won twenty two titles, made it to thirty three finals out of thirty four tournaments she played in, and had a ninety three percent winning percentage in a ninety eight percent winning percentage during Grand Slam tournaments at the time. This was one of the most dominant periods in all of women's tennis ever, and nothing seemed to be slowing her down until nineteen ninety three where she was having great success again winning the French US and Australian Open where she again beat Steffi Graff and then Australian Open. Then on April thirtieth, nineteen ninety three, she was playing in the Citizens Cup in Hamburg, Germany, facing off versus Magdalena Beliva at the Citizens Cup. The two were taking a break to get water and ready for the next set, and a man named Gunter Barchet made his way down to the first row of the stands and it wasn't until he was almost at the bottom that somebody noticed he had a large nine inch bowing knife in his hand and had raised it up and giving attention to Monica as she moved quickly to see what was going on, and at that moment, Gunter brought his knife down and stabbed her in the shoulder blade. He was quickly taken out by security and they rushed Monica to the hospital after the stabbing. She was very luckily when she got there that she had moved at that last second, as it could have been a fatal blow and Gutter wasn't done as he was going back for another stab after the first one, and if security didn't react faster, it may have been even worse. Luckily, her injuries were not fatal and doctors believed she would be able to return within the year to tennis, but she wanted to know why he did this, and authorities in Germany found out that Gunter was an obsessed fan of Steffi Graff, the former number one tennis player which Monica continuously beat and took the number one ranking from, and he thought if Monicas could not compete, Steffi Graff would be number one again. Despite this information and multiple witnesses witnessing the attack and the fact that it could have been a fatal blow if done anywhere else, the German courts just gave him a suspended sentence of two years and he was required to have court order therapy, so he was out walking around even after this brutal attack, all because he said he wasn't trying to kill her. He just wanted her not to be able to play tennis, and he got his wish for two years. Even though Monica had healed after several weeks after the attack physically, emotionally, it was a hard thing to recover from, as it was unprovoked and the man that did this was still out walking around. She refused to ever play a tennis tournament again in Germany, and following this it did create change as they now changed where the seats were where players took breaks at, making it so their back was to the umpire instead of to the stands, but she was still afraid to return. The World Tennis Association, which gives the rankings for tennis players, tried to reserve the number one ranking as long as they could, but since she had been out for two years, they decided to give Gunter his witsch and stephie Graff became number one in tennis again. But in nineteen ninety five, when Monica returned to tennis, the WTA gave her the number one ranking back, making her co number one with steffi Graff to begin that year, and she would go on in nineteen ninety six to win her fourth Australian Open, but that would be the last one she would ever win. She would make it to the finals of the nineteen ninety six US Open and the nineteen ninety eight French Open, but sadly would lose in both those competitions and she never recaptured the glory that she once had. She would remain in the top ten of the world rankings until she retired, and she would also compete in the Olympics in nineteen ninety six in two thousand, receiving a bronze medal, and she would go on to continue to play until two thousand and eight, when she officially retired, finishing her career with an eighty three percent win percentage and fifty three career titles with a total of eight Grand Slams. Though her career may have not finished as we all thought it would, she was one of the most dominant tennis players in a three year stretch, and many say during that time she was the best there ever was. It's the saddest thing to see what fame and fandom can do, as there was no reason for her to be brutally attacked and go through this not only physical challenge, but mental and fame can be a challenge for us all. Though we want to achieve greatness, sometimes fame can intervene and ruin our goals. But she didn't let the man take away everything from her. She came back and fought for everything she could and one another Grand Slam tournament, showing she had resiliency and she continued to win as much as she could. And I would love for you to continue to help us win by leaving us a reviewer rating. Wherever you're listening, it makes my day every day I see anyone, anyone do that, and I can't wait to see them. Come back tomorrow for more daily sports history