“Monica Seles would have won most Grand Slams,” Martina Navratilova reminisces the former World No. 1 and her stabbing incident
Former World No.1 Monica Seles was destined for greatness but fortune had other ideas. Recently even Martina Navratilova agreed that Seles could have been the best player ever had she not been stabbed in April 1993 by Guenther Parche, a crazy Steffi Graf fan.
“She would have won so much more,” said Navratilova in an Interview with Tennis.com. “We’d be talking about Monica with the most Grand Slam titles [ahead of] Margaret Court (who has 24) or Steffi Graf. Steffi had 22 but she didn’t have anyone to play against. This guy changed the course of tennis history, no doubt about that.”
#OnThisDay Apr 30 in 1993, tennis star Monica Seles was stabbed and injured by a Steffi Graf fan during a break between games in a match in Hamburg. Seles, 9 grand-slam singles titles in her career, was out of competitive tennis for more than two years after the attack. #OTD pic.twitter.com/963PiPM54l
— rezapars (@RezaPars) April 30, 2022
However, Hall of Famer, Pam Shriver felt that the incident shocked Steffi Graf as it was a huge burden to carry for her. But Navratilova is not very sure as he highlights how Graf was initially concerned but later did not pay much attention to Seles.
“I’m sure it shook [Graf] up, but she won a lot more than she would have otherwise,” Navratilova said. “If it affected her that deeply, she would have forged a stronger bond with Monica instead of ignoring her. It was nice initially [for Graf to see Seles in the hospital], but after that?”
Monica Seles recovered but never found her old form after the stabbing
Monica Seles was playing a quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg. It was during the drinks break and as the Former World No.1 bent forward to get the water she felt immense pain in her back. Only to see a man which a 9-inch long knife as he jabbed it at Monica Seles’s back. It was Günter Parche, an obsessed Steffi Graf fan.
Seeles hardly understood what was going on as during those days fans entering the field of play was not common. Hence there was no special security present on the ground. Some people were shocked to see a tennis player getting attacked.
It took Seles two years to recover and get back in shape. She even won the Australian Open on her return but she was never the same player as she used to be. The wound had healed but she still felt its effect as she could not train for long hours, something she did before the injury. Although she kept fighting, the tennis world lost the indestructible Monica Seles, who would blow out her opponents with her sublime tennis.
