Happy 50th Birthday, Monica Seles!

[Enceladus]

Today, December 2, 2023, one of the best female tennis players in history and a native of Yugoslavia, Monica Seles, celebrates her 50th birthday. During her career, she won 9 Grand Slam trophies and 53 titles on the WTA Tour, spending 178 weeks at the World No.1 position. Seles started winning Grand Slams as a teenager at the turn of the 80s and 90s, became famous for her two-handed FH and loud grunted on the courts, she was criticized for the latter. Her biggest rival was German superstar Steffi Graf, they played against each other in 6 Grand Slam finals, of which Seles won 3. Unfortunately, a Graf fan hurt Seles at a tournament in Hamburg in April 1993, stabbing her in the back, which mentally shook Seles and her results after returning to the courts were no longer as impressive as before the incident. Nevertheless, she once again achieved a Grand Slam triumph at AO 1996. Seles played on the WTA Tour until 2003 and was accepted into the ITHOF in 2009.

 

[Enceladus]

Congratulations:
Australian Open:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1730708354312651015

US Open:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1730951814218928617

WTA:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1730927128814768512

Tennis Hall of Fame:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1730962577880944813

 

[Deleted member 758560]

wow amazing, didnt know.. happy b-day monica, the true legend of the sport

 

[Mustard]

Monica Seles is one of the greatest players ever.

 

[Gizo]

I’ve said this elsewhere, but to me she was a complete breath of fresh air when she broke onto the scene and then went from strength and to strength.

Her enthusiasm and clear love of tennis was infectious to me. I remember watching a segment when she was given a tour of the Wimbledon museum, and was clearly enjoying it all, especially fascinated by the Suzanne Lenglen exhibits including the outfits that she wore when she won her titles there.

I personally like athletes can that effortlessly transition between a ferocious will to win and absolute focus when in the ‘heat of battle’, and a joyful, ‘bubbly’ personality in and around that.

 

[King_olaf_the_hairy]

I’ve said this elsewhere, but to me she was a complete breath of fresh air when she broke onto the scene and then went from strength and to strength.

Her enthusiasm and clear love of tennis was infectious to me. I remember watching a segment when she was given a tour of the Wimbledon museum, and was clearly enjoying it all, especially fascinated by the Suzanne Lenglen exhibits including the outfits that she wore when she won her titles there.

I personally like athletes can that effortlessly transition between a ferocious will to win and absolute focus when in the ‘heat of battle’, and a joyful, ‘bubbly’ personality in and around that.

Something I'd forgotten about until I went looking for photos of her for a birthday thread on Reddit on Saturday; she was a massive fan of dressing up for photoshoots. Typical teenage girl, really:

That last one's got more than a little a bit of Lenglen's influence for sure.



And a wee bonus photograph I discovered today as well: pictured in 1989 with a suspiciously familiar-looking nine-year old...

 

[AleYeah]

Happy bday to a real game-changer. She and Steffi had some great and grueling matches before the stabbing.

 

[Mustard]

Great photo there. Ha. 1989, was it?

 

[pirhaksar]

Was a big Seles fan because I was so damm bored of Graf winning everything and the alround fawning over Graf. Seles certainly took the tour by storm. Would have been a great rivalry as Graf would surely have figured Seles out …what a shame.

 

[buscemi]

Was a big Seles fan because I was so damm bored of Graf winning everything and the alround fawning over Graf. Seles certainly took the tour by storm. Would have been a great rivalry as Graf would surely have figured Seles out …what a shame.

I'm not really sure what there was for Graf to figure out. Graf's backhand was always going to be the weakest of their four groundstrokes (Seles's forehand/backhand and Graf's forehand/backhand). Their 93 AO final clearly showed that Seles's serve was going to be an issue for Graf, and it was only going to get bigger. In the months before the stabbing, Seles's net game was improving, so Graf wouldn't be able to draw her into net with the hope of passing her. Graf had already pretty much maximized her advantages over Seles in movement and athleticism.

Clearly, Graf ended up playing better in 1995/1996, but I'm not sure what she could have figured out in Seles's game had she not been stabbed.

 

[Deleted member 765728]

By far my favorite female tennis player ever. Apart from her talent for the sport, her determination and focus were probably unmatched and she was like a machine on the court and lived for tennis. I believe during the first phase of her career, and the most fruitful one, her life was all about tennis, which completely changed after the stabbing.

Jelena Genčić shared a story about Monika's very mature approach for the matches even when she was a girl. During the tournament for junior players (aged between 10 and 12) in Venezuela, where both Ivanišević and Seleš competed and were lead and coached by Jelena, Goran tried to intimidate 10 year old Monika by scaring her how she is going to lose her next match because her opponent was much stronger and bigger, and Monika nonchalantly responded to him "You are very wrong, Goran, I never look at my opponent, only at the tennis ball". Never heard of such a professional and mature response from a 10 year old kid before, she was a born champion.

Genčić also mentioned how Ivanišević complained about the quality of food like a spoiled kid, while Monika told him that she hates anything they'd served them, but eats everything anyway because she knows it helps her to perform well. She already acted like a true pro at the age of 10.

It's horrible what happened to her and the fans got robbed of a great rivalry with Graf, but it turned out good for her as she realized (during the break after the stabbing), by her own admission, that there are higher priorities in life and not everything should be about the sport.

 

[pirhaksar]

I'm not really sure what there was for Graf to figure out. Graf's backhand was always going to be the weakest of their four groundstrokes (Seles's forehand/backhand and Graf's forehand/backhand). Their 93 AO final clearly showed that Seles's serve was going to be an issue for Graf, and it was only going to get bigger. In the months before the stabbing, Seles's net game was improving, so Graf wouldn't be able to draw her into net with the hope of passing her. Graf had already pretty much maximized her advantages over Seles in movement and athleticism.

Clearly, Graf ended up playing better in 1995/1996, but I'm not sure what she could have figured out in Seles's game had she not been stabbed.

We would never know that I guess. Graf beat Seles like a drum at a Wimby (I was young then but man that match sent me into mourning lol). I think on faster and slicker surfaces Graf would have competed well and given her champion pedigree would have figured out Seles power hitting-again can’t be sure of course. But it would have been a superb rivalry ..I would have been rooting for Seles against the vast majority of course….alas cut short by a fanatic.

 

[Deleted member 765728]

We would never know that I guess. Graf beat Seles like a drum at a Wimby (I was young then but man that match sent me into mourning lol). I think on faster and slicker surfaces Graf would have competed well and given her champion pedigree would have figured out Seles power hitting-again can’t be sure of course. But it would have been a superb rivalry ..I would have been rooting for Seles against the vast majority of course….alas cut short by a fanatic.

Yeah, we should never underestimate a champion, let alone a GOAT candidate, when it comes to solving problems she's having with another opponent. Graf would've definitely tried different things and certainly wouldn't have left the tennis just because a young (and a formidable) challenger appeared. And as you mentioned, she was a very tough opponent for Monika on faster/low bouncing surfaces and it's not like she got destroyed at RG or in Australia, so there was definitely a room for improvement.

Some people thought Federer would never beat Nadal again after the 09 AO and he actually defeated him on clay the very same year.

 

[Pheasant]

I really would have loved to see how Monica's grass game would have developed. She didn't play much on that surface at all.

1989, age-15: Only played Wimbledon, but made it to R16.
1990, age-16: Only played Wimbledon, but made the QF.
1991, age-17: didn't play on grass
1998, age-18: Only played Wimbledon and made it to the final.

She only played 16 pro matches on grass, prior to her stabbing; going 13-3. She was really just starting to beef up her serves. I saw her hit a 102 mph serve at the 1993 AO. She had some in the low-100s at the 1992 USO as well, which is when I first noticed her breaking 100 mph. Would she have continued to beef up her serves, had she not been stabbed. I think that she would have. But would it have been enough to bag a Wimbledon title? I have no idea. You'd think that somebody with that kind of killer instinct would have. But we have no idea.

Either way, this player was a killer at her peak. The numbers certainly don't lie.

 

[Pheasant]

Seles was incredibly clutch in the deciding set of matches. From 1991-93, she went 24-5 in deciding sets, which includes 12-0 in majors and 2-0 in the Virginia Slims. That is absolutely insane.

 

[Gizo]

Something I'd forgotten about until I went looking for photos of her for a birthday thread on Reddit on Saturday; she was a massive fan of dressing up for photoshoots. Typical teenage girl, really:

That last one's got more than a little a bit of Lenglen's influence for sure.



And a wee bonus photograph I discovered today as well: pictured in 1989 with a suspiciously familiar-looking nine-year old...

Yes that was all part of her charm. Away from her clear and relentless focus on her day to day job on court, she acted like a teenager / young woman. She enjoyed the media attention regarding changes in hair colour, her jeans and outfits in general, photoshoots etc. When she could, she'd go to music concerts during tournament weeks, but it didn't detract from her tennis. She was already outgoing and friendly in her younger years - numerous staff members at tournament sites behind the scenes complimented her there.

 

[King_olaf_the_hairy]

Great photo there. Ha. 1989, was it?

Taken by Marcel Noecker in Zurich in 1989, according to the Ullstein Bild photo agency.

 

[pirhaksar]

I really would have loved to see how Monica's grass game would have developed. She didn't play much on that surface at all.

1989, age-15: Only played Wimbledon, but made it to R16.
1990, age-16: Only played Wimbledon, but made the QF.
1991, age-17: didn't play on grass
1998, age-18: Only played Wimbledon and made it to the final.

She only played 16 pro matches on grass, prior to her stabbing; going 13-3. She was really just starting to beef up her serves. I saw her hit a 102 mph serve at the 1993 AO. She had some in the low-100s at the 1992 USO as well, which is when I first noticed her breaking 100 mph. Would she have continued to beef up her serves, had she not been stabbed. I think that she would have. But would it have been enough to bag a Wimbledon title? I have no idea. You'd think that somebody with that kind of killer instinct would have. But we have no idea.

Either way, this player was a killer at her peak. The numbers certainly don't lie.

I was shocked to see her make the final and equally upset the way she got trounced. I was like screaming into my Telly as a kid come on fight..don’t lose 6-2 lol..

 

[bluetrain4]

Simultaneously, I'm saying (1) "She's 50?!, OMG" since time flies and it seems like she was a teenager winning Slams not that long ago and I can't believe she's that old, and (2) "She's ONLY 50?" since she's been around forever, and I'm 51 and always "looked up" to her even if she was slightly younger, and I viewed her as older.

 

[Mustard]

Graf beat Seles like a drum at a Wimby

I thought that it was too stop-start with rain delays to feel like that, if you're talking about the 1992 Wimbledon final. Presenter Des Lynam on the BBC even said "A load of rubbish, really" after yet another second set rain delay. It was a complete contrast to their classic 1992 French Open final, which is seen as one of the greatest women's tennis matches ever played.

Simultaneously, I'm saying (1) "She's 50?!, OMG" since time flies and it seems like she was a teenager winning Slams not that long ago and I can't believe she's that old, and (2) "She's ONLY 50?" since she's been around forever, and I'm 51 and always "looked up" to her even if she was slightly younger, and I viewed her as older.

That's another thing about Monica Seles as a teenager. She even had older people idolizing her, and seemed to take it completely in her stride.

 

[Pheasant]

I was shocked to see her make the final and equally upset the way she got trounced. I was like screaming into my Telly as a kid come on fight..don’t lose 6-2 lol..

I never thought in a zillion years that she'd beat Martina in that semi. She hadn't even played on that surface for 2 years and she still was only 18 years old. I figured the grass goat would tear her apart; even if she was past her prime. Martina's grass court game was exquisite. But to be fair to Seles, she won 3 straight Virginia Slims titles that were played on the the very fast carpet surface. But still. The fast grass back then was a tough obstacle to tackle.

 

[AleYeah]

Seles was incredibly clutch in the deciding set of matches. From 1991-93, she went 24-5 in deciding sets, which includes 12-0 in majors and 2-0 in the Virginia Slims. That is absolutely insane.

I'm also a member of an MMA forum and your observation reminds me a bit of former heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez. His career was cut short by injuries but his peak was so lofty that you can't help but wonder what could've been.

 

[Stradivarius]

Seles was and is awesome.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Can still remember the sky commercial during the early stages of her return.

Seles is back, and she's winning.

 

[martinezownsclay]

It was a complete contrast to their classic 1992 French Open final, which is seen as one of the greatest women's tennis matches ever played.

Well that makes sense since Graf and Seles are evenly matched on clay, as opposed to grass where Graf is about 3 levels superior to Seles.

 

[Torben]

I'm not really sure what there was for Graf to figure out. Graf's backhand was always going to be the weakest of their four groundstrokes (Seles's forehand/backhand and Graf's forehand/backhand). Their 93 AO final clearly showed that Seles's serve was going to be an issue for Graf, and it was only going to get bigger. In the months before the stabbing, Seles's net game was improving, so Graf wouldn't be able to draw her into net with the hope of passing her. Graf had already pretty much maximized her advantages over Seles in movement and athleticism.

Clearly, Graf ended up playing better in 1995/1996, but I'm not sure what she could have figured out in Seles's game had she not been stabbed.

Good post.

Aside from her obvious power, the way she could find angles was incredible. It’s the one aspect of her game that I will always remember.

I also will never forget that 1992 Wimbledon final between her and Graf. It was the match everyone wanted but Graf demolished her in straight sets. I think most people who watched tennis back then didn’t particularly like the way she was grunting during her matches. Seles didn’t grunt during this match but refused to use it as an excuse for her loss.

It was a bizarre match to watch.

 

[Mustard]

Good post.

Aside from her obvious power, the way she could find angles was incredible. It’s the one aspect of her game that I will always remember.

I also will never forget that 1992 Wimbledon final between her and Graf. It was the match everyone wanted but Graf demolished her in straight sets. I think most people who watched tennis back then didn’t particularly like the way she was grunting during her matches. Seles didn’t grunt during this match but refused to use it as an excuse for her loss.

It was a bizarre match to watch.

It was stop-start also, because of regular rain delays, particularly in the second set. It didn't feel like a massacre because of those stops in momentum, and Seles deciding not to grunt was another bizarre aspect.

 

[Brian11785]

Seles was incredibly clutch in the deciding set of matches. From 1991-93, she went 24-5 in deciding sets, which includes 12-0 in majors and 2-0 in the Virginia Slims. That is absolutely insane.

People talk about Seles's power, but to me her biggest weapon was her match toughness. In some aspects, she was a better player after her comeback, but I don't think those aspects total to offset the loss in clutchness/match toughness.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Definitely one of the great sporting shames.

 

[Torben]

It was stop-start also, because of regular rain delays, particularly in the second set. It didn't feel like a massacre because of those stops in momentum, and Seles deciding not to grunt was another bizarre aspect.

Yes that is true and the interesting part of the rain delays was that a rain delay can be a momentum shifter for a player who isn’t playing well. It wasn’t to be as Graf just kept up her relentless game regardless of the rain delays.

She was also one focused player during her career and there was no messing about with Graf when she played. It always seemed like she was in a bit of a hurry.

 

[Stradivarius]

Too bad the WTA players voted negative on freezing Monica's ranking, Graf didn't voted, Gabi Sabatini was the only one supporting Seles.

 

[martinezownsclay]

Too bad the WTA players voted negative on freezing Monica's ranking, Graf didn't voted, Gabi Sabatini was the only one supporting Seles.

It would have been stupid to vote in favor of it since there were no guidelines given. The proposal was horribly done in that it was completely vague, no timelines, no nothing. If it had said something like "for 6 months or 12 months, then points begin dropping off" it is possible the vote might have been more split, but as it was the players correctly almost unanimously voted no. Hence why even her very close friends Navratilova and Capriati voted no, and both of those were planning to either retire or leave the tour for a long period very soon, so it would be idiotic to say it was sell serving in their case. It wasn't even certain at all Monica was ever returning to tennis, by the logic some have she would still be ranked #1 today even from her rocking chair or whatever. Mind you from what Seles fans typically are like, I am sure many of them would have loved and been totally fine with that scenario.

 

[Mustard]

Jelena Genčić shared a story about Monika's very mature approach for the matches even when she was a girl. During the tournament for junior players (aged between 10 and 12) in Venezuela, where both Ivanišević and Seleš competed and were lead and coached by Jelena, Goran tried to intimidate 10 year old Monika by scaring her how she is going to lose her next match because her opponent was much stronger and bigger, and Monika nonchalantly responded to him "You are very wrong, Goran, I never look at my opponent, only at the tennis ball". Never heard of such a professional and mature response from a 10 year old kid before, she was a born champion.

Haha. So typical of those two.

Mind you from what Seles fans typically are like, I am sure many of them would have loved and been totally fine with that scenario.

You've really got a bee in your bonnet about this, haven't you? It's a fact that a crazed Graf fan stabbed Seles on the court with the intent of restoring Graf to number 1, and he succeeded in his aim. Not only that, but no jail time at all. He had his eye on Seles since the 1990 Berlin final, when Seles ended a huge Graf winning streak, of something like 66 wins in a row. Parche was like "How dare she beat Steffi in Germany!". Imagine his reaction at the tennis results of the next 3 years after this.

 

[martinezownsclay]

You've really got a bee in your bonnet about this, haven't you?

Quite the contrary, I p1ss you off much more easily than you could ever dream of me, LOL! You get bent out of shape out of many of my comments, while I look at you as merely comic relief in general From your "Muster was the Nadal of his time on clay", "Courier would have beaten Agassi at the 95 Australian Open almost for sure, never mind that he couldn't beat a twice as bad Agassi in 96 even from 2 sets up when they played there", "Seles was a future all time great on grass", "we can safely assume Seles wins atleast 3 slams every year atleast until end of 96, and probably beyond", the amusement never ends.

And literally NOTHING that you said had a thing to do with my point about why it would have been illogical for anyone to vote to freeze Monica's #1 ranking given how the proposal was done (no guidelines, no timeline, no dates when points would begin dropping off). If there were actual guidelines and the votes still went that way I could see the criticsm, but as it was, it is ludricious. Hence why the WTA players who voted did the only sane thing possible, with 24 of 25 voting no. Nothing you said had anything to do with the logistics and entire logic of that.

 

[Mustard]

From your "Muster was the Nadal of his time on clay",

Which he was, as I've proven. 65-2 and 46-3 in 1995 and 1996 respectively on clay, including 17 clay-court tournaments win over that period. It's a dominance that nobody showed on clay in men's tennis in between Borg and Nadal. Nadal in 2005 won 8 clay tournaments and was 50-2 on clay.

"Courier would have beaten Agassi at the 95 Australian Open almost for sure

I think so. Courier started 1995 on fire, having won his previous 22 sets played going into that 1995 Australian Open quarter final match against Sampras, and then Courier went 2 sets up against Sampras also, in a match that's one of the all-time classics in tennis history. Courier at the time had won his previous 5 matches against Agassi, admittedly the last of those had been back in 1992. Courier and Sampras were the only two players who went on to beat Agassi on hardcourt in 1995.

never mind that he couldn't beat a twice as bad Agassi in 96 even from 2 sets up when they played there",

1996 was a completely different situation (i.e. both players in worse form compared to 12 months prior, but Agassi at world number 2), and Courier did go 2 sets up even then. Agassi's comeback to win in 5 sets saw him return to world number 1, after Sampras had lost to Philippoussis in the third round. Had Courier won that match against Agassi, Muster would have been world number 1 immediately after the 1996 Australian Open, but Agassi beat Courier so Agassi got back to world number 1 instead.

"Seles was a future all time great on grass"

I never said it like that. I said she was a future Wimbledon champion, probably multiple. I never claimed that she's a Navratilova record type on grass, not ever.

 

[Milanez82]

We would never know that I guess. Graf beat Seles like a drum at a Wimby (I was young then but man that match sent me into mourning lol). I think on faster and slicker surfaces Graf would have competed well and given her champion pedigree would have figured out Seles power hitting-again can’t be sure of course. But it would have been a superb rivalry ..I would have been rooting for Seles against the vast majority of course….alas cut short by a fanatic.

My view is Seles was a bit like Nadal, she would keep coming until she beats Graf at Wimbledon (Rafa pulling off the unimaginable in Wim 08).

If a clay moonballer Vicario could push Graf to 5-5 in the 3rd set of Wimbledon 95 final, someone believes with straight face Seles wouldn't improve to do it?
In any case 94 had Martinez of all people winning it...(ironically her only slam)

But Graf would get her wins too and probably finish with more slams.
We certainly got robbed of a timeless rivalry.

 

[Gizo]

Before her stabbing, I thought that Seles winning Wimbledon was inevitable, especially with her serve noticeably improving, her volleying also improving IMO, and her sheer determination. It wouldn't have surprised me at all if she'd done it in 1993. It could be argued at that stage, that Graf was closer to winning a 3rd RG title (having lost in 3 finals in the previous 4 years including 10-8 in the final set in 1992) than she was to winning a 1st Wimbledon title though.

In men's tennis before the big 3 came along, I thought it would generally be incredibly difficult for great players to solve / achieve their missing link (after Lendl lost to Cash in the 1987 Wimbledon final for example I thought he most likely wouldn't get his elusive title there), especially when conditions were polarised, 16 seeds together with plenty of depth meant that there were were plenty of hazardous opponents waiting in the early rounds etc.

However in women's tennis, without serious depth and with significantly fewer dangerous lower ranked players for the big guns to worry about in the early rounds, I tended to assume that the greats, including Seles, would achieve their missing links and win all of the slams.

The women's grass court field also looked to be hollowing out in the early to mid 90s as well.