Rowland wrote:
>
> Clearly what happened was not justice. However what would happen
> if all victims of crime took Monica Seles's attitude and refused to
> testify in court on the grounds that it was too upsetting?

I really don't see why Monica should have had to testify, after
Günther Parche stabbed her in front of thousands of witnesses. To
ask her to do so, as a condition of justice, was unbelievably
inhumane. It's not like she was stabbed in some dark alley!


> The stabbing of Monica was a great wickedness - but not because she
> was a great tennis player, but because she is a human being. It
> would have been just as tragic if he had stabbed someone else.

It would have been just as /wicked/ if he had stabbed someone else,
but what made the stabbing of Monica particularly /tragic/ was the
vast number of people that it affected (myself included), and the
way it changed the course of tennis-history as Parche intended.

And for this act of great wickedness, Parche only spent one night in
prison (by his own choice), and received a two-year suspended
sentence - the same that the German law would give Boris Becker for
tax-evasion a few years later. Monica spent two-and-a-quarter years
in her own prison.

Small wonder that Monica and her /faithful/ supporters continue to
boycott tournaments in Germany to this day, knowing that the penalty
for the attempted murder of a tennis-player is a two-year suspended
sentence.


> There were many victims of this crime. Monica was the most
> obvious and most serious. But the fear of this happening again
> created new victims - victims of fear who feel less able to live a
> normal life in case it should happen to them - it put up costs to
> pay for all the 'security' (which either made tennis less
> affordable, or diverted money from more worthy tennis development
> needs).
>
> Lets us not fool ourselves that it could not happen again.
>
> And let us not hear moronic calls for more security.

I see. So it could happen again, and yet we should do nothing
further to minimise that probability? Surely we cannot put a price
on basic human decency, such as the ability to do one's job without
the fear that one could be attacked at any moment.

When I attended Eastbourne 2002, I was admitted without even a bag-
check, and saw players as famous as Daniela Hantuchová and Jelena
Dokic wandering freely around the grounds with no security-guards in
sight. The practice-courts in particular were very intimate, and the
players' schedule of practice was there for all to see (not so in
2003, by which time they had installed a fence in front of the
players' reception, and security-guards for Daniela and Jelena).

At Eastbourne 2003, I was pleased that they at least made me open my
bag at the gates, although their cursory check would not have
revealed any small concealed weapons. I'd be willing to be strip-
searched for the sake of players' security, but they could at least
have everyone walk through a metal detector, and allow only bags
that are completely transparent.

And there was that incident at this February's Paris tournament,
when a French fan managed to sneak into Serena Williams's press-
conference, without security-clearance, and asked for a kiss! The
same fan also managed to sneak into the locker-room earlier in the
week. The WTA really do need to be more vigilant about checking
passes, and should subject all staff to the level of security-
clearance known as Developed Vetting.

I am particularly concerned about the security of Maria Sharapova,
whose imminent ascension to the number one ranking is going to have
a gargantuan effect on the profile of tennis itself. Maria walked
right past me on a narrow path at Birmingham 2004, without any
security - and while this is one of my most thrilling memories of
2004, I trust that she would not do likewise now. You only have to
visit General Messages at wtaworld.com to get an idea of how many
haters there are.


> The only security measure that would provide 90% protection would
> be to ban the public attending tournaments and keep them secret
> (a policy that would probaly find great favour with Britain's LTA,
> which seems to hate the public going to tennis tournaments).

It would indeed be a fantastic security-precaution just to play in
an empty hall at a secret venue, wearing latex masks so that matches
could still be televised and results publicised. But Monica herself
has enthused about "the electricity that the crowd gives", and how
thrilling it is to hear the spectators' reaction to a winning shot.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/seles/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/selesians/