Here's an article I found in the Tennis section of Yahoo! Sports,
complete with biblical reference! :-) I find Frank Deford to be a
very Selesian writer; the only thing I really disagree with is the
idea that the Stabbing robbed Monica of her all-time greatness. The
Selesian view is that Monica is the greatest player of all time
primarily because of the way she overcame the Stabbing, coming back
in 1995 as the best player in the world, winning another Grand Slam
title and even scoring another victory over Steffi Graf.

>>>
A champion in life
Frank Deford, SI.com

She ventures how strange it is that it should have happened to her.
After all, nothing like it had ever happened to anyone else in
sports. She remembers the strangeness of it, the sudden pain -- or,
even more, the curiosity: what exactly is going on? And then,
reflexively, she turned and in the instant before he was subdued, she
saw his face just as he began to raise the dagger again.

Monica Seles was only 19 when she was stabbed 10 years ago this month
in Hamburg, Germany.

Were it not for that terrible, awful, crazy horror, Seles might well
have become the greatest female tennis player ever. In the three
years leading up to the assault, she had absolutely dominated Steffi
Graf, winning eight Grand Slams to her rival's two. That, of course,
is why the German lunatic named Günther Parche stabbed her. He wanted
to restore his countrywoman to preeminence.

And, in point of fact, he not only succeeded, but the German courts
took more pity on his insanity than on Seles' suffering. Der Spiegel
even compared Parche to Samuel of The Old Testament: "The poor man
owned nothing sweeter than a lamb. Günther Parche is even poorer than
the man in the bible." Parche never served a day behind bars.

Seles, meanwhile, took months to recuperate physically, and also
suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome. And what might have been the
cruelest cut of all? Her fellow players almost unanimously voted down
a proposal to let her keep her No. 1 ranking. Only Gabriela Sabatini
chose humanity over business. "Gabby is a human being," Monica
says. "The rest -- they treated it like it was a sprained ankle or
something."

When Seles finally did come back after 27 months, she was not the
same great player. She struggled with her weight, which dulled her
uncanny anticipation and shot-making ability. Worse, her father, her
coach, whom she adored, lingered with cancer for years before he died
in 1998. And yet Seles has stayed in the game, content to be an
opponent, a quarterfinalist, a ghost of what might have been.

But why not, she asks. She simply loves playing. Tennis is a joy to
her. That's all. I've never met a champion who is less competitive.
Her trophies are in the garage, boxed up. Once -- imagine this -- she
told me that her fondest recollections were of exhibitions
because "everybody is on their best behavior there." Oh, sure, of
course she wants to win. But she does not envision herself jumping
the net. What is your tennis dream? I asked her once.

Shyly, laughing at herself, she said: "My dream is to be Suzanne
Lenglen" -- the glamorous, graceful French star of the 1920s -- "to
be like Suzanne, flying through the air, hitting a volley, both feet
off the ground, flying."

Seles never complains, never argues, never alibis. Grace attends her.
She is a bright figure of humility among foggy egos. She speaks to
the new kids on tour, never forgetting that she too was once a silly,
giggly little thing whom older players spurned. There is no one who
does not like her a lot. No, she did not need to almost be killed,
she did not need to lose her greatness to a madman's knife, to become
the full, fine person that she is. But we can say that 10 years
removed from hell, Monica Seles has won with a good, brave heart far
more than she ever did with a tennis racket.

In her own simple words of praise, she's a human being.

[Sports Illustrated senior contributing writer Frank Deford is a
regular contributor to SI.com and appears each Wednesday on National
Public Radio's Morning Edition. He is a longtime correspondent for
HBO's Real Sports and his new novel, An American Summer (Sourcebooks
Trade), is available at bookstores everywhere.]
<<<

I've added a new photo to our Monica Seles album: it's the one where
she's smiling after beating Martina Hingis at the French Open 1998,
which is one of my top favourite Monica photos. I've also merged the
two María Antonia Sánchez Lorenzo albums into one.

Thanks to mauresmoes for the Su-Wei Hsieh and Akiko Morigami albums.
It's on my to-do list to add photos of these two players, along with
Byron Black, and several others who do not yet have albums. I didn't
know that Akiko Morigami is a Selesian, but http://www.roy.hi-
ho.ne.jp/takahar/ltn/akiko/ provides photographic evidence! :-)

Too bad Marion Bartoli lost 6-4 6-2 to Mary Pierce in the first round
of Sarasota, although I've always liked Pierce. Sarasota is, of
course, Monica's home-town.

--
Andrew Broad
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/seles/