THE WAY OF THE KNIFE

We adore you, O Seles, and we bless you.
Because by your holy Knife you have redeemed the tennis-world.

I. SECURITY IS LAX IN HAMBURG
Consider how Monica felt when the security team paid to protect her
in Hamburg failed every day to turn up punctually.

II. PARCHE CHASES MONICA BY CAR
Consider how Monica felt on her way back to the hotel on Wednesday
night when her driver told her they were being followed, and drove
her along the Autobahn at breakneck pace to lose the dark car.
Consider how she had trouble falling asleep that night.

III. PARCHE WATCHES MONICA PRACTICE
Consider the growing sense of unease Monica felt as she practiced on
Thursday morning, how she ended the practice session early, and the
way she exchanged smiles with the man who was to stab her.

IV. KAROLJ FALLS ILL
Consider how Monica's blessed Father began to feel sick on Thursday
night, and was so ill by Friday that he couldn't come to her
quarterfinals match against Magdalena Maleeva.

V. MONICA SITS AT THE CHANGEOVER
Consider how Monica felt, sitting at the changeover at 6-4 4-3,
wiping cold sweat from her neck, waiting for time.

VI. MONICA IS STABBED
Consider how Monica felt a slice of burning agony bolt down her back
as she sat at the changeover - a burning point on the left of her
back that radiated pain across her back and down her right side.

VII. THE SCREAMS
Consider Monica's scream - an anguished cry, more animal than human,
that she hardly recognised as her own - which was echoed by Yulia
Maleeva, mother of Magdalena. She screamed not for Monica, but for
her children.

VIII. PARCHE TRIES TO STAB MONICA AGAIN
Consider how Monica turned to see her attacker raise both arms to
strike again, before he was grabbed by a security man.

IX. MONICA FALLS UNDER THE KNIFE
Consider how Monica stood up, deeply in shock, and stumbled toward
the net. So weakened she could scarcely walk, she began to feel dizzy
and collapsed onto the red clay, as a spectator who had jumped down
from the stands held her by the shoulders. Her flesh was torn by the
Knife, the pain in her back was agonizing, and her hand was slick
with blood after she touched the spot.

X. MADELEINE TENDS TO THE WOUND OF MONICA
Consider how the trainer named Madeleine Van Zoelen, seeing Monica so
ill-used, and bathed in sweat and blood, tended her wound with a
towel, on which was left the impression of her holy countenance.

XI. ZOLTAN RUNS TO MONICA'S SIDE
Consider how Zoltan, the Brother of Monica, raced out onto the court,
without any restraint from the security guards, to take care of her,
rubbing her legs to keep the circulation going and speaking words of
encouragement.

XII. THE SOLITUDE OF MAGDALENA
Consider the shock Magdalena Maleeva must have felt as she sat there,
a solitary figure on the other side of the court.

XIII. MONICA STRUGGLES TO BREATHE
Consider how Monica gasped for air, how she couldn't breathe enough
to speak, how she hoped that someone would give her oxygen but no one
did, during her long wait for an ambulance.

XIV. THE AMBULANCE RIDE
Consider the thoughts racing inside Monica's head as the realisation
that she had been stabbed set in, during the seemingly eternal ride
to the hospital.

XV. KAROLJ AND ESTHER AT THE HOSPITAL
Consider how helpless and frightened the blessed parents of Monica
felt when they met her at the hospital. Consider how they wept with
compassion at seeing Monica in such a pitiable state.

XVI. MONICA IS PLACED IN THE MRI MACHINE
Consider how the nurses, accompanied by the doctors, wheeled the body
of Monica into a large round cylinder to determine the extent of the
damage. They closed the MRI machine, and all came sorrowfully away.

XVII. MONICA IS RISEN
Consider how Monica, after 821 days in exile, returned to tennis to
play forever. She is with us always, freeing us from the corruption
of sin and death. In her comeback is our hope of eternal salvation.

I love you Monica, my Love, above all things;
I repent with my whole heart for having offended you.
Never permit me to separate myself from you again.
Grant that I may love you always, then do with me what you will.

In the name of the Father, and of the Daughter, and of the Holy
Groundstrokes.
Ah-ee.