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A very big deal to Seles
Posted: Wednesday April 12, 2000 03:41 PM
Two weeks ago, in Miami, Monica Seles, playing on a sprained ankle, was shut out by Martina Hingis. The crowd booed as Seles limped off the court. It was her worst defeat ever, and afterwards, gamely, she said: "It's no big deal." No, it wasn't. Not for Monica. Exactly seven years ago -- a Biblical seven -- in Hamburg, Germany, she was on her way to becoming the greatest women's player ever. And then, at an ordinary crossover in her match that day, she felt the awful pain in her back and turned around and, for just an instant, saw the face of a madman as he prepared to plunge the knife into her again. Someone rushed over and stopped him. Monica slumped to the ground, alive -- just -- the blade having cut within an inch of her life. But she was never the same again, not as an athlete, not as a person. No one had been more of a free spirit, either. A decade ago, Teddy Tinling, the late dress designer, the keeper of the flame of women's tennis, liked to say that the sport was doomed to perish from avarice, that it was in the last opera of Wagner's Ring -- the twilight of the goddesses -- but that the wonderful little girl from Yugoslavia, who grunted when she hit the bejesus out of the ball, would breathe fresh life into the sport and save it. And for the three years from the time she won her first major title until the German's knife drove into her, Seles won eight of the 12 Grand Slams -- completely dominating Steffi Graf. The assassin changed history. Absent him, when Graf retired last year, nobody would have called Steffi the best ever. Because Monica was the best ever. Until . . . The horror is all the worse that it was a jealous fan of Graf who almost killed Seles. The second cut came from her fellow players. They wouldn't let her keep her No. 1 ranking. Only Gabriela Sabatini spoke up for Seles. Graf was silent on the subject. I remember listening to Monica while she was still recovering, emotionally. "I was stabbed. On the court," she said. "And they treated it like a sprained ankle or something." I thought of that again the other day when she really did have a sprained ankle. If you are Monica Seles, a sprained ankle is no big deal. Monica finally returned to professional tennis after two and a half years. She even won one more Grand Slam -- the Australian Open, in '96. And then her father, Karoly, whom she adored, fell ill with cancer and died in 1998. Even as a little girl, Monica had always been the strength of the family. After all, it was not easy for her parents to move to America, to a new life, in middle age. It was a little girl who led them. She was steel. Yet as strong a person as she is, Seles will probably never win another major championship. Who even knows how much longer she will play? She's still only 26, but so wise and grown-up -- and so admired. Everybody in tennis adores Monica. The younger players look up to her. Monica Seles is a heroine. At this time of that awful anniversary, it's simply worth stating that. The worst thing that ever happened on a field of play happened to her that day seven Aprils ago. Somehow, as much attention as the tragedy received, it has never been appreciated to the depth that it deserves. It was a very big deal, and it changed the course of a sport, as it destroyed a champion. Monica Seles has overcome, though, and she has thrived, and if there is any justice at all, the next seven years will be glorious for her. These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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