1993 Hamburg Tournament: Women's Singles Tennis – Monica Seles stabbed by deranged Steffi Graf-obsessed fan before start of quarterfinal match

Monica Seles circa 1991

Credit: Mad Marlin

Steffi Graf in Hamburg, Germany circa 2010

Credit: Mark Henckel from Hamburg Altona

On that fateful April 30, 1993 day is when Monica Seles’s destiny would be altered forever. During a quarterfinals match in which Seles was leading against Magdalena Maleeva at the Hamburg Women’s Tournament, a deranged unemployed 38-year-old Steffi Graf-obsessed man named Guenter Parthe spontaneously ran from the crowd to the edge of the court during a break between games and stabbed the nineteen year-old Seles with a boning knife between her shoulder blades; to a depth of 1.5 cm (0.59 inches). Although her physical injuries took only a few weeks to heal, she did not return to competitive tennis for more than two years.

Some speculated that the attack could have been politically-motivated due to Seles’s Yugoslavian ethnicity and the Yugoslav Wars that were occurring during that time period. Frustrated by the German legal system, the Yugoslavian-born American vowed never to play tennis in Germany again saying, “What people seem to be forgetting is that this man stabbed me intentionally and he did not serve any sort of punishment for it…I would not feel comfortable going back. I don’t foresee that happening.” Parthe was eventually deemed psychologically abnormal, and sentenced to two years probation and psychological treatment.

Personally I was disturbed more by the fact that Parthe received no jail time for his vicious attack on Seles, than the actual attack itself. Heading into 1993, Seles was the world’s top ranked women’s tennis player having won the French Open for three consecutive years and both the U.S. Open and Australian Open (defeating Graf in the Final) in consecutive years.

“I remember sitting there, toweling off, and then I leaned forward to take a sip of water, our time was almost up and my mouth was dry. The cup had barely touched my lips when I felt a horrible pain in my back,” Seles would later recall in her 2009 autobiography “Getting a Grip.” “My head whipped around towards where it hurt and I saw a man wearing a baseball cap, a sneer across his face. His arms were raised above his head and his hands were clutching a long knife. He started to lunge at me again. I didn’t understand what was happening.”

Monica Seles was born on December 2, 1973, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1994 and eventually received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007. Her father, Karolj Seles, began teaching her to play tennis in a parking lot when she was five years old. She began to develop a rivalry with her 13 year-old brother Zoltan, who was the No. 1-ranked junior tennis player in the country at the time. Her mother, Ester, and her grandmother deemed it inappropriate that a girl should spend so much time playing tennis, but Seles nevertheless continued in her quest to achieve tennis excellence. By the age of 13, Seles was the No. 1 junior tennis player in the world. At 16, she beat Steffi Graf in the French Open, becoming the youngest person to win the tournament. The following year, the 17-year-old made history again as the youngest player to take over the world’s No. 1 ranking. At the time, Seles was close to perfect. Between January 1991 and February 1993, Seles won 33 of the 34 tournaments she entered, including six Grand Slam singles titles.

During the early 1990’s, Seles alongside the Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, were my two favorite female singles professional tennis players. I also recall being enamored with the Argentine teenage sensation Gabriela Sabatini and the superb Czechoslovak-born American Martina Navratilova more than the Swiss-born Martina Hingis, for some reason. I was never particularly captivated by the legendary German Steffi Graf; nonetheless I must pay homage to her 22 career Grand Slam titles and outstanding career tennis record/achievements. With nine career Grand Slam titles to her name among other notable career accolades, Monica Seles is widely considered to be one of the greatest tennis players in professional sports history. I could only speculate how many more Grand Slam titles Seles could have won had her notorious, stabbing incident never occurred.

Monica Seles Profile and Fast Facts –

Monica Seles Personal Interests –

Collects stuffed animals, is a partner in the All-Star Cafe, a sports restaurant chain. Would like to attend college one day and work with children. Outside interests include modeling (has appeared in Vogue, Elle, Seveteen and on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Shape), horseback riding, basketball, guitar (is a Jimi Hendrix fan), reading autobiographies, hiking, swimming and working with Special Olympics athletes.

Monica Seles Singles Career Statistics –

Monica Seles Doubles Career Statistics –

Monica Seles Other Tournaments Career Statistics –

Monica Seles Grand Slam Finals Statistics

Singles: 13 finals (9 titles, 4 runners-up)

Monica Seles Year-End Championships Finals Statistics

Singles: 4 finals (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Monica Seles Tier I Finals Statistics

Singles: 18 finals (9 titles, 9 runners-up)

Doubles: 4 finals (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Monica Seles Career Coaches Statistics

Monica Seles 1993 Hamburg Stabbing Incident –

Monica Seles 1993 Australian Open Final Highlights (defeated Steffi Graf ) –

Sources: Wikipedia–https://www.en.wikipedia.org, Biography —https://www.biography.com, International Tennis Federation–https://www.itftennis.com, YouTube–https://www.youtube.com , Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self (Author: Monica Seles)–https://www.penguin.com/