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Monica Seles elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame
posted by jseles (Monica-Seles.com webmaster) on 1/18/2009

It was only a matter of time.

With her 53 WTA Tour titles, her 9 Grand Slam trophies, the 178 weeks at #1 in the world rankings, her 15 million $ in career prize money and her multiple records, Monica Seles already had a spot at the Tennis Hall of Fame.





It was officially announced on Thursday January 15th, 2009. It's almost exactly 11 months after Monica announced her retirement. On February 14th, 2008, Seles abandonned the idea of a comeback.

Our idol played her last match on the WTA Tour in May 2003. Back then, Monica lost to Nadia Petrova in the first round of the French Open.

A left foot injury forced the former #1 player to retire. During at least 45 months after her last match, fans hoped for a comeback. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. Some will say it was a little naive to think she could do it. At 30 years old, it's not easy to come back in shape and reach the level of play of TOP 10 players. Others - including me - will reply that it was more a question of love. Monica's fans have been loyal to the great athlete for over 15 years.

When she first joined the WTA Tour in 1989, Monica Seles was already among the best tennis players. Monica reached the semi-finals of the French Open at her first season with the pros. She won this same French Open 3 years in a row from 1990 to 1992. In fact, Monica won 8 Grand Slam titles from 1990 to 1993 : 3 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens and 2 US Opens. And if it would not have been for the crazy Steffi Graf fan who stabbed her in the back on April 13 1993, Monica Seles would have won many more titles on the red clay courts of Roland Garros.

On that day, probably the sadest day in tennis history, Monica's career and life changed forever. She would not become the world's best female tennis player ever. Well, that's not really true. If we can't prove that Monica is the all-time #1 player based on numbers and stats, all tennis fans will agree that she was the most dominant player of her time. We all know that she would have won many more Grand Slam titles and break many more records. And we all know she had the talent to match and possibly surpass Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert and other great tennis legends.

Unfortunately, the physical and psychological injury kept Monica away from the tennis courts for over 2 years.

Monica Seles is the Queen of Comeback. That would have been a great title for a movie about her 1995 comeback. First, she won Toronto's tournament. Then, she reached the 1995 US Open final and went on to win the 1996 Australian Open. But the reality is that Monica Seles was not the #1 player anymore.

Monica still managed to remain in the TOP 10 from 1995 to 2002. She added about 20 titles to her already impressive palmares. She also reached the finals of the 1998 French Open, only a few weeks after her dad and coach Karolj passed away. That was probably one of the most emotional moments for Monica.

Monica Seles elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame? She deserved it for her talent, but also for her courage and determination which inspired thousands of fans from all over the world. Fans who probably helped her go through all these tough moments. Fans who have been there since the beginning, during the good and the bad. Fans who lived all kinds of emotions, wins and losses, a tragic event but also a wonderful comeback.

**********

By the way, I would like to thank you. Thousands and thousands of fans have been visiting this website for the past 12 years. I am very proud of it. It's great to reach people who share your passion for tennis and have the same idol. I thank you for the visits, the emails and the messages on the message boards.

I hope you are still huge fans of tennis. I personally found a new player to cheer for : Ana Ivanovic. I also enjoy taking pictures of tennis players. What about you? Still tennis fans? Who are your favorite players? Click on "post a comment" if you want to answer that question.

Jean-Sébastien ~:-)


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  Name
Monica Seles

Date of birth
December 2nd, 1973

Birthplace
Novi Sad, Yugoslavia

Residence
Sarasota, FL, USA

Sport
Tennis
  WTA Tour singles titles
53

WTA Tour doubles titles
6

Grand Slam titles
4 Australian Open
3 Roland Garros
2 US Open)


Career highest ranking
#1
  Website
www.monica-seles.com

Webmaster
Jean-Sébastien Marceau

About this website
Monica-Seles.com is the #1 website for Monica Seles fans since July 1997 (10 years ago)!

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