‘After My Stabbing’ – Tennis Legend Monica Seles Once Explained How Her Autobiography Helped Her With Her Mental Health Struggles

Monica Seles, the former World No.1 tennis player, once shared details of how her first autobiography had a huge impact on her career. In the interview, she shared that she had written about an incident that had a great effect on her battle against her mental struggles. She had claimed that she never thought such an event could ever occur to her on a tennis court. Seles was that target of an unfortunate fan incident when she was in her prime.

She was one of the top tennis players in the 1990s and was touted to be a worthy challenger for the mercurial Steffi Graf. The Yugoslavian often went toe-to-toe with the legendary German star for the highest honors on the WTA Tour.

Monica Seles opens up how her first autobiography helped her

In an exclusive interview, Monica Seles once clarified how her first autobiography helped her cope with her mental health struggles. She was quoted, “The first one in 1995 after my stabbing I did very much because it helped me process what happened to me.” She also explained that she expanded on her mental health struggles in her second book. At just 17 years of age, she became the youngest woman to hold the No. 1 position in the world, which was later broken by Martina Hingis who achieved the feat when she was 16.

She also chimed in that as a professional athlete, it’s okay to speak out. She also added, “When I was playing it was not something I could open up about. It’s a great feeling when people come up and say thank you for talking about your eating issues how you dealt with it and knowing there is light there.” She had also claimed that one couldn’t compare such feelings to tennis victories.

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The infamous stabbing incident of Seles

In 1993, Seles was competing against Magdalena Maleeva in the Hamburg Open quarterfinals. During a break in play, a fervent admirer of Steffi Graf dashed from the crowd and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades.

Even though she had a sharp pain shoot up her back, it took Seles a while to realize what had happened to her. The security personnel quickly removed the offender from the court. Maleeva had cried in shock at the court. Immediately after the incident, the tournament officials and medical personnel quickly attended to the tennis star. Although she recovered from the grievous injury, her career never took off after the unfortunate incident.

What was your reaction to this gruesome act?

Watch this story: Most Horrendous Incident in Tennis when Monica Seles was Stabbed in the Middle of a Match by a Steffi Graf Fan