Former World’s No. 1 Monica Seles has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 11, 2009. Seles won 9 Grand Slam titles in the singles division which includes the Australian Open, the French Open and the U.S. Open. She is also a medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
During the pre-induction news conference, an exhibit about her tennis career was also going on. She saw a bit about the incident that took place last April 30, 1993, when an outrageous fan of the other player stabbed her between her shoulder blades. The injury was not sever but it took a while for Seles to return.
“Coming back in Toronto after my stabbing, I viewed my career in two phases — before stabbing and after stabbing,” she said. “The reception that I got just reinforced my decision to return.”
And when she returned, she won her 9th and final Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 1996.
She was praised by fans and players alike when she was called up on stage.
“I would like to thank all my tennis fans who were there from day one when I was No. 1, through my stabbing, and my comeback,” Seles said.
Andres Gimeno was also inducted at the event.
“I was going to leave the game without winning a big one,” he said. “I think God said, ‘Let the poor guy win one.”’