While Monica Seles is regarded as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time, many believe she had the potential to be the most accomplished in the sport, if it wasn’t for the stabbing that took place at the height of her career that kept her out of the tour for two years.

Born and raised in Yugoslavia from Hungarian descent, Monica started playing tennis at the age of five, coached by her father, a professional cartoonist, who used to drew her pictures to make the lessons fun. She turned professional in May 1989 at the age of 15 and won her first Grand Slam, the French Open, the following year, the youngest ever to win at Roland Garros. It was a tournament she would win for three consecutive years, adding three Australian and two US titles to collect 8 Grand Slams before the age of twenty, becoming the year end Number 1 in 1991 and 1992.

On April 1993, while playing in Hamburg, a deranged fan of Stefi Graf (her main rival at the time) rushed onto the court and stabbed her in the back with a 9 inch knife. While the wound healed relatively quickly, it would be two years before she returned playing tennis again and was unable to consistently find her best form.

Monica did however win her fourth Australian Open in 1996 and a Bronze medal in the singles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open, but officially retired in 2008.

Monica was a special guest at the WTA pre-Wimbledon ‘Tennis On The Thames’ event on London’s Southbank a few weeks ago, where she signed my drawing.