Monica Seles Stabbed During Citizen Cup Tournament

On April 30, 1993, that tennis great Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by an obsessed fan during her quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva.  The incident occurred in Hamburg, Germany at the Citizen Cup tournament.

Monica Seles (white) after being stabbed during the 1993 Citizen Cup Tournament.

Monica Seles entered the 1993 season as the world’s top ranked female player.  She was the three-time reigning French Open champion, as well as the two-time reigning Australian and U.S. Open champion.  It was an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf’s, Seles’ biggest rival, who carried out the attack in an attempt to help Graf regain her number one status. 

Gunter Parche stormed the court during a break and would stab Monica in the back between the shoulder blades to a depth of one and a half centimeters.

Gunter Parche (center) being detained after stabbing Monica Seles during the 1993 Citizen Cup Tournament.

Although her injury took only a few weeks to heal, Seles would not return to competitive tennis for over two years. Considering the traumatic experience she went through, it was not a surprise to see Monica take a long hiatus from the game she loved to play.

Though she enjoyed some success after rejoining the tour in 1995, including a fourth Australian Open success in 1996, she was unable to consistently reproduce her best form.

She played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open, but did not officially retire until February 2008.

Seles is a former Yugoslav world number one professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

She was born and raised in Novi Sad, SR Serbia, and SFR Yugoslavia. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007. She won nine Grand Slam singles titles, winning eight of them while a citizen of Yugoslavia and one while a citizen of the United States.

In 1990, at the age of 16, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion. She went on to win eight Grand Slam singles titles before her twentieth birthday and was the year-end World number one in 1991 and 1992.

Seles career record in singles is 595-122 a winning percentage of 82.98 with 53 career titles. He won 13 Grand Slam Single titles including four Australian Open’s including three straight from 1991-1993, three French Open’s including three consecutive from 1990-1992, two U.S. Open’s in 1991 - 1992 and one Wimbledon title in 1992. As well three Championships from 1990-1992.

She also won a Bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in singles

In double Seles were also good, winning 89 matches and dropping 45, winning six career titles. However, Seles was not quite the doubles player she was in singles, as her highest mark in doubles was sixteenth in the world on April 22, 1991. She never reached further than the semi-finals in doubles, in 1991 and 2001 at the Australian Open.

Until her loss to Martina Hingis at the 1999 Australian Open, Seles had a perfect record at the event (33–0), which is the longest undefeated streak for this tournament (although Margaret Court won 38 consecutive matches there from 1960 to 1968 after losing a match in 1959).

It also marked her first defeat in Australia, having won the Sydney tournament in 1996. Seles was the first female tennis player to win her first six Grand Slam singles finals: 1990 French Open, 1991 Australian Open, 1991 French Open, US Open, 1992 Australian Open, and 1992 French Open.

Seles was also the first female player since Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in 1937 to win the women's singles title three consecutive years at the French Open. (Chris Evert, however, won the title the four consecutive times she played the tournament: 1974, 1975, 1979, and 1980; in 2007, Justine Henin won her third consecutive French Open singles title.) With eight Grand Slam singles titles before her twentieth birthday,

Seles holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a teenager.

In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time Magazine.

Seles was listed as the thirteenth greatest player of all time (men and women) by (U.S.) Tennis magazine and was also one of 15 women named by Australian Tennis magazine as the greatest champions of the last 30 years (players were listed chronologically).

In 2012, Tennis Channel created a list of the "100 Greatest Of All Time" tennis players. Seles was listed at number 19.

Connors Fined $20,000

On Feb. 21, 1986, tennis legend Jimmy Connors was in the midst of a semifinal match against Ivan Lendl in the Lipton International Players Championship in Boca Raton, Florida when he took his criticism of the umpire just a little bit too far.

In the sixth game of the fifth set, Connors loudly protested what he thought was a bad line call. After a series of warnings, the umpire penalized Connors a point. But this just made things worse for Connors - as did the game penalty that followed after further protest. Past the point of no return, Connors was ultimately defaulted for refusing to continue play. Meanwhile, an unfazed Lendl would continue on to win the tournament.

Following Connors’ outburst, the Men's International Professional Tennis Council conducted an investigation and concluded that his conduct constituted "aggravated behavior." The Council then suspended Connors for 10 weeks and fined him $20,000. Connors would later miss the French Open, becoming the first player to be suspended during a Grand Slam tournament.

Former professional tennis great Jimmy Connors on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1974, more than a decade before his outburst at the Lipton International Players Championship.

Connors would go on to have a brilliant tennis career including eight Grand Slam singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles titles with Ilie Năstase. He was also a runner-up seven times in Grand Slam singles, a doubles runner-up with Năstase at the 1973 French Open, and a mixed doubles runner-up with Chris Evert at the 1974 US Open. He held the top ranking for a then record 160 consecutive weeks from July 29, 1974 to August 22, 1977 and an additional eight times during his career for a total of 268 weeks.

In 1974, Connors became the second male in the open era to win three or more Grand Slam singles titles in a calendar year (Rod Laver being the first in 1969 and having been joined since by Mats Wilander, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic). Connors is also the only person to win U.S. Open singles championships on grass, clay, and hard courts.

Connors won a record 109 ATP tournaments, 15 more than Ivan Lendl, and over 30 more than Roger Federer and John McEnroe. His career win-loss record of 1243–277 (81.77%) is third after Björn Borg (82.7%) and Ivan Lendl (81.8%), and he holds the record for total number of wins for a male player.

Connors won three year-end championship titles, including two WCT Finals and one Masters Grand Prix. He also won 17 Championship Series titles (1973–1984). He was the first male player to rank no. 1 for more than 200 weeks in total and the first male player to be no. 1 for more than five years in total. He is the only male player in the open era to win more than 100 singles titles during his career and also holds the record for most major quarterfinals (41) reached. He is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time due to his many records in the game.

In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Connors as one of the 21 best players of all time.^[

Connors won more matches (1,337) than any other male professional tennis player in the open era. His career win-loss record was 1,337–285 for a winning percentage of 82.4. He played 401 tournaments and through many years it was a record until Fabrice Santoro overcame it in 2008.

Connors was the only player to win the US Open on three different surfaces: grass, clay, and hard. Connors was also the first male tennis player to win Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces: grass (1974), clay (1976), and hard (1978).

Connors reached the semifinals or better in one of the tennis majors a total of 31 times, a record recently surpassed by Roger Federer. Connors' achievement is particularly remarkable considering that he entered the Australian Open Men's Singles only twice and that he did not enter the French Open Men's Singles for five of his peak career years. Of the 31 major semifinals Connors contested, he managed to win 15 of them and progress to the final. Roger Federer holds the record for most consecutive semifinal appearances at these events.

Connors was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1998 and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame in 1986.

At a time when most other tennis pros played with wooden rackets, Connors pioneered the "Wilson T2000" steel racket, which utilized a method for stringing that, had been devised and patented by Lacoste in 1953.

"The T2000 set the wood racquet traditionalists on their ears with its lightweight steel construction. It didn't need a racket-press (it didn't warp), and its slender framework meant less wind resistance."

He played with this chrome tubular steel racket until 1984, when most other pros had shifted to new racket technologies, materials, and designs. The T2000 in the eighties "had the aura of a dinosaur – it had been introduced in 1968."^[

In 1984, Connors switched to the new Wilson ProStaff that had been designed especially for him. But 1985 again found Connors playing with the T2000. Not until 1987 did he finally switch to a graphite racket when he contracted with Slazenger to play their Panther Pro Ceramic. In 1990 Connors signed with Estusa.

Connors also used lead tape, which he would wind around the racket head to provide the proper "feel" for his style of game.

Connors did commentary with NBC-TV in 1990 and 1991, during its coverage of the French Open and Wimbledon tournaments. During the Wimbledon tournaments of 2005, 2006, and 2007, Connors commentated for the BBC alongside John McEnroe (among others), providing moments of heated discussion between two former archrivals. Connors has also served as a commentator and analyst for the Tennis Channel since the U.S. Open tournament of 2009.

On July 24, 2006, at the start of the Countrywide Classic tournament in Los Angeles, American tennis player Andy Roddick formally announced his partnership with Connors as his coach. On March 6, 2008, Roddick announced the end of that 19-month relationship.

Ashe Reaches The Top

On Dec. 12, 1968, Arthur Ashe becomes the first black to be ranked No. 1 in tennis.

But before Ashe was tennis’ No. 1 player, he excelled in college at UCLA.

In 1963, Ashe became the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team.

In 1965, Ashe won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles title and contributed to UCLA's winning the team NCAA tennis championship.

Ashe, an African American, was the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.

In 1968, Ashe won the United States Amateur Championships against Davis Cup Teammate Bob Lutz, and the first US Open of the open era.

He also aided the U.S Davis Cup team to victory. He is the only player to have won both of these amateur and open national championships in the same year.

He won three Grand Slam titles before retiring in 1980, ranking him among the best tennis players from the United States.

Ashe remains the only black man to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or Australian Open. He is one of only two men of black African ancestry to win any Grand Slam singles title, the other being France's Yannick Noah, who won the French Open in 1983.

Sampas Takes Down Agassi

On Sept. 10, 1990, tennis great 19 year old Pete Sampras beats Andre Agassi to win US Open

Over his 15-year career Sampras totaled 762 wins and 222 losses for a 77.43 winning percentage, with 64 career titles. His highest ranking came at No. 1 on April 12, 1993.

In the Grand Slam, Sampras was the Australian Open in 1994 and 1997, Wimbledon seven times including four consecutive times from 1997-2000. He was on the US Open five times including back-to-back wins in 1995 and 1996. 

Sampras also won the Tour Finals five times, including back-to-back wins in 1996-1997. 

The best Sampras ever finished in singles at the French Open was in the semi-finals in 1996. He also made it to the third round of competition in the 1992 Olympic games.

In Doubles Sampras was not as impressive but still won two career titles, with 64 wins and 70 losses. His highest ranking as a duo came in 1990 when he and Jim Courier reached No. 27 overall on February 12, 1990.

The two titles Sampras won in doubles competition both came at the Davis Cup in 1992 and 1995, but he was never able to pair that success in the Grand Slam only making it to the first round in the US Open from 1988-1990, the second round of the Australian Open and French Open in 1989 and the third round of Wimbledon in 1989.

Since his retirement Sampras has played in many matches, with his first coming on April 6, 2006, three and a half years after his retirement. Sampras resurfaced in River Oaks, Houston, Texas, against 23-year-old Robby Ginepri. Ginepri won the match in two sets. Sampras later announced that he would be playing in World Team Tennis events.

The year 2007 saw Sampras become a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It also saw Sampras announce that he would play in a few events on the Outback Champions Series, a group of tournaments for former ATP players who have met certain criteria during their careers. Sampras won his first two events on tour, defeating Todd Martin in both finals.

On November 20, 2007, Sampras lost the first of three exhibition matches in Asia against Roger Federer in Seoul, Korea. Two days later in Kuala Lumpur, Sampras again lost to Federer in two tie-breaks. However, Sampras was able to win the last match of the series, winning in two sets on fast carpet.

On February 18, 2008, in an exhibition match during the SAP Open at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Sampras defeated another active player, former world No. 2 Tommy Haas. Sampras dispatched the German in 43-minutes. 

On March 10, 2008, Sampras played another exhibition match against world No. 1 Roger Federer at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Sampras once again lost the match in three tight sets.

In 2009 Sampras won two Outback Champions Series titles. He defeated McEnroe in the final of the Champions Cup Boston in February and Patrick Rafter in the final of The Del Mar Development Champions Cup in March.

In 2010 with Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal, he played an exhibition doubles match at Indian Wells to raise money for the people of Haiti who had been affected by the earthquake. 

On November 17, 2011, Sampras played and lost an exhibition match against Milos Raonic. This was the last match that Sampras had played in.

For his career Sampras still ranks as the fourth highest money winner in tennis history, with a total of $43,280,489 of prize money won.