Facing Monica Seles Book Is Finished

Monica Seles won eight Grand Slam titles as a teenager and if the stabbing in Hamburg, Germany in April 1993 didn’t happen, she could have won three more before turning age 20 on December 2, 1993.

Her career is rarely talked about now by the tennis media but she was a giant in the history of tennis. The likes of Chris Evert called her a game changer, Dennis Van Der Meer called her a revolutionary and innovator for how her play style altered women’s tennis.

My book features interviews with players and coaches and tennis world figures who associated with Seles as a young teenager to after her playing career so you get an insider’s perspective how just how the Monica Seles phenomenon happened and all the hard work and dedication she devoted to her tennis career.

Here are a few excerpts from Facing Monica Seles…

Steve Silverman:  I think it was the first time I was on one of the main practice courts. I remember I was on a court practicing and I heard my name called on the walkie-talkie, ‘Steve Silverman, come to court one.’ I said to myself, ‘I wonder what that’s about? Why am I going to Seles’ court?’ It was me, Zoltan (brother) and her father (Karolj). First it was me and Zoltan alternating playing points against her on clay, which was not my thing. I remember playing on hard courts with her after that.

I’m standing behind her brother on the first points. He had incredible strokes and intensity with his footwork. We were playing points. She called me to the net, asked me to slow down my serve, which I never had happen to me before. My serve wasn’t that good then. She was fourteen, I was probably sixteen. It was maybe halfway through the year. When I first saw her I didn’t know who she was. She grunted and killed every shot. She didn’t make errors. They told me she didn’t play tournaments. She played points but no scoring. They wanted her to play with no pressure points.

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy:  I have a lot of respect for Monica Seles. I think to beat Monica, you just need to hit a lot of aces. I mean, that is really the key.  With Monica there will be long rallies. You have to get back a lot of those booming balls from Monica. Monica puts a lot of pressure on you. I did play one of my best matches against Seles. Twice when I played her at match point and got a little bit unlucky in one of them.

She just … she doesn’t know how to … how to get nervous. I mean, she keeps hitting the ball. It is not like, okay, now I am 15-40, maybe I should hit a couple of slow ones. It is just boom, boom. She just goes out there and hits. I mean, not many girls do that, and that is why she is up there. That is why she won so many Grand Slams. The minute she gets nervous, she starts hitting harder and that is the key. I mean, most of the girls they start, oh, my, gosh, I can win in match. She doesn’t have that. She just goes out there and, you know, she really plays to win. She doesn’t play to lose. That is special.

Question: Lasting memory of Monica off court?

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy:  She is very fun girl. She laughs all the time.

You can buy Facing Monica Seles now here

Cover art by Miki DeGoodaboom

Fila · Monica Seles · USA · WTA · Yonex

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