It was in Florida that she drew the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, who also coached the likes of Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. Soon after she won the Sportswoman of the Year honors, her family flew to Florida, where she competed in an American junior tournament. Trip to Americaįollowing her accolades in her home country, it seemed there was nothing left for Seles to accomplish as a child superstar in her own country. winning the European 12-and-under championship when she was ten, and then at twelve earning the title of Yugoslavia's Sportswoman of the Year. As her youth progressed, she continued to accumulate juniors titles. By the time she was nine -only three years after taking up the game -she competed in and won the Yugoslav 12-and-under girls championship. It was soon apparent that she didn't just love practicing, but that she was somewhat of a tennis prodigy. More power into her game and be precise with where shot placement.Īs a child, Seles aimed for the cartoon faces that her father would draw onto the tennis balls. Her brother, Zoltan, also played tennis, and Monica would take up the game when she was six, learning from her father the style that she uses to this day, one that consists of using both hands to hit her forehand and backhand shots, an unorthodox method that nonetheless allows her to put Her father worked as a cartoonist and film director and her mother was a computer programmer. Monica Seles was born December 2, 1973, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, to Karolj and Esther Seles. She finished the 2002 season with 589 wins, 116 losses, and 53 career singles titles, with 9 Grand Slam singles titles in her career. She did, and in spite of several hardships that might have caused lesser players to leave the game altogether, Seles is back, and once again she has been ranked with the top players in the world. But when a crazed fan at a German tournament attacked her in 1993, her subsequent two years away from the sport left many wondering if she would ever return when she did return, people questioned if she'd ever come back to full form. With youth, personality and talent on her side, as well as a number one ranking and one of the game's most memorable grunts, Monica Seles put power into her shots and dominated tennis in the early nineties.

Monica seles the academy game on