Seles did not play professional tennis for over two years following the stabbing, struggling with depression and an eating disorder.

[3] After returning in 1995, Seles claimed a ninth major championship at the 1996 Australian Open, but was unable to consistently produce her best tennis.

In 1985, at the age of 11, she won the Junior Orange Bowl tournament in Miami, Florida, catching the attention of tennis coach Nick Bollettieri.

A month later, Seles reached the semifinals of her first Grand Slam singles tournament at the French Open, losing to then-world no.

[23] She then successfully defended her French Open title, beating the former youngest-ever winner, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, in the final.

But she was back in time for the US Open, which she won by beating Martina Navratilova in the final, her third Grand Slam title of the year, to cement her position at the top of the world rankings.

On April 30, 1993, during a quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva at the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany, a German man named Günter Parche, an obsessed fan of Seles's rival Graf, ran from the middle of the crowd to the edge of the court during a break between games and stabbed Seles with a boning knife between her shoulder blades, to a depth of 0.5 in (1.3 cm).

[3] According to police, Parche intended to severely injure Seles so that she would be unable to play tennis and Graf would become the world No.

"[37] In a later article, Tennis reported that Parche was living in nursing homes due to additional health problems.

She later said that the song provided inspiration to her at that time, and subsequently met the band (who later changed their name to the Monicas) following her victory at the Australian Open in 1996.

[42] Seles did not play tennis for two years and suffered from depression as well as an eating disorder as a result of the attack.

In the run-up to her comeback, then-WTA president Martina Navratilova proposed that Seles be reinstated alongside Graf as joint number one.

[41] The WTA did so despite some opposition from players including Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Gigi Fernández, whose tournament placements would suffer greatly by suddenly being placed behind Seles.

Her pivotal match was the semifinal vs rising American star Chanda Rubin who led her 5–2 in the final set, and had two break points to lead 5–1.

Seles' last Grand Slam final came at the French Open in 1998, just a few weeks after the death of her father and former coach, Karolj, from cancer.

7, defeated Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters, and Lindsay Davenport, and reached at least the quarterfinals at each Grand Slam tournament.

Seles competed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where she beat Sabatini in a third round match before losing to Jana Novotná in the quarterfinals.

She defeated Jelena Dokic in the bronze medal match, after pushing eventual gold medalist Venus Williams to a tough three setter in the semis, losing 6–3 in the final set.

"[7] In a 2013 interview, Martina Navratilova theorized that if Seles had not been stabbed, "We'd be talking about Monica with the most Grand Slam titles [ahead of] Margaret Court or Steffi Graf.

"[6] Mary Joe Fernandez declared that Seles would have at least doubled her Grand Slam championship tally, had she not been attacked.

[6] Tim Adams of The Guardian stated that Seles would have become "the greatest female tennis player ever to pick up a racket.

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, a feat subsequently achieved by Justine Henin in 2005–7.

Shortly after her retirement, Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim stated: Yet, transformed from champion to tragedienne, Seles became far more popular than she was while winning all those titles.

[54] Prior to her stabbing, Seles' greatest strengths were her powerful groundstrokes and mental toughness, with her being described as one of the toughest players to beat on the WTA tour.

[56] Due to her aggressive power game, she is considered one of the inspirations for modern WTA players such as Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka.

These included: Karoly Seleš (1979–1996), Jelena Genčić (1980–1986), Nick Bollettieri (1986–1990), Sven Groeneveld (1991–1992), Gavin Hopper (1997–1998), Bobby Banck (1999–2001), Mike Sell (2001–2002), and David Nainkin (2003).

[citation needed] In the early 1990s, Seles signed a $4-million endorsement contract with Fila to promote its footwear and tennis apparel.

[60][61] On April 21, 2009, Seles released her memoir Getting A Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, which chronicles her bout with depression and binge eating disorder (BED) after her stabbing, her father's cancer diagnosis and eventual death, her journey back to the game, and a life beyond tennis.

[68] In 1993, Seinfeld featured an episode ("The Lip Reader") in which the creators fictionalized Seles's return to the US Open after her stabbing.

Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)