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Monica: From Fear to Victory
With complete candor, tennis superstar Monica Seles tells the dramatic and inspirational story of her life--both the high and low points--and shares her hopes for the future. Along with the story of her triumphant comeback, after being stabbed by a deranged Steffi Graf fan, Seles provides readers with an insider's glimpse of big-time international tennis. of photos.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
70 people want to read
About the author
Monica Seles
8 books47 followersMonica Seles is a former Yugoslav world No. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
She was born and raised in Novi Sad, Serbia. She holds dual Hungarian and United States citizenship as of 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.
She was born and raised in Novi Sad, Serbia. She holds dual Hungarian and United States citizenship as of 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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 4, 2011
A really great read about one of the greatest tragedies in all of sports as well as the life lived before and after the event.
May 5, 2018
It's intriguing, the parallels between Monica Seles's autobio from 1996 and the newer one from James Blake. Both are tennis stars. Both were coached in life by their fathers, who both surrendered to stomach cancer. Both experienced freakish on-court injuries and resulting physical-emotional complications.
"I spent two years in the prison that he was to inhabit."
Seles's take on her own life is occasionally poetic – this from a woman who, at the apex of her career at age 19, was stabbed on a tennis court by a deranged man as the world watched? She then spent two-and-a-half years in relative seclusion, away from the opponents and the media blitz and the noise, yet always haunted by the man's face, a German face that never saw a day in jail for his crime.
This is the heartrending tale of a girl who grew up in economically deprived Yugoslavia laughing as her father, a cartoonist, drew characters' faces on tennis balls for her to bash, either against a wall or over a chain "net" they set up between cars in a parking lot. She loved fairytales and found herself in a real-life horror reel.
This is the story of a sports career that could have been, that was shut up for a couple years, and then never quite regained its former brilliance and exuberance.
After her own attack, Seles remarks about watching with horror the Nancy Kerrigan drama play out on TV. "It's happened again," she writes. "It's happened to another athlete, another female sports star." Those are two women who could hold quite a conversation.
The book ends well, with a comeback and another Grand Slam victory in Australia. But the precocious giggles of the teen phenom who burst onto the scene at 16 are gone. Gone also is the respect for another country's judicial system. Somehow intact is her belief in the goodness and beauty of humanity.
It's just sad that what could have been the most dominant career in women's sports history was silenced for a time, peaked again briefly, and then never returned to the top of the mountain. Seles has certainly known the pinnacle and the valley both.
"I spent two years in the prison that he was to inhabit."
Seles's take on her own life is occasionally poetic – this from a woman who, at the apex of her career at age 19, was stabbed on a tennis court by a deranged man as the world watched? She then spent two-and-a-half years in relative seclusion, away from the opponents and the media blitz and the noise, yet always haunted by the man's face, a German face that never saw a day in jail for his crime.
This is the heartrending tale of a girl who grew up in economically deprived Yugoslavia laughing as her father, a cartoonist, drew characters' faces on tennis balls for her to bash, either against a wall or over a chain "net" they set up between cars in a parking lot. She loved fairytales and found herself in a real-life horror reel.
This is the story of a sports career that could have been, that was shut up for a couple years, and then never quite regained its former brilliance and exuberance.
After her own attack, Seles remarks about watching with horror the Nancy Kerrigan drama play out on TV. "It's happened again," she writes. "It's happened to another athlete, another female sports star." Those are two women who could hold quite a conversation.
The book ends well, with a comeback and another Grand Slam victory in Australia. But the precocious giggles of the teen phenom who burst onto the scene at 16 are gone. Gone also is the respect for another country's judicial system. Somehow intact is her belief in the goodness and beauty of humanity.
It's just sad that what could have been the most dominant career in women's sports history was silenced for a time, peaked again briefly, and then never returned to the top of the mountain. Seles has certainly known the pinnacle and the valley both.
February 25, 2021
At 17, Monica Seles became the youngest ever number 1, women’s tennis champion, and in the spring of 1993 she had won an incredible 7 of her previous 8 Grand Slam titles. In late April 1993, on court in the Quarter Finals of the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany, Monica’s life was about to change forever. Her opponent Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria was proving a tough nut to crack, and at one set to the good and 4-3 up in the second, Monica went to her chair for the obligatory sixty-second break. As she prepared to see out the match, what happened next shocked the Tennis and sporting world to its core…
This intimate account of events centred around that fateful day and how that changed her life, is engaging, moving and utterly compelling. It is an exploration of humanity, of how an elite sports woman, and yet still a teenager, faced her fears and fought back from being stabbed on court to return to top level tennis in 1995.
Moving between her early career, those horrific events in 1993 and the rebuilding of her life in the aftermath, Monica reveals her deepest, darkest and most intimate recollections, as she battles her demons, both physical and mental, in a bid to not just reclaim her number 1 spot in the game, but her life..
Highly recommended.
This intimate account of events centred around that fateful day and how that changed her life, is engaging, moving and utterly compelling. It is an exploration of humanity, of how an elite sports woman, and yet still a teenager, faced her fears and fought back from being stabbed on court to return to top level tennis in 1995.
Moving between her early career, those horrific events in 1993 and the rebuilding of her life in the aftermath, Monica reveals her deepest, darkest and most intimate recollections, as she battles her demons, both physical and mental, in a bid to not just reclaim her number 1 spot in the game, but her life..
Highly recommended.
March 12, 2023
I was a big Seles fan growing up and so was eager to read her autobiography. The book highlighted challenges that I had forgotten about - her dad's cancer, the stabbing, the inconsistent support from other players (excluding Navratilova and Betsy Nagelsen). It was especially disappointing to hear what (little) happened to her attacker in court.
It did seem the burdens Seles faced were made more difficult by her sensitivity to media coverage - it took her awhile to learn to tune the media out, aided by advice from Arthur Ashe - but let's not forget that she was just a teenager at the time. I would have been curious to hear more about her childhood, and her thoughts on the war in Yugoslavia, but as I remembered, she was not as political-minded (contrasting with Ivanisevic's criticism of the lack of western involvement). Overall, an quick but touching book about a courageous athlete; especially recommended for those needing to confront their fears, fears that may be irrational, but are serious and real.
It did seem the burdens Seles faced were made more difficult by her sensitivity to media coverage - it took her awhile to learn to tune the media out, aided by advice from Arthur Ashe - but let's not forget that she was just a teenager at the time. I would have been curious to hear more about her childhood, and her thoughts on the war in Yugoslavia, but as I remembered, she was not as political-minded (contrasting with Ivanisevic's criticism of the lack of western involvement). Overall, an quick but touching book about a courageous athlete; especially recommended for those needing to confront their fears, fears that may be irrational, but are serious and real.
June 13, 2009
Finished it last night. It was an interesting book. I now want to check the internet to see what happened after 1996. I do feel the way Steffi Graf handled all of it was rude and the media behaved badly as well. But hey what else is new. 3.5 stars.
August 6, 2020
O poveste de viata foarte interesanta
March 13, 2025
I enjoyed it. This was written so early in her career. It sounds like she has had a wonderful life post tennis too. I'm curious to read her fiction.
October 19, 2007
Anything about Monica is 5+ Stars... if only she could have made a true true comeback!
March 17, 2015
Good narration of her life ...
November 11, 2015
Beautiful story. She overcame so much! She's inspiring for women.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews