NEWPORT, Rhode Island, (Reuters) – Former world number one Monica Seles was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame along with three other players during ceremonies yesterday.
Seles, now 35, won nine Grand Slam singles titles in the 1990s, including four Australian and three French opens. She was world number one for 178 weeks non-consecutively and ended 1991 and ‘92 as the top-ranked player.
She remains the French Open’s youngest champion, winning in 1990 aged 16 years and six months.
Seles, who was born in Yugoslavia and became a U.S. citizen in 1994, captured 53 singles titles and six doubles titles and won more than $14 million in prize money over 15 years.
Her career was interrupted in 1993 when she was stabbed in the back by a spectator at a changeover during a match in Hamburg, Germany, and did not play competitively for 27 months. She won her final grand slam at the 1996 Australian Open.
Joining Seles in the Hall of Fame were Andres Gimeno, one of Spain’s most prominent players of the 1960s; Donald Dell, a former U.S. Davis Cup player; and the late Robert Johnson.
Johnson was founder and director of the American Tennis Association Junior Development Program who worked for decades assisting in the development of young African-American players.
