Monica Seles' career will always be thought of in terms what could have been. The naturalised American enjoyed a phenomenal start to her career in the early 1990s, before a horrific incident, in which she was stabbed in the back on court by a spectator, forced her out of the game for over two years. It was perhaps the most tragic event in tennis history and it was one from which Seles never really recovered.

Monica Seles, who was born in Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents but took American citizenship in 1994, won 53 career singles titles, including nine Grand Slams. The first of these came in the 1990 French Open, when she defeated then world number one Steffi Graf in straight sets and, in doing so, became the youngest ever French Open singles winner at 16 years and six months.

In the next two years Monica Seles began to dominate the women's tour. In 1991 she beat Jana Novotna to win the Australian Open in January, before retaining her Roland Garros crown. Despite missing out on Wimbledon with shin splints, she returned to win the US Open, defeating Martina Navratilova.

1992 was equally impressive, as Monica Seles successfully defended all three of her Grand Slam titles. However, despite reaching the Wimbledon final, she was unable to complete the set, as she lost out to Graf this time.

In 1993, though, her career was put on hold after the sickening events that took place in Germany. During a quarter-final match in Hamburg a deranged fan ran onto court and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades.

She returned in 1995 and managed to claim Australian Open glory in 1996, but she was never the same player again.