By Annabella Ramirez
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a former world No. 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. She won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States.
In 1990, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion at the age of 16. She went on to win eight major singles titles before turning 20 and was the year-end No. 1 in 1991 and 1992. However, on April 30, 1993, while playing a match, she was the victim of an on-court attack when an obsessed fan of Seles’ rival Steffi Graf stabbed Seles in the back with a 9-inch (23 cm) knife as she was sitting down between games. Seles did not return to tennis for over two years after the stabbing. Though she enjoyed success after returning in 1995, including another major championship at the 1996 Australian Open, she was unable to consistently produce her best tennis. She played her last professional match at the 2003 French Open but did not officially retire until February 2008. Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Seles was named one of the “30 Legends of Women’s Tennis: Past, Present and Future” by Time. Several players and historians have stated that Seles had the potential to become the most accomplished female player of all time had she not been stabbed. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.
Seles was born and raised in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) to an ethnic Hungarian family. She became a naturalized American citizen in 1994, and she received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007.
Seles is married to businessman Tom Golisano, who is 32 years her senior. They began dating in 2009.[64][65] The two announced their engagement on June 5, 2014.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Jean-Charles Chapais (statesman) –
- Charles Ringling (circus owner) –
- Charles E. Bennett (In God We Trust” promoter”) –
- Julie Harris (actress) –
- Lucy Liu (actress) –
- Monica Seles (tennis player) –
- Nelly Furtado (singer & songwriter) –
- Britney Spears (singer) –
- Aaron Rogers (football player) –
Died
- Jane Means Appleton Pierce (U.S. First Lady) –
- Desi Arnaz (actor) –
- Aaron Copland (composer) –
Events
- Touro Synagogue, oldest in the United States, was dedicated in Newport, Rhode Island–
- Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned French Emperor Napoleon I of France–
- First T. Eaton Co. Santa Claus parade, in Toronto, Ontario–
- Ambrose Small sold Canadian chain of theaters and disappeared the next day–
- First controlled, self-sustained nuclear chain reaction–
- The first televised human birth was transmitted on 49 NBC network stations–
- The United States Environmental Protection Agency began operation–
- First unmanned landing on Mars, by USSR Mars 3–
- Cowhide-made baseballs first accepted for use by Major League Baseball–
- First pizza party in space took place on the International Space Station–
Weather
- A late-season tornado killed four people in Illinois–
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