30 april 1993: the day that changed tennis. Seles at 19(!) had won 8 slams and 3 Masters, 1 RG and the Master in 1990, 3 slams and the Master in 1991 (she skipped Wimbledon), 3 slams and the Master (she lost only in the final in Wimbledon) in 1992, in 1993 she won the AO before the german maniac stabbed her. Nobody knows what this girl would have achieved, many think this was only the start to what could have been the greatest carreer in the history of the sport. The maniac who stabbed her didn't spend a single day in prison and Seles lost her number 1 position after the stabbing as if she had chosen not to play (Graf and the other top players voted to take this decision). Graf, who was nearly 6 years older than Seles, had won 11 slams when Seles was stabbed, only 2 in the period AO 1991-AO 1993, suddenly won 6 slams in 1993-1994 with Seles out of the competition and never spent a word for the young rival. Seles was serbian and those were the days of the war in the ex Yugoslavia. Many (Gianni Clerici and Bud Collins among the others ) suspect that what happened was decided by politics: nobody would want a serbian number 1 in the sport during the war. Tennis went on as if Seles had never existed. Strangely enough Seles was welcomed back in the sport only after she had become an american citizen. Seles came back in 1995, lost in the finals of the US open to Graf (Seles served an ace in the set point of the first set's tie break but the ball was called out and she lost the set, won the second set 6 0, only to lose in the third set, of course tired as a player forced out of the game for 27 months could have been ), Seles went on to win AO 1996 but she never was the same player again.
She had lost the determination, the ferocious attention, the steely will and , in the end, the love for the game (who can blame her for that?). She's still remembered as one the GOATS for what she has achieved till the age of 19 and 1 month! It's incredible! She never complained about what happened to her; during the second part of her carreer, she was always gracious and smiling even when losing. The influence she's had over the players we now know (the Williams in particular) is under our eyes.
The h2hs count nothing if you consider Seles faced Graf mostly when she was only 15-16-17-18 yo, anyway she was 3-1 in slam finals. This was all so unfair.
Yes Nadal reminds me of Seles for the extraordinary way they have to stay on the court, to read the match, to always do the right thing at the right moment, and for the kindness of their nature out of the court, but if you take a look on YOUTUBE at the matches of Seles in 1990-1993, you realise she was much more aggressive than Nadal, and then you realise how thin she was and how hard she hit the ball with so little amount of UE though always aiming for the lines.
I once rooted for Seles and now I root for Nadal, I hope he can achieve what Seles unfairly could not achieve.