30 years since one of the darkest days in tennis history

On April 22, the media repeated the death of Günther Parche. For the youngest, Patch was the author of one of the greatest atrocities ever seen on a tennis court.

this German citizen stabbed Monica Seles in the back during one of the breaks of her quarterfinal match at the Hamburg tournament against Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva, whom she dominated 6-4 and 4-3.

This 38-year-old German is obsessed with Steffi Grafthe great victim of Seles’ appearance on the WTA circuit, to such an extent that he felt suicidal urges every time his idol lost a match, He approached her from behind and stabbed her with a knife, shocking those who were present at the time.

“During the break, after the game, I rushed at the end because I hadn’t had a drink of water and I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back… I turned to find where the pain was coming from and saw a man behind me raising a knife against me.Seles declared after a while.

This attack cut short the career of a tennis player who was called to enter the Olympus of racket legends for the big time.. In 1990, and at the age of 16, he won Roland Garros, and before he turned 20 he already had eight Grand Slam titles (three Australian Open, three Roland Garros and two US Open) and became a great dominator of tennis. .

Indeed, the year 1993 started in an unparalleled way for the Serbian, seeded in Hamburg after winning the Australian Open and the Chicago tournament and reaching the final in Paris. All pointed to the start of a dynasty that could make him the best player in historybut his stab ended it all.

Despite the fact that the wound on his back healed within a few weeks, the psychological consequences kept him away from the slopes for more than two years.. He did not appear again until the 1995 Montreal Open and, despite the long inactivity, his comeback was spectacular: he won the title without dropping a set and only 14 games in five matches, against rivals like Anke Huber, Gabriela Sabatini or Amanda Coetzer .

Two weeks later, he stood at the US Open, where he once again showed that he is still a champion with a capital letter.. Only Steffi Graf in the grand final (7-6, 0-6, 6-3) destroyed the dream of a Seles who suffers from many psychological problems due to the attack suffered and the terminal cancer diagnosed of his parents. including those dates.

Seles returned to the slopes visibly overweight. 15 extra kilos caused by an eating disorder this did not stop him from continuing to win games, despite his limited mobility and lack of spark and joy on the track.

That year, 1995, he never played again, and despite the fact that he started 1996 by winning Sydney and the Australian Open, he was never the same.. In fact, that Australian Open was the last Grand Slam of his career, although he played in three more finals. It also failed to regain the number 1 position it held for 178 weeks. Steffi Graf’s reign was replaced first by Martina Hingis and then by the Williams sisters.

A painful defeat (6-4, 6-0 against Nadia Petrova) ended her sports career. It was in 2003, in the first round of Roland Garros, the tournament that saw him born as a tennis star at the age of 16.

His tennis will go down in history, always on the attack, hitting hard and looking for lines. Furthermore the question of what would have happened if Günther Parche had not crossed his fatal path on April 30, 1993. Perhaps we will attend the appointment of the best player in history.