Monica Seles could have possibly won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other female player, had her career not been cut short. Born in Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents, she began playing tennis at the age of six. Her father, Karoly Szeles, was her coach.
At the age of 14, she played her first professional tournament in 1988. She joined the professional tour full-time the following year and won her first career title at Houston where she beat Chris Evert in the final.
In April of 1989, she reached the semifinals of her first Grand Slam singles tournament at the French Open. She lost to World No. 1 Steffi Graf in a tough three-setter. She was only fifteen years old by then, and had already made it to the semis of a major in her first opportunity.
Even more impressive was the fact that she took a set off Graf in the semifinal match. Clearly, good things were to come for Seles and nothing was impossible to accomplish. She won her first Grand Slam singles title at the 1990 French Open, defeating Steffi Graf in straight sets.
This victory made her the youngest French Open winner at the age of 16 years, six months. Seles would finish 1990 as the World's No. 2 ranked player. Over the next two years (1991, 1992), the Hungarian would dominate the women's tour.
A victory at the Australian Open began her 1991 season in solid fashion. In March, she was the World's new No.1 ranked player, replacing Graf. The victory in Australia was followed up by a successful defense of her French Open title won the previous year.
Seles didn't participate at Wimbledon, taking a six week break instead due to shin splints. However, she returned for the U.S Open and defeated Martina Navratilova in the final to close out the year the same way she started it.
In 1992, she successfully defended her titles at the Australian Open, French Open and U.S Open. She reached the finals of Wimbledon but lost to Graf in straight sets. Many believed that she lost at Wimbledon for playing quietly. Normally, Seles would grunt when hitting the ball much like Maria Sharapova does today.
A few opponents had complained about the grunting and as a result she played silently in the final. From 1991 to 1993, Seles won 22 titles and reached 33 finals out of the 34 tournaments she played overall.
She compiled an amazing 55-1 record at Grand Slam tournaments during that time. In her first four years on the map (1989-1992), Seles had a record of 231-25 while collecting 30 titles.
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