EXCLUSIVE
SAYS SHE'S STILL IN THE HUNT

Monica isn’t done playing yet

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

PALO ALTO, Ca., JUNE 27 – After inching past the tough Melien Tu on Wednesday night a the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Monica Seles has now played 17 matches in 2001, not nearly enough for a competitor who plays so close to the lines.

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

The 27-year-old Seles has been a fixture in the second week of the Grand Slams since she returned to the tour in August of 1995 after being out of action for two and a half years due to her stabbing by a crazed German fan in April of 1993. But she has only managed to win one Grand Slam since then – the 1996 Australian Open – and has been unable to come close to retaking the No. 1 ranking that she once held for 178 weeks.

At the end of last year, she finally began to regain her once ethereal form, nearly topping No. 1 Martina Hingis in a three set classic in the Chase Championships final. Seles ended the year ranked No. 4 and felt that she was as close as she's ever been to reaching the top again.

"Definitely," she told tennisreporters.net. "I played so well at the Championships – it was the best I played last year. Going into Australia [in January], I was physically fine but I wasn't in good enough shape to play all those matches. I played too much, four weeks in a row every day, singles and then doubles with Martina Hingis. I just wasn't ready for that. After that, I started to feel my injury again."

That injury is a stress reaction in her right foot, an injury that just won't seems to go away. Seles has pulled out of tournaments due to a right foot stress fracture or a stress reaction for every year for the past five years. It doesn't sound like the affected bone will ever fully heal, especially if she plays a lot.

Seles had a good opportunity too win her fifth Australian Open title, but fell to eventual champion Jennifer Capriati in three tough sets, a loss she regrets. She had all but owned Capriati in their long, storied rivalry and it was the first time that she had lost to her in a Grand Slam. Later, when watched Capriati raise the trophy, she thought that it could have been her.

"Definitely," she said. "It goes through your head, especially when you had chances to win the match like I had in the second set. But then again,. she went on to beat Lindsay and Martina, which are bigger matches than she had against me. It was great to see that, no one expected her to do what she did this year."

She did manage to trip up Capriati a month later in the Oklahoma City final, but then reinsured her foot in a loss to Tathiana Garbin at Indian Wells in March. Then the roof caved in. Seles then went on the disabled list for two months. She tried to return in Madrid prior to Roland Garros, but was still feeling too much pain and lost in the first round. Consequently, she was forced to skip both the French and Wimbledon, the first time she has missed two Grand Slams in a row since she returned to the tour in 1995 post stabbing.

Now Monica is back on tour five months older and with a pair of questionable feet. For someone whose movement and conditioning have always been her biggest liabilities, bad tread is the worst possible injury.

Without question, Seles is one of the greatest players ever. With nine Grand Slam titles, 158 weeks at No. 1 and 48 singles titles, she's a lock for the Hall of Fame. With that said, what does she have to left to play for? She's never going to get back to No. 1 and even though she's currently ranked No. 10, she'll have a hard time staying in the top-10 by year's end, considering that she has to defend points from three upcoming tournaments in which she
reached the final last year – San Diego, New Haven and the Chase
Championships – and it will likely take her a couple months to get her groove back, even if she manages to stay healthy.

Over the past three years, Seles hasn't been able to rediscover her closer's instincts at the Slams. She should have taken out Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the '98 Roland Garros final, but grew exhausted in the third set. The biggest question for Seles is whether she can regain her once steely confidence. In 2000, she never got over on a top player – not Hingis, Venus Williams, Mary Pierce or Davenport.

"Last year I went through patches where there were some tournaments that I played so well in patches," Seles said. "It was one of my most interesting years because I didn't lose to anyone outside of the top four [nor beat one] and it was just frustrating to lose to the same four girls. Fitness came into play, too, and my wanting to win certain matches more than believing I could win those matches. But the more you work on certain things, the more it helps your confidence. There's a point when you keep losing that you want to do better than that. But I can't say that I didn't give it my all, it's just that the other players were better."

So what's her plan? To earn a couple more millions and go quietly into the night. No chance on the option to casually earn without a care for success. But even when she does retire, this privacy-obsessed woman isn't going to let her public know ahead of time.

WON'T ANNOUNCE RETIREMENT
"I've gotten [retirement questions] for the last five years, every year since 1996," Seles said. "I answer the questions, but that's all. I don't think about, A or B, retiring or not retiring. If I ever retire, I'm definitely not going to announce it. I'll just be out of here. It's whatever makes you happy. If someone wants to announce it and have a one-year farewell tour, that's fantastic. If you want to go just go away and drop off the face of the earth, that's up to the individual, too."

Seles says she loves to play, which is why she keeps banging despite the fact that the talented teens keep coming in droves and that it will be harder and harder to knock them off with each passing month. She doesn't want to gaze into 2002, or 2003, she only wants to keep her head locked on her prospects at the '01 U.S. Open. "I really try to stay in the present, the way my life is going with every aspect," said Seles. "I do what I think I need to do. I do what's expected in order to stay at this level, or try to really go up to
another if I need to. I try not to look back at the past or to the future. If this is what I want out of my career, I'll give all I have to what I want to do. I don't want to have to think too much, or look too far ahead or analyze that stuff."

Seles right foot is so chronically problematic that's it's hard to imagine her ever getting enough match play to become a significant factor over the long term again. She's had a terrific amount of bad luck during her career and is due a few breaks, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the tennis Gods open up a Grand Slam draw for her some day soon and place her back in a final against a beatable opponent. Then she'll have a puncher's chance to grab Slam title No. 10. Really, it doesn't matter whether analysts think she is to old or slow to keep up with the likes of the supersonic Williams sisters, the legend herself seriously believes she can win another Grand Slam title. And when a legend gets truly motivated, good things usually come to pass.

"I think so," she said. "Only time will tell. I can sit here and tell you
that I can, but we'll see as time goes. If I put in the work and if I want and all those things come together. I do want it."