Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993 TAG: 9305010081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: BERLIN LENGTH: Medium
Taken to a hospital after the attack, Seles, 19, was reported in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries, although the knife barely missed her spinal cord, officials said. "Thank God, it's not as bad as we had feared," said Guenter Sanders, tournament director.
The attack, the motive of which was unknown, came during a break in the Yugoslavian-born Seles' quarterfinal against Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in the Citizen Cup.
Seles, whose birthplace of Novi Sad is in Serbia, had received death threats in the past few years related to political unrest in the former Yugoslavia, according to Ana Leaird, director of public relations for the Women's Tennis Association.
German police said her assailant, a 38-year-old man whom they did not identify, was German.
There were unconfirmed reports Friday night that the man told police he was a fan of Germany's Steffi Graf, the No. 2-ranked player, and wanted to injure Seles to help Graf.
Seles, playing in her first tournament in more than two months after being sidelined with a viral infection, was leading 6-4, 4-3 at the time of the attack.
As she sat in a chair on the side of the court during a rest period between games, a heavy-set man holding a long knife in both hands leaned over the railing and stabbed her from behind, according to German news reports.
Seles cried out and, in film footage shown on German television Friday night, took several steps toward the net, dropping a glass of water to the ground and rubbing her back and neck in obvious pain. Grimacing, she collapsed to the ground as officials ran to assist her.
"The crowd jumped up immediately when they heard Monica scream," Joachim Knipp, a German tennis official, said on German television. "It was a shocking situation."
Fans and officials could be seen wrestling and subduing a balding, disheveled man dressed in jeans and a short-sleeve shirt. The man, reportedly from the eastern state of Thuringia, was carrying no identification papers, officials said. He was being interrogated by police Friday night.
An ethnic Hungarian whose birthplace is not far from the Hungarian border, Seles has been criticized in the past few years for her refusal to speak out against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and Croatia. She has lived in the United States since 1986, but still identifies herself as Yugoslavian despite the break-up of her homeland into separate republics.
Last year, Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanisevic and other critics lambasted Seles for her silence. But Seles maintained that she was an athlete, not a politician, and continually refused to answer questions about Serbia.
by CNB