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Seles is back, again!

© Michael Cecilio

And again, another successful comeback from arguably the most fascinating person in tennis today! Former world #1, Monica Seles, hoisted her 45th career singles title at Oklahoma City last week, punishing the field in such embarassing fashion. But again, how long will this comeback last? Monica Seles has had her fair share of trials and tribulations over her decade-long professional career, and most definitely has had her fair share of career comebacks. While we, the tennis world, appreciate the fact that Monica is still playing top-class professional tennis - even after all that has occurred in her life and her career - we wonder for her sake, whether this latest comeback will be the comeback to signify her return to the top. God knows, there have been a heavenly number of comebacks from the perrenial comeback queen, but we are still waiting for the day when Monica's just desserts will be granted and she returns to the days of glory - before all the comebacks.

The most fabled name of tennis has a well-chronicled and well-publicised life - on-court and off-court. In fact, almost too well-chronicled that most of us are all too enervated by rehashing the past - over and over and over again. Much of the reason is due to the fact that there has never been a story quite like Monica's in sporting history. Never has a top athlete been painfully taken down from his or her post at the peak of his or her performance, only to overcome the tribulations and fight his or her way back to the elite of the game. Still, we like to go over the past - over and over again - because we always ponder the "what-if's". What if things did not happen the way that they did? How would life differ to the way we know it now?

Of course, the "thing" that happened was the April 30, 1993 stabbing of Monica Seles by deranged Steffi Graf fan, Gunther Parche. Coming back to the professional world of tennis and back into the public eye after losing trust in the establishment took a lot of courage, but when we compound it with a number of sub-plots which occurred at the same time, we begin to realise the sheer enormity of Seles's heart. Not only was Gunther Parche cleared of his crime (he did not face a single day of imprisonment for his potentially fatal action), he achieved his aim by allowing Steffi Graf to return to the world #1 ranking and quite possibly, allowed her to become known as the most dominant player in tennis history by clearing the path to glory for her. Off the court was perhaps even more distressing for Seles as her father was undergoing the critical stages of stomach cancer, just as she was mounting her comeback from the 1993 incident. Compounded with several injuries and several periods of time where she needed to be with her father, Seles never quite made the comeback that she intended, and quite possibly never will. There was no sense of longevity with each comeback, with no clear long-term picture. It was enough to halt any momentum and focus on Seles's part.

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