The world remembers Monica Seles for that infamous stabbing incident in 1992 that ended her career. But miraculously enough, the Yugoslav player made a comeback in 1994 after becoming a US citizen. In a few years since her debut, Seles took over the world. She won 8 out of her 9 Grand Slams in those 3 years. She had already attained legendary status, but it was her loss to Martina Hingis years later that deeply disturbed her.
At the Miami Open 2000, Monica Seles lost to eventual champion Martina Hingis and crashed out of the tournament. More than the loss itself, it was the manner of her loss that got the crowd mad and it hurt her. She lost two back-to-back sets with a ‘Bagel’. After losing 0-6, 0-6 in the semi-final of a match, Seles had nowhere to hide her face. The fans booed her out of the Tennis Center at Crandon Park.
Seles failed to win even a single set or a single game in that match. It was pure dominance from Martina Hingis from start to finish. Seles was 26 years old then, and never looked more rusty in her career. She was slower to Hingis across the court, made unforced errors, and looked tiresome throughout the match.
By the second set, it was as if Seles had given up. There has never been a more processional win for Martina Hingis.
To further put into context how good Seles was when she started, she won the French Open in 1990; the Australian Open, the US Open, and the French Open in 1991; Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open (Full Calendar Slam) in 1992, and the Australian Open in 1993. She won 8 out of 9 Grand Slams before her infamous stabbing incident. Post that traumatic incident, she never quite regained her peak form. But such was her quality as a player, that she won her final Grand Slam in 1996 i.e. the Australian Open.
Seles also won the Miami Open in 1990 and 1991. So it’s no shame for her to lose out on a Miami Open title in 2000, years after her peak form. However, the manner of loss truly embarrassed her.
Seles reached the final of the Miami Open one more time in 1996, and as luck would have it, it was Hingis who beat her then. Martina Hingis beat Monica Seles 6-2, 6-1 in the final. But it was nothing compared to her 0-6, 0-6 loss 4 years later.
Nine years later after that loss, Seles recounted the humiliating experience of that loss in her autobiography, ‘Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Self, My Mind‘. Seles recounted how she walked out with a sprained ankle and amidst hundreds of jeers.
“It was the worst defeat of my career and the quickest: a measly thirty-nine minutes. I was mortified. The fighter in me had refused to default even though it would have been the smarter choice. As the crowd threw raucous catcalls, boos and whistles at me, I could feel my face flushing with embarrassment and I hobbled off the court as quickly as my ankle would let me. For the first time in my career I had failed to win even one game. Not one,” wrote Seles in her book.
This loss broke the record of her previous worst loss, which was a 0-6, 1-6 loss to Steffi Graf at 1989 Wimbledon.
How does Monica Seles fare against Martina Hingis in her career?
Monica Seles and Martina Hingis have faced each other 20 times in their career. Hingis leads the win ratio significantly by 15-5. However, the first time they met was in 1996 in Oakland, which was after Seles’s life-threatening incident. So, one could argue, that Hingis only started playing Seles once she passed her prime. However, the dominance of the Swiss over the Yugoslav is still something extremely admirable.
Besides her 9 Grand Slams, Monica Seles also won 53 WTA titles in her career. Her total prize money earned from her tennis career is $14,891,762 and she has won 595 matches and lost 122 matches in her singles career. Despite that ugly loss and the boos that followed, Monica Seles will forever be a legend.
