Today in Sports History: January 27

By Jonah Sharf

On January 27, 1996, Monica Seles won the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam victory since being stabbed by a spectator in Germany in 1993. In April of 1993 during the quarterfinals of an event, a fan of Seles’ rival, Steffi Graf, ran to the edge of the court and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades. Despite the physical injuries only taking a few weeks to heal, she took more than two years off of tennis and vowed never to play in Germany again after her attacker was given no jail time. She came back in August of 1995 and reached the finals of the US Open the next month, which she lost to Graf. She would rebound from the loss in January, winning the Australian Open, which was the last Grand Slam title of her illustrious career.

 

Leave a Reply