Monica Seles comes from Yugoslavia and now hold U.S. citizenship. She is one of the greatest tennis players. Now at age 34 she has announced her official retirement from professional tennis.

During her brilliant career, she won nine grand slams - four Australian Open, two US Open, three French Open titles.

Her last match was in the 2003 French Open.

Her career was irrevocably damaged when she was stabbed in the back during a Hamburg Open match in 1993. She was only 19 and was the world’s no. 1 player. For no clear reason, while she was sitting resting during a break, a crazed German leaned across the barrier and with a long sharp knife stabbed her in the back. She immediately collapsed. Fortunately, though the injuries were serious they were not life-threatening.

But the emotional damage was a lasting one. Amazingly, two years after the attack, she resumed her dominance in tennis, and went on to win the Canadian and Australian open. She also reached the final in the U.S. Open. But she remained mentally scarred, and could not completely get over the trauma of the 1993 attack.