Monica Seles

Monica Seles was born December 2, 1973, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, to Karolj and Esther Seles. Her father worked as a cartoonist and film director and her mother was a computer programmer. Her brother, Zoltan, also played tennis, and Monica would take up the game when she was six, learning from her father the style that she uses to this day, one that consists of using both hands to hit her forehand and backhand shots, an unorthodox method that nonetheless allows her to put

Monica Seles

more power into her game and be precise with where shot placement.

As a child, Seles aimed for the cartoon faces that her father would draw onto the tennis balls. It was soon apparent that she didn't just love practicing, but that she was somewhat of a tennis prodigy. By the time she was nine—only three years after taking up the game—she competed in and won the Yugoslav 12-and-under girls championship. As her youth progressed, she continued to accumulate juniors titles. winning the European 12-and-under championship when she was ten, and then at twelve earning the title of Yugoslavia's Sportswoman of the Year.