The Sport of It: Heroes Nobody Expected

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Monica Seles: The Blade That Changed Everything

17 min · 25. juni 2026
episode Season 2 - Episode 8 - Monica Seles: The Blade That Changed Everything cover

Description

She was the greatest teenage tennis player the world had ever seen. Then a stranger leaned over the railing and plunged a blade into her back. It missed her spine by a millimeter. In 1990, at just 16 years old, Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf to win the French Open. She was the youngest champion in history. By 19, she had won eight Grand Slams. She was World No. 1. She was on pace to break every record in the sport. Then it all stopped. April 30, 1993. Hamburg, Germany. In the middle of a match, a man obsessed with Steffi Graf leaned over the railing and stabbed Seles in the back. The blade missed her spine by less than a centimeter. She survived. But she didn't return to tennis for two and a half years. In 1996, Monica Seles won the Australian Open. Her ninth Grand Slam. Her first since the stabbing. She proved that the blade had taken her prime, but it could never take her legacy. Our resident tennis expert, Fish Fisher from the Joe Randoms Sports Podcast, puts it this way: "Nothing about what she accomplished was supposed to be possible, and she made it look so easy just how dominant she was at such a young age with such a unique style." This is the story of a champion who was silenced by violence, and found the courage to swing again.

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21 episodes

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episode Season 2 - Episode 8 - Monica Seles: The Blade That Changed Everything artwork

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Monica Seles: The Blade That Changed Everything

She was the greatest teenage tennis player the world had ever seen. Then a stranger leaned over the railing and plunged a blade into her back. It missed her spine by a millimeter. In 1990, at just 16 years old, Monica Seles defeated Steffi Graf to win the French Open. She was the youngest champion in history. By 19, she had won eight Grand Slams. She was World No. 1. She was on pace to break every record in the sport. Then it all stopped. April 30, 1993. Hamburg, Germany. In the middle of a match, a man obsessed with Steffi Graf leaned over the railing and stabbed Seles in the back. The blade missed her spine by less than a centimeter. She survived. But she didn't return to tennis for two and a half years. In 1996, Monica Seles won the Australian Open. Her ninth Grand Slam. Her first since the stabbing. She proved that the blade had taken her prime, but it could never take her legacy. Our resident tennis expert, Fish Fisher from the Joe Randoms Sports Podcast, puts it this way: "Nothing about what she accomplished was supposed to be possible, and she made it look so easy just how dominant she was at such a young age with such a unique style." This is the story of a champion who was silenced by violence, and found the courage to swing again.

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