Here we have a woman whose talents for tennis have always been rivalled by her talents for contradiction. Come again? Dignified, modest Monica Seles would be dancing on television? 'Why not?' she told friends with a shrug. A cast of celebrity contestants are partnered with professional ballroom dancers in a season-long competition. Dancing With the Stars, the irresistibly shlocky American version of the BBC reality show Strictly Come Dancing. It was somehow appropriate that this piddling out-with-a-whimper retirement announcement - no valedictory tour, no video montage, no farewell fanfare - consecrated the end of perhaps the most tragically unfulfilled career in sports history.īut then this, too, was fitting: a few days later, Seles made a second proclamation.
#Monica seles video tennis pro
Once Seles crossed the baseline into her mid-thirties, her public appearances were limited to meaningless exhibitions and pro forma sponsors' functions. There had been talk of a return when her foot healed, but that never happened. Once the grande dame of the WTA Tour, Seles had not scrunched her face and thwacked a ball in an official match since 2003. Outside of insular tennis circles, the scant mention it drew was usually along the lines of: 'Monica Seles? I didn't realise she was still playing.' This news, such as it was, hardly rated a blip on the radar, relegated to small print in the newspapers and ignored by most sports broadcasts. On 14 February this year, Monica Seles issued a vanilla-bland press release asserting her retirement from professional tennis. Those with a thing for symbolism were quick to note that the announcement came on Valentine's Day.
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