Will The Real Monica Please Be Enshrined?

Monica Seles, Newest International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee

Tennis great Monica Seles, who absented herself from the game after being stabbed at courtside by a demented fan in 1993, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Campbell’s Tennis Championships last weekend. She is the youngest-ever champion, winning the 1990 French Open at the age of 16.

Flanked by legends Donald Dell, Tony Trabert, and Andres Gimeno, the group at a press conference was joined by Robert Johnson, whose grandfather Robert W. Johnson, “a stern coach”, was also an inductee.

Bud Collins was on hand to ask detailed questions on tennis matches past.

Pete Holtermann, Bud Collins

Ms. Seles, who won 9 grand slam titles, weighed in on the issue of grunting, for which she was known, saying “Jimmy Connors grunted before I was born.” It was asked, and decided by the panel, that the ATP (male players) and the WPA (female players) should not be combined.

Mr. Johnson noted that Arthur Ashe was still the only black American to
win a major grand slam title.