Projo Sports Blog

NEWPORT -- She grew up in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia watching the French Open on television and dreaming of one day playing on the red clay of Stade Roland Garros. Only when she moved with her family to Sarasota, Fla., when she was 13 and enrolled in the Nick Bolletierri Tennis Academy did she learn there are three other Grand Slam events.

Over the next six years, Monica Seles took advantage of every one, winning the French Open three times, the Australian Open three times and the U.S. Open twice. She turned pro at 15, won her first French at 16 years, 6 months, the youngest French champion in history, and was No. 1 in the world at 17.

She added another Australian Open title in 1996, when she was 22 and fully recovered from being stabbed in the back by a deranged fan of Steffi Graf during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in 1993.

Saturday, beneath a bright sun and blue sky and before a crowd of about 3,700 spectators at the Newport Casino, she took her place among the greats of the game when she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

"As a little girl growing up in my former country, I was probably even afraid to dream that this would happen, and to actually have it a reality it's still, I think, trying to sink in that day is here," the nine-time Grand Slam champion said before the induction ceremony on the Stadium Court.

"It's a beautiful way to celebrate my career . . . I wish my dad would have been here today, but I know he's here in spirit because without him I wouldn't be sitting here today," she said.

Karolj Seles, a cartoonist who encouraged his daughter to play by drawing a mouse on a ball and telling her to think of herself as a cat, died of stomach cancer in 1998.

"Thank you, dad, for all you have done for me, and I owe all my success to you," she said at the conclusion of her acceptance speech.

Looking fit in a lavender top and white slacks and wearing her hair shoulder length, Seles, 35, shared the induction stage with Andres Gimeno of Spain, coincidentally the oldest French Open champion at 34 years, 10 months when he won in 1972; Donald Dell, former nationally ranked player and Davis Cup captain, and a mover and shaker in the game for the last 40 years, and Lance Johnson, grandson of Dr. Robert W. "Whirlwind" Johnson, a Virginia physician who promoted tennis among blacks and championed the careers of Hall of Famers Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe and who was inducted posthumously.

Seles' Grand Slam record also includes runner-up finishes at Wimbledon in 1992, U.S. Open in 1995 and 1996 and French Open in 1998. She won 53 titles on the women's tour and earned $14 million in prize money. She became a U.S. citizen in 1994 and played on five U.S. Federation Cup teams, helping the Americans to win the Fed Cup three times. She was on the U.S. Olympic team in 1996 and 2000 and earned a bronze medal in 2000.

Seles thanked many of her supporters, mentioned that she has donated her trophies to the Hall of Fame -- 50 are displayed in a special exhibit now -- and urged youngsters to visit the museum.

"I know my trophies have a wonderful home and hope they inspire young children to pick up a racquet and hit a few balls and fall in love with the game the way I did," she said. "I want to inspire young kids because I can see a racquet and a ball, how much it changed my life and I was so lucky to find something that I loved to do at such an early age on. For me it never felt difficult or like work. None of those words ever entered my vocabulary. It was fun all the time."

Know for her grunt as she hit the ball, as well as for her focus and drive, Seles couldn't resist the temptation to do it one more time.

"For good old times' sake, 'Unngh'," she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

Gimeno, who will turn 72 on Aug. 3, joked that God felt sorry for the old guy and let him win the French Open in 1972. He had lost to Laver in the Australian Open final in 1969, the beginning of Laver's second Grand Slam run. Ranked as high as No. 9, Gimeno turned pro and played with the great Australians of the 1960s, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Lew Hoad and others.

"I was so embarrassed to be with them that I called everybody sir. Those players have won Wimbledon, Davis Cup, Forest Hills, French Open, and I have one trophy, Monte Carlo," he said with a laugh.

Gimeno thanked his wife and sons and dedicated his induction to his daughter. "She is in heaven now," he said.

Dell, 71, was a tennis star at Yale when he beat Ashley Cooper in Newport two weeks after Cooper had won Wimbledon in 1958. Dell was ranked as high as No. 4 in the U.S. and played Davis Cup for four years but said his proudest moment was as captain of the 1968 team that won the Davis Cup in Australia and the 1969 team that defended the Cup. He described those two years as "the happiest days of my life in tennis."

Dell launched a law firm that in 1970 morphed into ProServ; co-founded in 1972 the Association of Tennis Professionals, which evolved into the current ATP World Tour; founded and directed the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington; is vice chairman of the Hall of Fame and is a member of USTA public relations and Davis Cup committees.

Robert W. Johnson was a physician and champion of tennis, especially among blacks, for 30 years. He gained the respect of the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association and helped Althea Gibson become the first black to play at Forest Hills, site of the U.S. National Championships, now the U.S. Open. He welcomed the young Arthur Ashe, and any other juniors willing to adhere to his disciplined regimen, to his backyard court in Lynchburg, Va., and helped develop them into champions as players and people.

His grandsons Robert and Lance represented the family on Saturday. Robert said his grandfather was a stern man, serious and "very much about coaching us and getting results." He taught his players that any ball two inches long was good because he didn't want whites to think that blacks were cheating to get ahead. He would applaud the accomplishments of Venus and Serena Williams, but rue that it took so long and that there are not more black champions in tennis. Lance said his grandfather was a visionary and problem solver.

The Class of 2009 brings the Hall of Fame total to 211 players and contributors from 18 nations.

-- MIKE SZOSTAK

 Tags  Tennis Hall of Fame

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