Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recalls horrific Monica Seles stabbing incident 32 years later

Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs recalled Monica Seles' horrific stabbing incident, recounting her experience of witnessing the 'horrible' moment live. The unfortunate incident occurred 32 years ago on April 30, 1993.

Seles burst onto the tennis scene at a very young age and started winning Grand Slams from 1990 at the age of 16, and it didn't take her a lot of time to become the World No. 1. She had the perfect start to her 1993 season, winning the Australian Open, and it looked like the tennis prodigy was set to have yet another successful season on the tour, when a shocking incident changed her life.

The Serbian-American was competing in the quarterfinals of the 1993 Citizen Cup, conducted in Hamburg, Germany, against Magdalena Maleeva. During the second set, while she was taking a break to rejuvenate herself, a crazy Steffi Graf fan stabbed Seles with a boning knife between her shoulder blades, injuring her severely.

A user on X shared the clip of the incident, as it had been 32 years since it occurred. Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs responded to the post and shared how she had witnessed the 'horrible, horrible moment' live, but didn't know at the time that the man had a knife.

"It was a terrible day in our sport. I was standing with Manuela Maleeva watching this match from the entrance to the court. I ran to get the physio and was completely shocked to hear he had a knife, as we didn’t see that at first. Horrible, horrible moment."

Stubbs is a huge admirer of Monica Seles and has also defended her from criticism about her lack of Wimbledon titles in the past.

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"Monica Seles made a final on her least favorite surface, would you have said that about Rafa at 18?" - Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs

Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs - Source: Getty

During a discussion under a tweet about Steffi Graf's career Grand Slam achievement in 2022, a tennis fan made a bold claim that Monica Seles would've never won Wimbledon in her career. However, Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs jumped to the Serbian-American's defense by reminding the fan how a teenage Seles gave Graf a hard time in the final of Wimbledon 1992.

"This proves u don’t know much about Monica. She made a final on her least favorite surface. Would u have said that about Rafa at 18? Its an asinine comment. Her lefty was a nightmare on grass. I watched that final in Stef box in 92 live & it wasn’t easy or a walkover for Stef."

Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs also once highlighted the similarities in Monica Seles and Steffi Graf's nature, but felt the former was more shy than the latter.