#2. Monica Seles
Had it not been for her stabbing on 30 April, 1993 then Monica Seles would have easily surpassed Steffi Graf and would have been the best player of her generation. Regarded to be one of the greatest players of all-time, Seles was World No. 1 for a total of 178 weeks, which is the sixth-highest number of weeks at the top of the WTA rankings and the tenth-highest number of weeks for any player, male or female.
Over her career, Seles won a total of 53 singles titles including nine Grand Slam titles out of which eight of them she had won before the age of 20. She won four Australian Open titles in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996, three successive French Open titles from 1990-1992 (the 1990 victory made her the youngest ever French Open champion at the age of 16) and two successive US Open titles in 1991 and 1992.However, she wasn’t able to win a single Wimbledon title in her Career with her best performance being a runner-up performance in 1992. After winning every Grand Slam she participated in 1991, 1992 was expected to be Seles’ year and many expected the then-18-year old to accomplish a Career Grand Slam. Seles was in exceptional form from the start of the year, having won both the Australian and French Opens. Seeded first at the tournament, Seles did not drop a single set in the tournament before her semi-final against Martina Navratilova which the latter had to go through a tie-break to win it.
The final was a rematch of the French Open final which Seles won. While the French Open final was an exciting one, the Wimbledon final was totally one-sided as Graf beat Seles 6-2, 6-1 to win her fourth Wimbledon title and attain her first victory over Seles in a Grand Slam final.
Seles did win the US Open later that year but that was that as she had taken a brief hiatus from tennis for more than two years and was never the same player she was. Since 1996, her best performance at Wimbledon was three quarter-final appearances in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Truly, one of the best players to have been denied a Career Slam.
