Monica Seles Stabbed During 1993 Hamburg Match by Graf Fan
In April 1993, Monica Seles was attacked with a knife by Günter Parche, an obsessive fan of Steffi Graf, during a quarterfinal match in Hamburg.
Monica Seles, then a dominant force in women's tennis, faced Magdalena Maleeva in the Citizen Cup quarterfinals in Hamburg on April 30, 1993. After winning the first set and leading the second, a changeover was called. During the pause, Günter Parche, a 38-year-old German and self-described Graf enthusiast, entered the arena and stabbed Seles between her shoulder blades with a knife, missing her spinal cord by a small margin.
The attack forced officials to remove Seles from the court for emergency care. Parche’s motive was linked to his obsession with Steffi Graf, whom he wanted to see regain the top ranking. The assault halted Seles’s momentum in that event and became a notorious moment in tennis history.
Why it matters
The attack highlighted security vulnerabilities at sporting events and shocked the tennis world.
In this story
