Advantage, Seles Equipped With Her Usual Arsenal Of Shots And Shouts, Returning To Tennis Has Been A Snap

She has been taking language lessons, and so when Monica Seles was asked to assess her return to tournament tennis at the Canadian Open, the request was that she do it in French, s’il vous plait.

For a moment, Seles hesitated, searching for the right words. Then she said, “Je joue bien; I played well.”

Apparently, she doesn’t know the word for extraordinary.

Seles came back to competitive tennis after almost 2-1/2 years away from the game equipped with her full arsenal of shots and shouts. Inside, she said, she was a knot of nerves. Outside, she was No. 1 all over again.

She’s still a favorite of the fans, welcomed warmly by the Canadian crowds, her appeal perhaps increased by what she’s been through. There were standing ovations for her, before and after matches. Concession stands did big business in “Welcome back, Monica Seles” T-shirts.

After each match she signed autographs endlessly, enjoying the moment completely. And why not? She’s earned it.

She talks about focusing on the court, concentrating on two things - the ball and the racket. “I’m pretty proud of that,” she said. “It took me a long time to get there.”

The court had always been a comfortable place for Seles, a secure spot where she could simply go out and have fun. The bizarre stabbing in Hamburg changed all that and although she has been able to put the horror of that episode behind her, some scars are still there.

“After the stabbing, I live every day like it is my last,” she said.

That’s heavy stuff for a 21-year-old.

When she had to play her second match here at 1 p.m., she recalled she had not played at that hour since Hamburg. It was interesting that she would use that as a point of reference.

She still squeals on returns. She still giggles like a kid. Sometimes her sentences turn into stream of consciousness, zig-zagging from one place to another, going right through stop signs. Those parts remain in place. Good for her.

What’s different then? Very little, really. She’s a couple of inches taller and she used her time away from the sport to pursue some new interests. She has become something of a Renaissance woman, dabbling in things like mountain biking, pool, photography and French.

There are no simple answers for her. When she was asked the proper pronunciation of her last name, she launched into a lengthy explanation.

“I pronounce it Sel-ess,” she began. “In Hungarian, it would be Sel-esh. My first name is also different. My passport says M-o-ni-k-a and my driver’s licence says M-o-n-i-c-a. I would like it with a ‘q.’ You know. Monique.”

Any other questions? Ask her what time it is and she might tell you how to build a clock.

Seles said she did not expect much of herself here, not after being away for so long. She came to this tournament, she said, just to get in some matches before the U.S. Open.

Instead it turned into a celebration, a welcome-back party that had to thrill her. She played well. She handled the crowds. And when Steffi Graf bailed out in her first match, it left Seles all alone at center stage.

Even though she lost so quickly, Graf will retain her No. 1 ranking going into the U.S. Open, thanks to the complicated ranking formula. Seles remains the courtesy coNo. 1. After watching her game in the Canadian Open, it would be foolish for her to be ranked anywhere else.

Graf and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario have been at the top of the rankings since Seles left. Her brilliant return gave notice to both of them that the layoff did not diminish her game.

As the French would say, extraordinaire, Monica. Tres extraordinaire.