Monica Seles stabber Gunter Parche dies aged 68, almost 30 years after incident

Gunter Parche, the man who stabbed Monica Seles in the back with a knife during a match 30 years ago, died in August last year. Parche was 68 when he breathed his last and was unwell for a long time before his death.

As first reported by German publication BILD, Parche was completely bed-ridden in the four weeks leading up to his death at a nursing home in Nordhausen, Thuringia, Germany. He lived at the nursing home for the last 14 years of his life.

Parche was a big fan of German tennis legend Steffi Graf. Back in April 1993, Seles dethroned Graf at the top of the WTA rankings, following which Parche sneaked up behind Seles as she was seated during a changeover in her quarter-final at the Hamburg Open and stabbed her in the back with a knife.

The German man was sentenced to probation of two years on a charge of aggravated assault, but spent roughly only six months in prison. As per a statement he gave in court at the time, Parche wanted to "hurt Seles so much that she couldn't play tennis for a long time."

Fortunately for Monica Seles, the attack did not turn out to be life threatening and she was able to return to the tour after recovering. However, she could never regain the level of tennis she had before the injury. Seles had won eight of the last 10 Grand Slams before the incident. She could only win one more Major tournament post comeback.

Seles' last professional match was in 2003 and she retired in 2008 with 53 tour-level titles, including nine Grand Slam trophies.

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Monica Seles' stabbing changed the course of tennis history: Martina Navratilova

Monica Seles is a former World No. 1.

Martina Navratilova once said that Monica Seles' stabbing at the hands of Gunter Parche changed the course of tennis history as without the incident, Seles would have probably won more Grand Slam singles titles than Steffi Graf, who won 22, and even the all-time record-holder Margaret Court, who won 24 Major titles. Speaking to ESPN back in 2013, Navratilova shared her views on the matter.

"She (Monica Seles) would have won so much more. We'd be talking about Monica with the most Grand Slam titles (ahead of) a Margaret Court or Steffi Graf. Steffi had 22, but she didn't have anyone to play against. This guy changed the course of tennis history, no doubt about that," Navratilova said.

Seles was recently seen enjoying some tennis action at Indian Wells as she was in the stands during the quarter-final contest between Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime.