Monica stayed at the Tennis Academy for two years and there she developed her characteristic habit of grunting each time she hits a ball, a trait many players (the first was Katerina Maleeva) would later find very unnerving. Her first professional match was a victory against Helen Kelesi in Florida in 1988. After a break of one year, Monica returned to the Tour and won her first tournament in Houston in 1989, defeating none less than Chris Evert in the final.
The three following years would be simply incredible: Monica won the French Open, the Masters and the Australian Open three consecutive times. She defeated Steffi Graf in the 1992 French Open final with a match I consider the best ever played in the female Tour history (10-8 at the third set). Monica was first ranked #1 in March 11th, 1991, at 17 years, 3 months and 2 days.

Hamburg, April 30th 1993: Monica was leading the quarterfinal match against Magdalena Maleeva when during a changeover she was stabbed in the shoulder by Gunter Parche, a crazed fan of Steffi Graf who wanted her idol to be #1 again. Monica wasn't seriously injured and healed very fast... But emotionally she had been badly shaken.
Monica began consulting a psychologist. Her fellow players didn't help her at all, voting not to let Monica keep her #1 rank untli she retunrned, and her attacker  was declared not guilty because of his mental deficience. Moreover, his father developed a prostate and then a stomach cancer. It was a very bad period for Monica.
At the end of 1993 she tried playing on her private court, but her depression worsened at the beginning of 1994: her dreams were disturbed, she hid in her room, alone, crying. She disappeared  from the WTA rankings as well. The only positive note in her life was that she and her family received the american citizenship.

Monica's father decided to write a public letter to show the Seles' family sadness since the Hamburg attack. In this letter, he wrote that Monica had lost her smile (and what a beautiful smile it is) and that it was very tough to see her crying often... After a bad dream. Meanwhile, Monica returned at the French Open... As a spectator. She played (and won) an exhibition agaisnt Martina Navratilova.
Monica returned to the Tour in Toronto... And won her comeback tournament, the 1995 DuMaurier Open, a feat she would repeat three more times. It was decided that she would be co-ranked #1 for one year and then a special method would be used to calculate her ranking.
It was a different Monica: maybe slightly less focused but finally happier. She won the 1996 Australian Open and although she didn't remain at the top for long, she has managed to remain in the top ten until now, despite several injuries and the sad loss of her father in May 1998.

Monica's other interests include: modeling (she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated), playing the guitar (she is a fan of Jimi Hendrix) and several other sports; she was a very good ice skater when younger. She also collects stuffed animals and in 1996 she released her autobiography "From Fear To Victory".