by Monica Seles
First published 2009
Monica Seles opens her story as a teenager dominating tennis courts around the world, racking up championship titles and breaking records. Her meteoric rise transforms her into a global celebrity, but success comes with unexpected dangers. A mentally disturbed fan attacks her with a knife during a match, leaving physical wounds that heal but emotional trauma that lingers. The assault derails her career and sends her into a spiral of depression. She battles an eating disorder while trying to rebuild her life and identity beyond tennis. Seles later competes on Dancing with the Stars, finding new ways to perform under pressure. Her memoir traces the journey from athletic triumph through devastating setback to gradual recovery, revealing how she learned to navigate fame, trauma, and the challenge of redefining herself when the thing that made her famous nearly destroyed her.
Genres: autobiography, sports, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: overcoming-adversity, redemption
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
290 pages · Hardcover · Avery
Content warnings: abuse, depression, eating-disorder