MIAMI, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/14/08 -- Monica Seles today announced her official
retirement from professional tennis, ending one of the most storied careers
in sports.
Seles issued the following statement through Tony Godsick, her longtime
manager at IMG.
"Tennis has been and will always be a huge part of my life. I have for some
time considered a return to professional play, but I have now decided not
to pursue that," Seles said today from Miami, Florida. "I will continue to
play exhibitions, participate in charity events, promote the sport, but
will no longer plan my schedule around the tour. I look forward to
pursuing other opportunities with the same passion and energy that fueled
my dedication to tennis and to devote more time to two of my passions --
children and animals. I especially want to thank all my wonderful, loyal
fans for all of their support for me over the years. They have inspired me
throughout my career in the good times and comforted me in the bad times. I
have always been so proud to have such a special group of precious fans to
call my very own and felt they were the best an athlete could ever hope to
have. I will miss them all as much as I will miss competing in the game of
tennis."
Seles, 34, earned nine Grand Slam titles, and won 53 singles and six
doubles tournaments. She first became No. 1 in the world in March 1991.
She was No. 1 for 178 weeks during the next two years -- the youngest No. 1
ever at the time -- until tragedy struck in April 1993, when she was
stabbed in the back during a match in Hamburg, Germany. She was not able
to play again for more than two years. When she did return, she won even
more hearts with her comeback win at the Canadian Open, then reached the
U.S. Open final the following month. Remarkably, she then won her ninth
Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January 1996.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier sports, entertainment and media enterprise.
Operating in 30 countries, IMG's diverse businesses include: consulting
services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models
representation; licensing; golf course design; and client representation in
golf, tennis, broadcasting, speakers, European football, rugby, cricket,
motor sports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. IMG Academies
are the world's largest and most advanced multi-sport training and
educational facilities, delivering world-class sports training experiences
to more than 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult, and professional athletes
each year.
IMG's media and entertainment operations include content production
subsidiaries Darlow Smithson Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions.
Globally, IMG produces and distributes more than 11,000 hours of sports,
documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children's
content annually. IMG also represents the broadcast rights to many of the
world's premier sporting events and has the world's largest sports archive
with more than 250,000 hours of footage.
Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com.
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Contact:
Tony Godsick
IMG
(216) 522-1200 Email Contact
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