Monica Seles Is Working On Memoir

NEW YORK, Mar. 19, 2008

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(CBS/AP) Former tennis great Monica Seles is working on a memoir.

She said in a statement Wednesday that she hopes "to share how I found balance, strength and happiness in my life after a rollercoaster ride of exhilarating accomplishment and sometimes overwhelming tragedy."

The book, currently untitled, will be published in 2009 by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).

Seles, 34, won nine Grand Slam tournaments and as a teenager was the top-ranked women's player for three years, in the early 1990s. But she is also known for one of the sport's most bizarre and terrifying incidents: In April 1993, at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, she was stabbed in the back by a man who climbed out of the stands.

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Photos: "Dancing With The Stars"

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Seles returned to the game 27 months later and immediately reached the 1995 U.S. Open final. Her final Grand Slam title then came at the 1996 Australian Open. She did reach two more major finals but was hampered by a left foot injury. Her last match was a first-round loss at the 2003 French Open. She officially retired last month.

Seles, who has struggled with weight problems, is currently a contestant on the hit ABC series "Dancing With the Stars."

Her less-than-stellar debut on the show Tuesday drew criticism from the judges who gave her the lowest vote of the night. Looking demure in a pink gown and a flower in her hair, Seles stumbled through a fox trot with little grace.

Her publisher says she's a fighter and that her memoir will reflect her struggle to determine her own fate.

"After years of having every aspect of her training, diet and life dictated and scrutinized by others, Monica took control, deciding what she wanted from life and set out to obtain it," her publisher, Avery, said in a statement.

"Cutting through the fog of sadness, fear and frustration that made Seles overweight and unhappy, today she looks and feels better than ever and has created a life in balance."

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