Which player was on the tennis court when Monica Seles was stabbed in 1993?

Magdalena Maleeva was on court playing Monica Seles when Seles was stabbed in 1993. The attack occurred during their quarterfinal match at the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany, on April 30, 1993.

Maleeva was a Bulgarian professional tennis player and was then ranked among the world’s leading competitors. During a changeover, while Seles was seated near the court, German spectator Günter Parche rushed from the stands and stabbed her in the back with a knife. The assailant was reportedly obsessed with Seles’s rival, Steffi Graf.

Seles survived the attack but withdrew from professional tennis for more than two years. She returned to competition in August 1995 and won the Canadian Open shortly afterward. The incident also led tournament organizers to strengthen security around players and spectators.

The question can cause confusion because Maleeva was not the attacker; she was Seles’s opponent and was sitting nearby during the match interruption. The tournament is also often called the Hamburg Open, but the event’s official name was the Citizen Cup.