Monica Seles

Monica Seles, who made one of the bravest comebacks in sporting history after being struck down in her prime by a knife-wielding lunatic, is delighted that two of the women who succeeded her as the world No 1 tennis players are also making a successful resumption of their careers.

Seles, 36, who two years ago retired from the game that brought her international stardom and nine grand slam titles, expects the outstanding Belgian duo of Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters to enjoy the kind of appealing rivalry she had with Germany’s Steffi Graf 20 years ago.

Nineteen players have held the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's No.1 ranking, but only six of them had done it for 100 weeks - until now. Serena Williams became the seventh player ever to hit triple digits at the top this week.

It was a much happier Monica Seles that one saw during the Laureus World Sports Awards function here on Tuesday. The horrific past — a man stabbed her from behind in 1993 when she was the No. 1 ranked women's tennis player during a break between games in Hamburg — is well behind her.

THE BEST: Monica Seles

On Wednesday I plumped for Andre Agassi as the best men's returner of all-time. Looking at the women, and the one person I would put top of the list is Monica Seles.

Seles might not have been the greatest mover in the world but she had sensational hands which made up for that fact. She got to pretty much everything and liked to dominate too. So from the outset she was taking control of points.

It was her hand-eye coordination and willingness and ability to attack that puts her ahead of the rest for me.

JULY

- Sony Ericsson WTA Tour president Stacey Allaster steps up to replace Larry Scott as Tour chairman and CEO.
- Serena Williams defeats her sister Venus in the Wimbledon final, but her semifinal match against Elena Dementieva - in which she saved match point - is the match of the tournament (if not the year).
- Serena and Venus win the Wimbledon doubles.
- Monica Seles is inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
- France's Nathalie Dechy, a two-time US Open doubles champion, retires.

Monica Seles will play one more match in Canada, the country where she made her comeback after being stabbed.

The former world No 1 plans to take part in an exhibition doubles match on Monday in Toronto at the women's Rogers Cup tournament. She's being inducted into the tournament's hall of fame as the only player in the modern era to win four straight Canadian titles.

"I right away said, 'Yes, I'm coming,"' Seles said pm Thursday on a conference call. "What an honour for me, and what a great way to finish off my career."

Nine-time Grand Slam singles champion Monica Seles and three others were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Joining the former women's world number one in the honour shrine were 1960s Spanish player Andres Gimeno, pioneer marketer Donald Dell and the late Robert Johnson, a junior player developer who helped launch the careers of black players Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe.

"What an amazing group," Seles said at the induction ceremony.

"It's such a great honour. Standing here, I'm just a bundle of nerves.