Twenty years on from knife attack, scars still linger for Monica Seles

The knife attack on Monica Seles, which took place in Hamburg 20 years ago today, not only dictated security at sports events over the last two decades, but changed the victim's life forever.

A similar attack must rank as every sports star's worst nightmare and any harmless fan, waiting for hours simply for their idols' autograph, is now viewed as a potential threat by security staff.

French Open champion Maria Sharapova, who won her 20th consecutive clay-court match when she defended her Stuttgart WTA title on Sunday, is renowned for having scores of bodyguards in the wings when she steps on court.

"It's not something I worry about, the security guys would be pretty quickly onto it if there was a problem," she said on the subject.

But Seles is the first to admit the attack robbed her of her self-confidence. She had finished both 1991 and 1992 as the world's top ranked female player and in 1990, aged just 16, she had become the youngest-ever French Open champion.

On April 30, 1993, the tennis world was at her feet. Having won her eighth grand slam title at the Australian Open earlier that year, the Yugoslav (of Serbian origin) was still only 19 when she played her quarter-final at Hamburg's Rothenbaum in the day's last match.