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Monica Seles and Rafael Nadal: Similar Paths To the Top of Tennis
Published: June 9, 2010
To recap, let's take a look at Seles first.
It's actually been 20 years since she won her first Grand Slam Title at the French Open at the age of 16. Seles turned pro in early 1989 and bagged her first title within months. In a small tournament in the United States, Seles defeated Chris Evert in the final and then went deep in the French Open later that year losing, to Steffi Graf.
In 1990, Seles defeated Graf in the final of the German Open and then went on to defeat her in the French Open final to become the youngest ever winner of the tournament.
What Seles was able to do so quickly and dramatically was break Steffi Graf’s stranglehold on the world No. 1 position and establish a rivalry at the Grand Slam level for three years, claiming the No. 1 position for two years until the stabbing incident in 1993.
Nadal had a similarly dramatic rise up the rankings as a teenager. Nadal first got people talking when he defeated Roger Federer in Miami in 2004 as a 17 year old.
A year later, in 2005, Nadal took the first two sets of the final in Miami before Federer went on to win the thriller in five sets.
That served notice to Federer because two months later, Nadal went on to beat Federer as an 18 year old in the semi final of the French Open, winning the tournament two days later on his birthday against Mariano Puerta.
Like Seles, Nadal went on to dominate Roland Garros for the next few years until his shocking loss to Soderling in 2009.
Like Seles, Nadal rose dramatically as a teenager to challenge Federer at the top of the world rankings and create a rivalry when Federer was t...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis
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