Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My SelfFor those of you tuned into this past seasonÂ's Dancing with the Stars, itÂ's hard to believe that spectacularly fit former tennis champion Monica Seles struggled with binge-eating and depression. Getting a Grip chronicles MonicaÂ's success on the tennis circuit where, at age sixteen, she became the youngest winner in French Open history. For three years she dominated the tour, racking up eight Grand Slam titles, and charming the media at post-match conferences with her trademark giggle. She seemed unstoppable until a deranged Steffi Graf fan plunged a knife into her back during a match in Hamburg and turned her life upside down. Her injuries healed but the emotional trauma was deep. With no support from the WTA and her number-one ranking falling, Monica sunk into a depression. Hiding from the media and disappearing from the tennis world, she turned to food for comfort. She spent more than two years in seclusion, trying to fight off the fog of despair. Back in the public eye but far from recovered, she continued the battle against herself—grueling six-hour workouts were sabotaged by secretive late-night binges—and she was assaulted with criticism about her weight from her trainers, nutritionists, and, most brutally, the press. Playing with an extra thirty pounds and devastated after losing her father/coach to cancer, she was never able to regain her former dominance on tour. After an excruciating injury forced her to take time off from tennis in 2003, Seles embarked on her own journey. She abandoned the arduous workouts and the punitive diets. As she uncovered the painful emotional reasons that had been the trigger for her binge-eating, she finally found the peace and balance she had been searching for. Monica SelesÂ's determination, amazing talent, and touching vulnerability make her story both incredibly human and inspiring. By sharing her own narrative, she hopes to motivate other people to take control of their lives and their own happiness. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Blasting Through the Comfort Zone | 5 |
Girls Dont Play Tennis | 13 |
The Land of Plenty | 21 |
Academy 101 | 27 |
Shes Not All That | 34 |
Back to Basics | 37 |
The Training Wheels of Professional Tennis | 44 |
A Girls Best Friend | 155 |
The ATeam | 165 |
Roman Holiday | 173 |
The Wolfs Mouth | 179 |
Gladiator | 187 |
Gold Isnt Everything | 193 |
Injustice Served | 201 |
A Chemical Army | 204 |
The Big Time | 47 |
The Grand Dame of Grand Slams | 53 |
Hitting My Stride 56 | 56 |
Reaching the Top | 63 |
Ego Check | 70 |
In the Zone | 81 |
Derailed 89 69 | 89 |
Another Hit 46 | 94 |
Keep Running | 98 |
Happy? | 102 |
Baby Steps | 107 |
A Resolution | 111 |
A Phone Call | 114 |
On My Own | 120 |
Cest la vie | 126 |
The Search Continues | 129 |
The Virtues of the Peanut | 137 |
A Hag with a Frying Pan | 145 |
Back in the Saddle | 209 |
Diet Secrets of the Sumo Wrestler | 218 |
Call Me Ox | 224 |
A Pumpkin by Midnight | 228 |
Live to Work or Work to Live? | 231 |
A WellTimed Rain Delay | 237 |
A Passing of the Grunting Torch | 241 |
Where Is the Panic Button? | 246 |
Worth a Thousand Words | 253 |
The Little Black Dress | 257 |
Just Jump | 262 |
A Certain Je ne sais quoi | 265 |
Embrace the Fear | 271 |
Life 101 | 276 |
Home | 280 |
283 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Academy Arantxa Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario asked athlete Australian Open ball beat Bobby body Chris Evert coach court dad's dinner dress Enzo everything fans favorite feel felt final Florida French Open friends Gavin getting girls going Grand Slam guys hard head Hingis hitting partner hitting session Italian Open Jennifer Capriati jump kids knew Lindsay Davenport locker room looked lose lost loved Martina Martina Hingis Martina Navratilova match Monica Monica Seles months morning needed never night Novi Sad okay Olympics Paris plane play tennis pounds quarterfinal racket ready Roland Garros Rome semifinal stabbing stadium started stay Steffi Steffi Graf stop tennis tennis player thing thought tiebreaker told took top players tour tournament trying U.S. Open waiting walked wanted watching weeks weight Wimbledon workouts Zoltan