[Tenis Srbija]

Originally Posted by incognito

That exhibition never took place, nor did she appear at the big Ana/Jelena/Novak/Janko exhibition earlier this month which she was invited to. In fact, Seles hasn't been to Serbia for the last 15 years and as far as I know she hasn't even given any real interview to Serbian media during this time...

Because of the recent tennis boom in Serbia, I'm sure her name would ring a bell to many, but only hardcore tennis fans would know specific details about her and her career, which is not surprising given that she's had zero connections to Serbia for so long and that she hasn't really been a big name on court as well during this time...

What??? Only hardcore tennis fans would know specific details about her and her career? Everybody knows that she was No1, everybody knows how young she was when she started winning all those tournaments, everybody knows that she was stabbed, everybody knows even who was her greatest opponents... You can't expect from a 15 year old to know these stuff, but everyone that was about 15-16 years old when she came on the stage know these stuff... So she would ring ALL THE BELLS...

But there aren't any informations about her coming in 2008. also...

[ce]

sadly
Momika forgor about her country
and thats why i dont respect her very much

[rolandg]

Originally Posted by ce

sadly
Momika forgor about her country
and thats why i dont respect her very much

Well, she was never really Serbian, so I can understand her not having much to do with Serbia. Didn't she get Hungarian citizenship a couple of years ago?

[Just Do It]

Whatever, she was born and finished high school here and she started playing tennis here, and she even does not bother to come here once in 10 years.

I am wondering is Monica's family still here ?

[rolandg]

Originally Posted by JustDoIt

Whatever, she was born and finished high school here and she started playing tennis here, and she even does not bother to come here once in 10 years.

I am wondering is Monica's family still here ?

I thought she left Yugoslavia when she was eight. She said in an interview a few years ago that she went back with her family when her father was ill, but she doesn't know anyone there or have any family there.

She has an apartment in Budapest, and, to be honest, if I was an ethnic Hungarian, my emotional ties would be with Hungary too.

[Just Do It]

She has an apartment in Budapest, and, to be honest, if I was an ethnic Hungarian, my emotional ties would be with Hungary too.

I think you would change your mind when Hungarian goverment wouldnt let you enter Hungary without visa and wouldnt give you Hungarian citizenship. If Monika got it, it is just because she is popular, otherwise she wouldnt get it becuase Hungarian people voted AGAINST giving citizenship to Hungarian Serbs

So, basicly, everything she had/achieved was in Serbia.

[rolandg]

Originally Posted by JustDoIt

I think you would change your mind when Hungarian goverment wouldnt let you enter Hungary without visa and wouldnt give you Hungarian citizenship. If Monika got it, it is just because she is popular, otherwise she wouldnt get it becuase Hungarian people voted AGAINST giving citizenship to Hungarian Serbs

So, basicly, everything she had/achieved was in Serbia.

Well, technically, pretty much everything she achieved, she achieved because of America, and the economic opportunities that country offered her. She only spent a few years of her life in Serbia.

I don't really care one way or the other, I just think it is a little unfair that she is often criticised for turning her back on Serbia, when she isn't Serbian.

[Just Do It]

Okay, I will say this and wil lstop then

She was born in Serbia, she started playing tennis here and them moved to USA ( just like Jankovic ) and was playing for Serbia ( Yugoslavia back then ) ! I mean, what should we say for US, UK, AUS and other countries who are ofering money and better training conditions just to play for them ? Monica was born in Novi Sad ( my town ) where Hungarians are 2-5% and they mostly dont speak Hungarian and feel like Serbs

[rolandg]

Originally Posted by JustDoIt

Okay, I will say this and wil lstop then

She was born in Serbia, she started playing tennis here and them moved to USA ( just like Jankovic ) and was playing for Serbia ( Yugoslavia back then ) ! I mean, what should we say for US, UK, AUS and other countries who are ofering money and better training conditions just to play for them ? Monica was born in Novi Sad ( my town ) where Hungarians are 2-5% and they mostly dont speak Hungarian and feel like Serbs

I think the thing with her is that she does speak Hungarian and probably does feel more Hungarian than Serbian.

I don't know. It is obviously quite a complicated issue, but I always felt sorry for her, always being criticised and having to deal with death threats and such for being Serbian, when she clearly didn't consider herself Serbian and had little attachment to the country.

[Just Do It]

always being criticised and having to deal with death threats and such for being Serbian, when she clearly didn't consider herself Serbian and had little attachment to the country.

First She wasnt criticised.
Second I am not sure can she speak Hungarian and is she fluent in it at all ( while she is in Serbian )
Third : you cant say she fells more Hungarian than Serbian and that wasnt attached to Serbia because she never said or even suggested something like that.

That is your opinion,and I appriciate it, but strongly disagree.

[rolandg]

Originally Posted by JustDoIt

First She wasnt criticised.
Second I am not sure can she speak Hungarian and is she fluent in it at all ( while she is in Serbian )
Third : you cant say she fells more Hungarian than Serbian and that wasnt attached to Serbia because she never said or even suggested something like that.

That is your opinion,and I appriciate it, but strongly disagree.

Sorry, I don't know how old you are, but in the early nineties, when she played for Yugoslavia, she was constantly criticised for being Serbian. Croation players went on at her, people protested outside tournaments she played, she received death threats and she was constantly pressed by journalists to comment on the balkan crisis.

Hungarian is her first language. Her family still speak it to each other and she speaks English even now with quite a heavy Hungarian accent. I think she can still speak Serbian, but she said in an interview a while ago, I think at the US Open, that she spoke to Jelena Dokic mostly in English because she had forgotten her Serbian and it was so bad.

Before she became a US citizen, she and her family always referred to themselves as Hungarian, never Serbian. Peter Bodo, who is an American tennis writer for Tennis magazine, was one of the few journalists that could speak to Karoli Seles because he too spoke Hungarian, and he said that Karoli and Monica alwys found it difficult, because they had no emotional involvement in Serbia and the things that went on, as they are Hungarian.

I always found her life and history fascinating, and that's why I always felt sorry for her.

[cc1228]

I'm just writing to confirm what rolandg has stated. I've been a huge fan of Monica's since 1989 and have most every article/magazine on her. Her father's family immigrated to Yugoslavia. Both her parents are ethnic Hungarian. She spoke and still speaks Hungarian with her family. She also went to Hungarian school in Novi Sad. She left Serbia when she was 11.
Here's a woman who started traveling to different countries at an early age and left when she was 11. I don't think she ever felt a connection with Serbia. She was too into tennis and being a kid. She was too young to know what was going on with that country politically. (the breakup of Yugoslavia) That's why in 90-93 when people were pressing her on her political views she never talked about it. She knows if she would have said anything she would have come across ignorant because I don't think she felt like she belonged on either side. She has even stated in interviews that she's from Hungary. (interview in 96 that I have on tape). The interviewer asks her where she grew up and she says Hungary.
She's a ethnic Hungarian who happened to be born in Novi Sad.
I think she has fond memories of Novi Sad and Serbia but feels more Hungarian and American.

And your right Rolandg. I find her life fascinating as well. This woman who really is a Mutt if you think about it. Made up of all different ethnic races and torn between each one.

(sorry to use the dog reference but I think it fits)

[Just Do It]

Guys, I watched on RTL CROATIA thi year Monica's interview in Barcelona ( sport awards or something ) and she was speaking in Serbian. Her Serbian is PERFECT !! And I still cant believe her parents cant speak Serbian, since they lived in Novi Sad for 20-30 years where no one speaks Hungarian