Monica Sele was the top women’s player heading into 1993, having won the French Open three consecutive years and both the U.S. Open and Australian Open in consecutive years.

Everything, however, changed following an incident that shocked the tennis world on April 30, 1993. During a quarterfinal match with Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, a 38-year-old deranged Günter Parche, ran from the middle of the crowd to the edge of the court during a break between games and plunged a boning knife between Seles’s shoulder blades.

She was quickly rushed to a hospital. Her physical injuries took a few weeks to heal, but the psychological scars from this incident apparently left a much deeper impression on Seles. She did not return to competitive tennis for over two years. Parche was charged following the incident but was found to be psychologically abnormal and was sentenced to two years’ probation and psychological treatment.