ATTACKER DEAD
Fan who stabbed world No1 Monica Seles in back on court dies aged 68 after a month of not responding in nursing home
THE infamous attacker of former tennis superstar Monica Seles has died aged 68.
Steffi-Graf-obsessed Gunter Parche STABBED the Yugoslavian-born icon in the back during her 1993 match with Magdalena Maleeva.
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And according to , he passed away after being found unresponsive in a nursing home.
The cause of Parche's death - which is said to have been peaceful - has yet to be revealed.
Parche spent the last 14 years living in a nursing home in Nordhausen Germany, where he reportedly lived in a single room.
It's claimed the German - who had previously received palliative care - spent the final month of his life lying in bed.
Parche took an incredible disliking towards Seles after she beat Graf in the finals of the 1990 French Open final.
The Graf-mad Parche's fury grew when Seles became the World No.1 in 1991.
And he took it out on her during the Hamburg Open - leaping over the fence and stabbing her in the back with a nine-inch knife between games.
Parche was immediately apprehended by security, while Seles was taken to the hospital.
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Despite admitting he wanted to "hurt" Seles, Parche sensationally avoided any jail time as he was handed a two-year suspended sentence.
Seles fumed with the verdict and eventually managed to secure a retrial.
But the judge at Parche’s second trial opted to uphold the previous sentence bestowed.
Parche - who was described as a "mentally unbalanced loner" - passed away in his nursing home last November.
Seles managed to recover from the horror stabbing and returned to the court two years later - although she wasn't the same player.
But she did manage to taste glory again in the 1996 Australia Open.
Seles seldom speaks about the incident as it brings back too many bad memories.
But in an interview with , she said of returning to the court: "The thing was - when I thought of coming back I had no idea how I would feel sitting back down on the chair, knowing the person who had stabbed me had never been put in jail.
"There were so many ifs. In the end though, after two and a half years, I felt I just had to try.
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"I came back in Toronto and the fans' support was just amazing.
"I won that first tournament back, and that helped. It was like: 'I am still pretty good at this.'"
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