Seles’ killer is dead

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On April 30, 1993, tennis lost its innocence. During the tournament in Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Monica Seles met Magdalena Maleewa. Seles was clearly ahead when she was attacked by Günter Parche with a 9-inch kitchen knife and stabbed in the back when switching sides.

That was 30 years ago. Now Bild reports that Parche is dead. He died in August 2022 in a nursing home in the East German town of Nordhausen. «During his stay at the house, he was always inconspicuous, taking part in leisure activities: afternoons at the cinema, doing crafts and reading the newspaper. He had spent the last four weeks before his death lying in bed until one night he finally fell asleep peacefully. He had received palliative care for that,” the newspaper writes.

He wanted to take out Seles for Graf

Parche had been a fanatical fan of great Seles opponent Steffi Graf. As a reason for his action, he stated at the time that he wanted to sideline Seles so that Graf could become number 1 in the world again.

After the terrible attack, Parche was a monster to many. But not for Gisela Friedrichsen, who oversaw the two trials as a Spiegel court reporter. “Parche was a stunted little man, a poor wiener who had done something crazy out of blindness,” she explains.

Parche was eventually sentenced to two years of probation. A judgment that Seles has never been able to understand and accept. The physical injuries Parche inflicted on her healed quickly, but the psychological injuries remained. Until today. (LED)

Source : Blick