'Like a horror movie': 30 years on, witnesses recall Monica Seles attack

Thirty years have passed since a crazed Steffi Graf fan stabbed tennis star Monica Seles on court in Hamburg, but witnesses can still recall the attack, describing it as "like a horror movie".

On April 30, 1993, Guenter Parche, an unemployed German with an unhealthy obsession with Graf, walked onto the court at Hamburg's Citizen Cup, where Seles was playing Magdalena Maleeva, carrying a boning knife.

Parche plunged the knife between Seles's shoulder blades, later telling police he wanted to "hurt Seles so much that she couldn't play tennis for a long time."

Christoph Werle, a scoreboard attendant at the tournament, told Germany's Welt on Saturday that the attack was "like a horror movie."

"I screamed, which could clearly be heard on TV. I could no longer formulate a clear warning."

Werle's shock meant he was unable to warn the world number one, but his scream "made Seles move forward slightly to see me. That was potentially life-saving because Parche couldn't stab as deeply."

Winfried Roehl, a spectator, ran onto the court to grab Seles after seeing "her t-shirt went red".

"I saw the knife lying there. I thought, shit, if this is deep, it doesn't look good."

Parche told police: "I couldn't bear the thought that anyone could beat Steffi".

Seles was just 19 when she was stabbed and, already with eight Grand Slam titles, was on track to become one of the best the sport had ever seen.

Seles battled bouts of depression and eating disorders after the attack, returning to the court two years afterwards but vowing never to play on German soil again.

Despite winning another Grand Slam in 1996, to bring her total to nine, she never fully recovered from the mental anguish of the attack.

"This guy changed tennis history, I have no doubt about