Getting A Grip

Celebrities have it all and some have it even more, like Monica Seles. JR Books published Getting A Grip by Monica Seles. The autobiography gives an insight into the reality of women’s tennis and reveals the intimate relationship of dieting with binge eating. Monica Seles tells her story of early fame, reveals the nightmares that hound her and the demons walking with her.

In 1993, Monica Seles was on top of women's tennis. At 19, she was the world number one in women’s tennis ranking with eight Grand Slams securely under her belt. She looked looked forward to a record breaking career to equal Martina Navratilova's and would do everything to surpass her. In Hamburg, the unimaginable happened. A mad German attacked her and stabbed her in the shoulder. The attacker got away with a probationary sentence. Monica Seles was sentenced to a life of ongoing fear, nightmares and depression.

A possibly historical career entitling her to multi-million dollar sponsor deals playing tennis came to an abrupt end. She entered a period of trying to come to terms with what had happened, and failed miserably. She joined a multitude of other crime victims mostly unnamed and unknown in misery and depression deserted by justice systems around the world. Her father and coach was diagnosed with cancer at the same time, and it proved to be terminal.

Getting back into the game after 1995, she was stricken with panic attacks, nightmares and a 20 kilogram gain in weight. She never got back into her former top form. Numerous stress injuries bore proof of the struggle with her weight. A link between her injuries and her weight was obvious and she became obsessed with lowering her weight to her former sporting weight of 57 kilograms. She became convinced that regaining her former weight was the key to success. In consequence, she bought just about every book on dieting available on the market.

This isn't the perfect misery memoir. Monica Seles has an innate sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously. She sees the funny side in many of the situations she got into.

The more she tried to diet, the more time she spent in front of the fridge stuffing her face. She hired a food coach. The duties included emptying the mini-bars in the hotels she was staying in keeping staff from delivering any orders she might place with room service. When she didn't stay in a hotel, he slept next to the kitchen to intercept her midnight excursions to fridge and larder. This didn’t stop her from hopping round the corner to the next convenience store on the sly.

With all this, readers are granted a look backstage of women tennis. She describes the strange atmosphere prevalent at events all over the world. A locker room with two women top seeds puts a fridge to shame the way she describes it. Women tennis players seem to have a need to keep a frosty distance from other top seeds. this is the opposite to men's tennis, where top seeds are able to be respectful to each other and might even be friends off court.

The book shows very credibly that eating and drinking don't make you fat. It is also recommended for all tennis fans as well as people believing in personal achievement. All the scam dieting sellers including Weight Watchers and the robber barons marketing Light and Diet products will hate it, though. This is the moment to enjoy this book, drink a tea, and eat a scone with a rich dollop of butter, jam, and cream.

Further reading
Swiss Personality of the Year Stanislas Wawrinka
Giving Up: Key to Success
Jerzy Janowicz and Andy Murray