Seles playing for time

Monica Seles, the former world No1, is still refusing to name the date of her return to competitive tennis, but says she hopes to play in the US Open next month.

The 21-year-old has not played since being stabbed in the back in April 1993 at a tournament in Hamburg. She had been expected to announce which tournament would mark her return to competition at a news conference during the Special Olympics World Games in Connecticut, where she held a coaching clinic on Saturday. Instead, Seles said only that she hopes to play in a tournament before the US Open. "I feel that I'm ready both physically and emotionally. I hope to return. I hope to play the US Open. I believe that I can do it."

Seles has already announced that she will play an exhibition game against Martina Navratilova in Atlantic City on 29 July.

She has still not officially entered for the US Open, but said: "I'll see how the match goes against Martina and then decide. If I'm good, I'll be there. If I'm not, I don't deserve to be there."

She also said that she had taken her career too seriously and now wants to have more fun. "I think women's tennis can survive without Monica and Monica can survive without tennis," Seles said. "But we're both better off with each other."