Seles still `traumatised'

TENNIS

Monica Seles, the former world No 1, suffers nightmares about being attacked again and feels like a bird trapped in a cage, her psychologist told a German court in Hamburg yesterday.

At the retrial of Gunter Parche, who stabbed Seles on court two years ago, the American psychologist, Jerry May, said his patient was terrified that he would attack her again.

Seles, who has not played in a tournament since being stabbed the at Hamburg Open in April 1993, was still suffering from post-traumatic stress. "This is usual for people who have experienced a traumatic situation like a woman who has been raped, or a person who has been in a war," May said.

The retrial of the 40-year-old lathe operator from eastern Germany started last week.

Parche received a two-year suspended sentence in October 1993 after a judge ruled that he was emotionally retarded and might not have been completely responsible for his actions.

Seles and the prosecutor appealed, asking for the sentence to be increased to five years in jail. Seles also wants Parche to be sentenced for attempted manslaughter instead of grievous bodily harm.