Monica Seles Gets a Grip

Monica Seles is a former number-one world professional tennis player who became the youngest-ever champion at the French Open in 1990, and went on to win nine Grand Slam singles titles, according to her publisher.

Seles visited Good Day NY on Thursday. Watch the video, left.

In her new book, Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self, Monica writes about her struggles with binge-eating and depression. She had dominated the tennis circuit for three years until a deranged fan stabbed her in the back on the court. She spent two years recovering from her injuries and training to make a comeback, but she descended into a depression, turning to food for comfort.

She sabotaged six-hour workouts by secretive late-night binges. Playing with an extra 30 pounds and devastated after losing her father (who was also her coach) to cancer, she never regained her former dominance on tour. Her memoir is about how she finally took control of her life and found the peace and balance.

"When I started on this journey, I had all the diet books, I knew what to do, I worked with the famous trainers," Seles said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But yet I couldn't get it."

Although the book is a memoir, she hopes it can also teach readers a lesson about conquering demons about food without having to embark on an unhealthy diet fad.

"I've tried every single one of them; I could recite them for you sitting here," Seles said. "But until I realized that I held that power -- not my trainer, not my coach, not my family, but me -- that's when I think I started to shift in the way I thought."

>READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK