Nine-time grand slam tennis winner and current Dancing with the Stars contestant Monica Seles has signed a book deal with Avery, an imprint of Penguin Group to pen her memoir.
Seles, 34, plans to detail her years as a top professional tennis player as well as her personal journey, the loss of her father, and her own self-discovery. The book is tentatively slated for a May 2009 release.
“Tennis has given me so much and I was so lucky and so spoiled that at such an early age I was very good,” Seles tells PEOPLE. “I was well known. I was a top player. I was making a lot of money. I was meeting people that you dream about meeting, so you get really spoiled and yet [you're] alone, your career ends like at 30 when most people’s careers start. And you don’t have a normal childhood no matter what anyone says because you travel. You really can’t have any friends. It’s a really isolated life so you’re like, ‘What do I do now? ‘ “
Seles, who officially retired from tennis on February 14, 2008, is coming to terms with being in the uber-bright DWTS spotlight. She made her ballroom debut on Tuesday, comparing it to “going to the prom.” Her fox trot earned mild reviews and scores from the judges. She’ll take another crack at dancing on Monday, when she and partner Jonathan Roberts perform the mambo.
“It’s a big stretch for me because the moves that we do in the mambo I’ve never done in my life,” Seles says, laughing to herself. “I warned my mom. I said ‘Mom, keep in mind this is what it takes [to win].’ I mean, we’re shaking major parts!” — Monica Rizzo
BOB D’AMICO/ABC
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