HAMBURG, Germany -- Former world number one tennis player Monica Seles told a court Tuesday that a man who stabbed her two years ago had "ruined her life."


Seles, 21, has not played a tournament since Guenter Parche, 40, a lathe operator from eastern Germany, stabbed her in the back with a kitchen knife at the Hamburg Open on April 30, 1993.


On Tuesday the court began examining an appeal by Seles and Hamburg's prosecutor's office that the two-year suspended prison sentence imposed on Parche was too lenient. Seles and the public prosecutor are asking for a jail term of up to five years to be imposed on Parche. At the original trial the prosecution asked for a custodial sentence of two years and nine months.


Seles' lawyer, Gerhard Strate, read out a letter from Seles in which she told the court she was not in a position to attend the hearing.


"I only want justice, he [Parche] has ruined my life," Seles wrote. "The attack ended my career as the world's best tennis player for which I worked so hard all my life."


But Parche told the court he had only intended to injure Seles lightly and put her out of action for a few weeks. He said he did not pose a danger to society.


"It is completely out of the question that I would injure anyone again," he said. "I couldn't even steal a bar of chocolate from a supermarket."


He said he had acted out of love for Seles' German rival Steffi Graf, admitted that he still admired Graf but said: "I'm not as fanatical as I used to be."


Seles' father said Monday his daughter still steals glances behind her, fearful of the man who stalked and stabbed her.


Breaking a 15-month silence, Karolj Seles said his entire family will monitor the retrial and hope for justice. "He has taken everything from her," the elder Seles said through an interpreter. "She has lost everything. Her life has gone to pieces, her family's as well. She lost confidence in herself and other people. In one sentence: She has lost everything."


The center of intense curiosity and speculation, Seles has rarely been seen in public. Although the two centimeter-deep wound healed long ago, the incident's psychological damage -- applied to an intensely private person -- has yet to recede, her father said.


"Emotionally, she is like a roller coaster," Seles said of his daughter.


The appeal hearing, taking place amid tight security, is expected to last several days.


Referring to the earlier trial, Strate said: "Court proceedings suffered from a lack of evidence. In our view Parche took into account the possibility of killing Miss Seles. We would then be talking about attempted murder instead of bodily harm."


At the time of sentencing, the court said Parche was emotionally retarded and might not have been completely responsible for his actions.


Presiding judge Gertraut Goering said he had received piles of mainly anonymous hate mail, some from the United States, directed at Seles, including one letter saying she should be beheaded. (Reuters, LAT)