PARIS -- Monica Seles' worst showing ever at a Grand Slam tournament could wind up being her last.

After losing in the first round at the French Open, she said she needs to take some time away from the game to see if her injured feet will heal enough to allow her to play without pain.

"I know I'm in the later stages of my career. I don't have the luxury of taking five-to-six months off. At the same time, I don't want to have surgery,'' the tournament's 12th-seeded woman said Tuesday.

Might this have been her final French Open?

"If I can't practice the level that I want to, yeah, definitely. And if I can, then for sure not,'' she said, "because this is not the way I would like to leave.''

Seles spoke after dropping nine straight games en route to a 6-4, 6-0 loss to Nadia Petrova, a Russian ranked 76th in the world.

"I was debating playing or not. But once I decided to play, I gave it my best shot,'' Seles said. "That was definitely not one of my best performances, but it was the best that I could give today.''

It was the first time in 40 major tournaments since her career started in 1989 that Seles has been eliminated in the first round. And she had made at least the quarterfinals in all of her 10 previous visits to Roland Garros, winning the title each year from 1990-92.

She's won a total of nine major championships, but hasn't been to a final at one of the big four tournaments since the 1998 French Open.

In 2003, Seles has a 10-7 match record and was knocked out in the second round at the Australian Open.

She hasn't won a title this year, although she did make the finals at Tokyo in February (losing to Lindsay Davenport) and at Dubai three weeks later (losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne). Bothered by the foot problems, Seles took March off, played one event in April, then quit during a second-round match against, as it happens, Petrova at the Italian Open earlier this month. At the time, Seles described the injury as the preliminary stages of a stress fracture in her left foot.

"It's no fun to play when you're in pain. I'm learning that this year,'' Seles said Tuesday. "I'll try to stay positive and stay in shape, and we'll see.''

She's going to rest for about 10 days to see if that helps. If not, she might be forced to skip a trip to the All England Club -- the site of the only Grand Slam tournament she hasn't won.

"I might have to take a bit of a longer break. Definitely, I would love to play,'' said Seles, who is 29. "But if I am at the level that I was today, I don't think you'll see me at Wimbledon.''