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Monica Seles' recent appearance at the semifinal match between Iga Swiatek and Marta Kostyuk in Indian Wells has sparked numerous discussions among fans.
Seles is a former professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and America towards the end of her career. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time and won 53 singles titles including nine Majors. She also sat at the top of the WTA Rankings for a total of 178 weeks.
During one of her matches in 1993, Seles was stabbed by an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf. This setback kept the American player away from the courts for two years. Even when she did make a comeback, she couldn't achieve the same level of success and eventually retired from tennis in 2008.
Monica Seles was recently spotted at the ongoing BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she was seen enjoying the semifinal match between Iga Swiatek and Marta Kostyuk. The Pole won the match 6-2, 6-1 and advanced to the final against Maria Sakkari.
Fans were elated to get an appearance of Monica Seles and took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their excitement. One fan expressed that they weren't particularly interested in the upcoming Netflix documentary about Carlos Alcaraz or Break Point; rather, they hoped for a documentary focusing on the nine-time Major champion.
"Who cares about Carlos and breakpoint? We need a documentary about her @netflix," the fan wrote.
Another fan felt that the American looked a little like Roger Federer's wife Mirka:
"Monica Seles looks like Mirka Federer a little."
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Monica Seles won Indian Wells in 1992
Monica Seles rose through the ranks fast and became the World No. 1 as a teenager and won a whopping eight Grand Slams before turning 20.
After nearly winning Indian Wells in 1991 (losing to Martina Navratilova in the final), Seles returned to the tournament the following year as the top seed, hoping to avenge her loss.
The American went on a rampage since the beginning of the tournament when she took out Elna Reinach 6-1, 6-1 in her opening match. She took this form into the next round against ninth seed Tami Whitlinger-Jones, defeating her 6-2, 6-3.
Seles then double-bagelled seventh seed Gigi Fernandez in the quarterfinals and followed it up with a 6-1, 6-0 win against fourth seed Katerina Maleeva in the semifinals.
Monica Seles met Conchita Martinez in the championship match and beat the Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 to clinch her only Indian Wells title.
