Billie Jean King sends touching tribute to Monica Seles on her 51st birthday

Billie Jean King extended warm greetings to Monica Seles on her 51st birthday. The 12-time Grand Slam champion described Seles as a "great champion" and her "friend."

Along with the poignant wish, King, who became the first individual female athlete to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, affixed a picture of her alongside Seles.

"Happy birthday to the great champion and my friend, 9x Grand Slam winner @MonicaSeles10s. Monica won 8 of her Grand Slam titles as a teenager," King wrote on X.

Monica Seles, a former World no. 1, emphatically erupted on the scene in 1990, winning that year's French Open with a shocking win over German tennis legend Steffi Graf in the final.

Seles would go on to rack up seven more Majors over the next two years before a stabbing attack at the hands of Graf's fan Gunter Parche at Hamburg in 1993 derailed her career. She returned to action in 1995, after becoming a citizen of the United States.

After mounting her highly-publicized comeback, Seles, however, was unable to replicate her initial success. She won only one more Slam: the Australian Open in 1996 and eventually hung up her racket in 2008.

"In 1999, I had the honor of serving as her @BJKCup captain, and Team USA won that year," King added in her post. "Hoping your birthday is full of joy, Monica."

In the 1999 edition of the Billie Jean King Cup (called the 'Fed Cup' back then), the US team, which included Seles, defeated Russia 4-1 in the final to clinch victory for the 16th time.

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"I couldn't sleep at night" - Monica Seles on dealing with 1993 stabbing incident

Monica Seles detailed her anguish after a fan of rival Steffi Graf stabbed her at the peak of her career - Source: Getty

Monica Seles was stabbed in her shoulder blades by Steffi Graf's fan Gunter Parche, who was later found to be mentally unstable, at the very height of her powers. She later admitted that the incident impacted her deeply, leaving her unable to sleep at night.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated before her comeback to the sport in 1995, the former teen prodigy disclosed that the haunting memory of her scream kept eating her alive.

"I'd go out on the court, I could be playing great tennis, and it would all start coming back. I'd say, 'I can't do this.' I pretty much moved to daylight sleeping times. I couldn't sleep at night. I saw shadows in every corner," Seles said.

The former World No. 1 added that she went into "total depression" after the stabbing incident, and didn't feel comfortable leaving her house.

"I couldn't sleep at all. I would be up all night in my room, just sitting. In the dark or light, I didn't feel comfortable leaving the house. Total depression. I was just reliving that moment. And the knife," Seles said.