Boris Becker drops 1-word reaction to sum up Monica Seles' 'greatness' as she attends Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz matches at Indian Wells

Boris Becker recently expressed his approval of Monica Seles' legacy as one of the greatest players the sport has ever witnessed. The American, who has kept a low profile over the years, overjoyed tennis fans with her rare appearance at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Wednesday (March 12).

Since hanging up her racket in 2008, the former World No. 1 has not made many appearances at tour-level events. However, she was in attendance on Wednesday during the evening session on Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Masters to watch Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper's respective fourth-round victories over Grigor Dimitrov and Taylor Fritz.

Six-time Major winner Boris Becker, whose playing days coincided with those of Monica Seles, was extremely happy to see her at the Palm Springs event, going by his reaction on X (formerly Twitter). The German reposted TennisTV's video of the American catching some live action in Indian Wells while approving of her greatness.

"Absolutely," Boris Becker wrote in his repost on X later on Thursday.

Seles is arguably tennis' greatest young prospect if her exploits from the late 1980s to the early 1990s are anything to go by. She challenged Steffi Graf's monopoly of the WTA tour at a time when the German had no close rivals, defeating her in three of their four Major finals in 1990-93.

During this period, Monica Seles enjoyed eight Grand Slam triumphs — three at the Australian Open, three at the French Open, and two at the US Open — before turning 20. Unfortunately, her career hit a major setback in April 1993 when she was stabbed on-court by a crazed Graf fan, Gunter Parche, during the quarterfinals of the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany.

While Seles made a successful pro-tour comeback in late 1995, the American wasn't the same player anymore as she managed to win just one more Major title at the 1996 Australian Open. She recorded consistent results at all four Grand Slam tournaments regularly though, before eventually retiring from the sport in 2008 with 53 singles titles and 178 weeks at the top WTA ranking position to her name.

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"I didn't even think one day I'd be back" - When Monica Seles talked about break from tennis after getting stabbed

Steffi Graf beat Monica Seles in their last two Major finals at US Open | Image Source: Getty

Monica Seles was allowed to keep her World No. 1 ranking upon her return to the game in 1995 after the stabbing incident. The American, who was 21 then, won the title at her first tournament back at the 1995 Canadian Open. Following her triumph, she told Newsweek that the prospect of the knife having been lodged "an inch over into her spine" was very frightening for her.

"Everything was so dark for a long time. I thought about how lucky I was the knife wasn't an inch over into my spine," Monica Seles said in August 1995. "I think I've grown up a lot in two and a half years. Lying in the hospital I thought about my life a lot. I didn't even think that one day I'd be back playing tennis."

Meanwhile, the man who stabbed Seles and derailed her career received a suspended two-year sentence in 1993, which means he was placed on probation and did not need to serve jail time. He died at the age of 68 in a nursing home in 2002.