Newport, July 12 (IANS) Former American tennis star Monica Seles has been enshrined into the International Hall of Fame.
Seles, 35, was Saturday inducted in a 90-minute ceremony along with Andres Gimeno, the oldest player ever to win the French Open at 34 years, 10 months. Robert Johnson, a Virginia physician who promoted tennis among blacks and championed the careers of Hall of Famers Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, was inducted posthumously.

If Gimeno was the oldest to win the clay major - the French Open - Seles was the youngest to win it at the age of 16. She became the No. 1 player in the world at 17 and held on to the title for 178 weeks.

“I would like to thank all my tennis fans who were there from my No. 1 days, through my stabbing, and my comeback,” said Yugoslavia-born Seles, who was in a lavender top and white slacks.

Seles said she has donated her trophies to the Hall of Fame - 50 are displayed in a special exhibit now.

“I know my trophies have a wonderful home and hope they inspire young children to pick up a racquet and hit a few balls, and fall in love with the game the way I did,” Seles said.

Seles won French Open three times, the Australian Open three times and the U.S. Open twice when she was stabbed by a deranged Steffi Graf fan during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg in 1993.

She added another Australian Open title in 1996, her ninth major and also the last when she was 22.

Seles won 53 titles on the women’s tour and earned $14 million in prize money. She became a U.S. citizen in 1994 and played on five U.S. Federation Cup teams, helping the Americans to win the Fed Cup three times. She was on the U.S. Olympic Team in 1996 and 2000 and earned a bronze medal in 2000.