Tennis legend Monica Seles has revealed she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease three years ago.
The 51-year-old, who won nine grand Slam titles throughout her career on the court, said she has been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular autoimmune disease that causes weakness in voluntary muscles – as she spoke out on the illness for the first time.
Now, ahead of the US Open which begins on August 24, the Serbian-American spoke out on the disease for the first time to raise awareness.
Seles, who shot to fame when she won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open , told The Associated Press that she first noticed the symptoms while she was swinging a racket.
‘I would be playing with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, ‘Yeah, I see two balls.’ These are obviously symptoms that you can’t ignore,’ Seles said.
‘And, for me, this is when this journey started. And it took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it’s a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot.’
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke calls it ‘a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles’ and ‘most commonly impacts young adult women (under 40) and older men (over 60) but … can occur at any age, including childhood.’
Seles said that she had been completely unaware of the condition before she saw a doctor over her symptoms.
‘When I got diagnosed, I was like, ‘What?!’ said Seles, who is partnering with argenx, an immunology company headquartered in the Netherlands, to promote their Go for Greater campaign. ‘So this is where — I can’t emphasize enough — I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.’
She was referred to a neurologist after noticing double vision and weakness in her arms. Seles revealed that even drying her hair had become a challenge.
The International Tennis Hall of Famer admitted that she has had to take time to adjust to her ‘new normal,’ learning to live life with her condition.
“I had to, in tennis terms, I guess, reset — hard reset — a few times. I call my first hard reset when I came to the U.S. as a young 13-year-old (from Yugoslavia). Didn’t speak the language; left my family. It’s a very tough time. Then, obviously, becoming a great player, it’s a reset, too, because the fame, money, the attention, changes (everything), and it’s hard as a 16-year-old to deal with all that. Then obviously my stabbing — I had to do a huge reset,” Seles said.
“And then, really, being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis: another reset. But one thing, as I tell kids that I mentor: ‘You’ve got to always adjust. That ball is bouncing, and you’ve just got to adjust,’” she added. “And that’s what I’m doing now.”
More to follow.
