Tennis legend Monica Seles has revealed her “tough” journey with the rare neuromuscular autoimmune disease.
According to Tennis World, the nine-time Grand Slam champion in a recent interview revealed that she has been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular autoimmune disease.
The 51-year-old began experiencing muscle weakness and double vision five years ago, and the diagnosis was made two years ago.
The former No. 1 decided to share her journey publicly for the first time and raise awareness ahead of the last major tournament of the season, the US Open.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the former tennis player said that while playing tennis with some kids or family members, she missed the ball and realised that she was seeing two balls.
The symptoms were quite obvious, but it took her some time to “absorb it” and talk about it because it was a “difficult one” that affected her day-to-day life a lot.
The former Serbian-American tennis professional experienced weakness in legs and arms and double vision such that “just blowing my hair out … became very difficult.”
Seles told AP, “It’s a very tough time. Then, obviously, becoming a great player is a reset, too, because the fame, money, and attention change (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.”
“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.’ And that’s what I’m doing now,” she added.
As per the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, myasthenia gravis is a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles. The disease commonly impacts young adult women (under 40) and older men (over 60) but can occur at any age.
