Tennis icon Monica Seles reveals diagnosis with rare disease
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.
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.
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.
More to follow.
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The Guardian
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‘It's a horrible picture': Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease
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It's a horrible picture,' said Krystel Moussally, epidemiology adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières and a co-author of studies on drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza and other conflict zones in the Middle East, who was not involved in the research. The study is based on more 1,300 samples from at al-Ahli hospital, where one of the few microbiology laboratories that is still functional in Gaza is based. Two-thirds of the samples, taken from patients over a 10-month period last year, showed the presence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. Bilal Irfan, one of the authors of the study, described the results as 'particularly alarming'. 'We don't even know the true scale because of the destruction of almost all the laboratories and the killing of a lot of the medical staff, so to even get a small insight into what is happening in Gaza is extremely important,' said Irfan, a bioethicist who conducts research at Harvard's Brigham and Women's hospital and the University of Michigan. 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Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Tennis legend Monica Seles 'learning to live with a new normal' after being diagnosed with rare disease
Nine-time Grand Slam tennis champion Monica Seles has revealed she is "learning to live with a new normal" after being diagnosed with a rare chronic neuromuscular disease three years ago. Seles was told she has myasthenia gravis (MG), a condition which causes muscle weakness, in 2022. The 51-year-old has told the Associated Press she first noticed the symptoms of the disease while she was playing tennis. The Serbian-American tennis great said: "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. "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." Seles, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, also experienced weakness in her arms and legs and said "just blowing my hair out... became very difficult". She said she had decided to speak publicly about her condition for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on 24 August, to raise awareness. America's 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". It is an autoimmune disease - used to describe a condition where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells, tissues, and organs. The US National Institutes of Health has said it affects around 1 in 5,000 people. Seles, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009, said she'd never heard of the condition until she saw a doctor about her symptoms and was referred to a neurologist. "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 which aims to help people with MG. "So this is where - I can't emphasise enough - I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it." It's been three decades since Seles returned to competition at the 1995 US Open, making it to the final, more than two years after she was attacked by a man with a knife at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany. "The way they welcomed me... after my stabbing, I will never forget," Seles said about the fans in New York. "Those are the moments that stay with you." Seles said she is learning to live a "new normal" nowadays and characterised her health as another in a series of life steps that required her to adapt. She said: "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 US 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."
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Monica Seles adapting to ‘new normal' after being diagnosed with neuromuscular disease
Monica Seles says she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular autoimmune disease – three years ago. The nine-time grand slam singles champion says she first noticed symptoms of the disease while she was swinging her 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.' Seles, who won her first major, the 1990 French Open, at the age of 16 and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time before this month's US Open to raise awareness of the condition. 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'. There is currently no known cure. The 51-year-old said she'd never heard of the condition until she was referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her arms – 'just blowing my hair out … became very difficult,' she said – and legs. 'When I got diagnosed, I was like, 'What?!'' said Seles. 'So this is where – I can't emphasize enough – I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.' The disease can also cause difficulty in swallowing, speaking and affect facial expressions. It's been three decades since Seles returned to competition at the 1995 US Open, making it to the final, more than two years after she was stabbed at a tournament in Germany. 'The way they welcomed me … after my stabbing, I will never forget,' Seles said about the fans in New York. 'Those are the moments that stay with you.' Seles says she is learning to live a 'new normal' and characterized her health as another in a series of life steps that required adapting. '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 US 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. And that's what I'm doing now.' Seles won nine grand slam singles titles during her playing career, with Wimbledon being the only major she missed out on, although she did reach the final in 1992. Her 178 weeks at No 1 is sixth all-time in WTA history.
