Latest news with #MonicaSeles
Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Times
Monica Seles faces yet another challenge: living with an autoimmune disease
For several years, one of the great tennis champions of the modern era has existed as a kind of ghost. Monica Seles won nine Grand Slam tournament titles, seven of them before her 19th birthday. With her two-handed groundstrokes from both sides and her ability to paint lines from anywhere, she defined the term 'phenom'. She spent 91 consecutive weeks at No 1, playing 34 tournaments in that time. She reached the final in 33 of them. In April 1993, Seles and Steffi Graf were duelling for supremacy at the top of the sport when a fan fixated on Graf stabbed Seles at an event in Germany . She came back from over two years of physical and mental turmoil and promptly won another Grand Slam tournament title, even as the place where she displayed her tennis skills no longer felt safe. Seles, in a word, reset, while carrying the weight of what had happened. She retired from tennis in 2008, continuing to play exhibitions alongside other luminaries, including John McEnroe and Chris Evert. She played regularly, mentoring younger players. READ MORE But since 2019, Seles (51), who was born in Yugoslavia, has largely disappeared from public view. Around that year, she started experiencing double vision and extreme weakness in her arms and legs. She would see two balls coming at her on the tennis court instead of one. 'I thought, 'okay, just push through it',' Seles said in a video call from her home in Florida . 'But a couple of instances happened when – on court and in daily life – I realised there was something going on.' After a time, she sought medical advice, which was not easy to come by as 2019 turned into 2020 and the Covid pandemic began. Her doctor referred her to a neurologist. After two years of tests and scans, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, or MG, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects 150 to 200 people per million worldwide. The immune system attacks the neuromuscular junction – the pathway through which nerves and muscles communicate. Monica Seles was a generational talent who won seven Grand Slam titles before her 19th birthday. Photograph:Its symptoms, which include the double vision and muscle weakness Seles experienced, can come in phases, making an accurate diagnosis hard to obtain. 'Patients can present with fatigue and then healthcare providers have no idea what to do with that,' Beth Stein, director of neuromuscular diseases at St Joseph's Health in New Jersey, said in an interview. What ensues is a kind of reverse scavenger hunt, where physicians conduct a series of tests that eliminate mortal threats such as brain tumours. Antibody tests can confirm MG, but some patients do not possess them. 'When I first got my diagnosis, I'd never heard of it in the news or from anybody else,' Seles said. For Seles, MG has brought on another reset — the process tennis players go through from point to point, game to game, set to set and match to match throughout their careers. Her return to competitive tennis after her stabbing came at the 1995 Canadian Open. She won the title, losing 14 games along the way. She lost a titanic US Open final to Graf before resetting again to win the Australian Open in 1996. The process, in the micro and macro, defined her career and, to some extent, her life. 'After coming out from my former country to the IMG Academy, I had to totally reset,' she said. Monica Seles in action during the 1996 Australian Open final against Lindsay Davenport, her sole Grand Slam win after returning from a 1993 stabbing attack. Photograph:'When I became number one, it was a huge reset because everybody treats you differently. Then obviously when I got stabbed, that was a huge reset. And then when I was diagnosed, it was a huge reset. 'The day-to-day part of managing it, depending on my symptoms, is really adjusting, you know. I think anybody else who has myasthenia gravis knows it's a continuous adjustment.' Some days, Seles can play tennis and pickleball and walk her dogs. She makes sure to play with people who understand what she is living with. Still, 'some days are very extreme,' she said. [ Johnny Watterson: Don't cast Emma Raducanu as the villain in crying-child debate Opens in new window ] That can be hard to take for a world-class athlete. Sports are a part of her DNA and Seles wondered who she would be if she was not able to train and compete. Again, she drew on her experiences in tennis and some of the challenges she has faced in life. 'After my stabbing, I had to deal with that internally for quite a few years to process it, and my MG diagnosis was kind of very similar,' she said. 'I had to understand my new normal of day-to-day life, what I can do workwise and different things.' She would like to do some television commentary. She has done some previously, and loved it. 'I personally love listening to Chrissy, obviously,' Seles said of Chris Evert, 'because she can cover so many different generations and the expertise. She has so much life experience, which I think for the younger generation is so important to hear.' Indeed, she does. Still, there may be no one in tennis who has more life experience than Seles. — The New York Times 2025 The New York Times Company
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Health
- Independent Singapore
'It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot' — Grand Slam legend Monica Seles shares medical condition diagnosis of myasthenia gravis
Photo: Tennis legend Monica Seles recently shared her experience of having to live her life now with a condition called myasthenia gravis — a neuromuscular autoimmune disease. In a recent interview, the athlete shared that she felt the symptoms of this disease while doing the sport she loves–tennis. Seles was swinging the racket the way she had done many times before, until she felt that something had changed. Seles admitted: '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,' she added. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the illness is '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.' For Seles, she had never heard of the condition before, not until she saw a neurologist after having double vision and weakness in her arms. See also Canadian Vasek Pospisil ends Davis Cup career After her diagnosis, she expressed: 'So this is where — I can't emphasise enough — I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.' As an act of taking part for those who experience the same, Seles is partnering with argenx, an immunology company headquartered in the Netherlands, to promote their campaign. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Monica Seles (@monicaseles10s) Monica Seles's athletic career During her peak tennis career, Seles won nine Grand Slam titles and also gained a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She won her first major award at the age of 16 at the 1990 French Open. She then played her last match back in 2003. She was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago. It has been 30 years since Seles made a comeback at the 1995 US Open, where she reached the final. This was more than two years after she was attacked by a man with a knife during a tournament in Germany. See also WTA suspends spectator following Emma Raducanu incident in Dubai 'The way they welcomed me … after my stabbing, I will never forget… Those are the moments that stay with you,' she declared. Netizens expressed their support to Seles by saying: 'As a fellow warrior, I can't thank you enough for spreading awareness of MG! I am impressed with your courage and strength to do this!! We got this!', and 'You're the best, Monika! Thank you for all you have done and continue to do! ❤️.' () => { const trigger = if ('IntersectionObserver' in window && trigger) { const observer = new IntersectionObserver((entries, observer) => { => { if ( { lazyLoader(); // You should define lazyLoader() elsewhere or inline here // Run once } }); }, { rootMargin: '800px', threshold: 0.1 }); } else { // Fallback setTimeout(lazyLoader, 3000); } });
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
Monica Seles faces yet another challenge: living with an autoimmune disease
Monica Seles (right), nine-time Grand Slam champion, giving advice during the tennis clinic organised by the Singapore Tourism Board in 2016. She was in Singapore as an ambassador for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. NEW YORK – For several years, one of the great tennis champions of the modern era has existed as a kind of ghost. Monica Seles won nine Grand Slam titles, seven of them before her 19th birthday. With her two-handed groundstrokes from both sides and her ability to paint lines from anywhere, she defined the term 'phenom.' She spent 91 consecutive weeks at No. 1, playing 34 tournaments in that time. She reached the final in 33 of them. In April 1993, Seles and Steffi Graf were duelling for supremacy at the top of the sport when a fan fixated on Graf stabbed Seles at an event in Germany. She came back from over two years of physical and mental turmoil and promptly won another Grand Slam tournament title, even as the place where she displayed her tennis skills no longer felt safe. Seles, in a word, reset, while carrying the weight of what had happened. She retired from tennis in 2008, continuing to play exhibitions alongside other luminaries, including John McEnroe and Chris Evert. She played regularly, mentoring younger players. But since 2019, Seles, 51, who was born in Yugoslavia, has largely disappeared from public view. Around that year, she started experiencing double vision and extreme weakness in her arms and legs. She would see two balls coming at her on the tennis court instead of one. 'I thought, 'OK, just push through it,'' Seles said in a video call from her home in Florida. 'But a couple of instances happened when – on court and in daily life – I realised there was something going on.' After a time, she sought medical advice, which was not easy to come by as 2019 turned into 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic began. Her doctor referred her to a neurologist. After two years of tests and scans, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, or MG, a chronic autoimmune disease that affects 150 to 200 people per million worldwide. The immune system attacks the neuromuscular junction – the pathway through which nerves and muscles communicate. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDR 2025 a rallying cry amid significant challenges facing Singapore, say analysts Singapore NDR 2025: The case for growing old at home in super-ageing Singapore Singapore WP urges Government to engage widely, explore all solutions following National Day Rally 2025 Opinion A 'we first' Singapore is the hardest policy for PM Lawrence Wong to deliver Singapore Age Well Neighbourhoods, job-matching by CDCs: 10 highlights from PM Wong's National Day Rally speech Singapore LTA, public transport operators join anti-vaping effort with stepped-up enforcement World Trump, tech and Texas: What's next for the US? Singapore Jail for man who tried to sneak childhood friend out of S'pore after his passport was impounded Its symptoms, which include the double vision and muscle weakness Seles experienced, can come in phases, making an accurate diagnosis hard to obtain. 'Patients can present with fatigue, and then health care providers have no idea what to do with that,' Beth Stein, director of neuromuscular diseases at St Joseph's Health in New Jersey, said in an interview. What ensues is a kind of reverse scavenger hunt, where physicians conduct a series of tests that eliminate mortal threats such as brain tumours. Antibody tests can confirm MG, but some patients do not possess them. 'When I first got my diagnosis, I'd never heard of it in the news or from anybody else,' Seles said. For Seles, MG has brought on another reset – the process tennis players go through from point to point, game to game, set to set and match to match throughout their careers. Her return to competitive tennis after her stabbing came at the 1995 Canadian Open. She won the title, losing 14 games along the way. She lost a titanic US Open final to Graf before resetting again to win the Australian Open in 1996. The process, in the micro and macro, defined her career and, to some extent, her life. 'After coming out from my former country to the IMG Academy, I had to totally reset,' she said. 'When I became No. 1, it was a huge reset because everybody treats you differently. Then obviously when I got stabbed, that was a huge reset. And then when I was diagnosed, it was a huge reset. 'The day-to-day part of managing it, depending on my symptoms, is really adjusting, you know. I think anybody else who has myasthenia gravis knows it's a continuous adjustment.' Some days, Seles can play tennis and pickleball and walk her dogs. She makes sure to play with people who understand what she is living with. Still, 'some days are very extreme,' Seles said. That can be hard to take for a world-class athlete. Sports are a part of her DNA, and Seles wondered who she would be if she was not able to train and compete. Again, she drew on her experiences in tennis and some of the challenges she has faced in life. 'After my stabbing, I had to deal with that internally for quite a few years to process it, and my MG diagnosis was kind of very similar,' she said. 'I had to understand my new normal of day-to-day life, what I can do workwise and different things.' Seles plans to attend the US Open in New York later in August to do an event to raise awareness about her condition. She will also catch some tennis while she is there. The sport remains a big part of her life, and she follows it closely. During her interview, she was counting down the hours to the Canadian Open final featuring Victoria Mboko and Naomi Osaka, thinking through the storylines of a teen sensation taking on a four-time Grand Slam champion on a journey back toward the top of the sport. (Mboko won.) 'Women's tennis right now,' she said. 'None of us know who's going to win whatever tournament is up next, and that's great.' She was following Venus Williams' comeback particularly closely. The Wimbledon semi-final between Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova tantalised her, while her heart sank for Anisimova when Iga Swiatek beat her 6-0, 6-0 in the final. 'Former players, you know, you've been on both sides of it,' she said. 'When I got bageled, I can remember those matches 30 years later, but also when I won my Grand Slams. As a former player, it's really interesting to watch it from that angle, let's say, as compared to, you know, when my mum watches it as a fan.' She would like to do some television commentary. She has done some previously, and loved it. 'I personally love listening to Chrissy, obviously,' Seles said of Chris Evert, 'because she can cover so many different generations and the expertise. She has so much life experience, which I think for the younger generation is so important to hear.' Indeed, she does. Still, there may be no one in tennis who has more life experience than Seles. NYTIMES
The Star
4 days ago
- Health
- The Star
Tennis great Monica Seles reveals she has myasthenia gravis
Seles (right) watching one of the 2024 BNP Paribas Open semifinals at Indian Wells, California, US. She recently opened up about her myasthenia gravis three years after being diagnosed. — TNS Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular autoimmune disease – while she was swinging a racket the way she'd done so many times during and after a career that included nine Grand Slam titles and a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "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 51-year-old, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open 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 ahead of the 2025 US Open to raise awareness about the disease. The US 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 she'd never heard of the condition until seeing a doctor and being 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, 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 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,' she said about the fans in New York. "Those are the moments that stay with you.' She talks about learning to live a "new normal' nowadays and characterised 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," she 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.' – By Howard Fendrich/AP
Fox News
5 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Tennis champion Monica Seles reveals incurable disease as doctor shares what to know
Tennis champion Monica Seles is speaking publicly for the first time about her battle with a rare, incurable muscle-weakening disease. Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in "voluntary muscles," according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes. Voluntary muscles are the ones that connect to the bones, face, throat and diaphragm. They contract to move the arms and legs and are essential for breathing, swallowing and facial movements. "My MG journey over the past five years has not been an easy one," Seles said in a press release announcing her collaboration with the immunology company argenx. "I felt isolated and defeated, as many of the activities I enjoyed were no longer physically possible for me." Seles' partnership with argenx aims to raise awareness and understanding of MG, and to connect those affected with available tools and resources. Myasthenia gravis is classified as an autoimmune disease, according to Dr. Earnest Lee Murray, a board-certified neurologist at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee. This means the body's own defense system attacks the connection between the nerves and muscles. "I felt isolated and defeated, as many of the activities I enjoyed were no longer physically possible for me." "Myasthenia gravis is different from other neuromuscular diseases in that oftentimes, patients' symptoms fluctuate throughout the day," Murray told Fox News Digital. Overall symptoms range from very mild double vision and droopiness of the eyelids to difficulty walking, breathing and swallowing. "Some patients who start with only mild eye symptoms can progress to more severe symptoms in the first few years of their diagnosis," the doctor added. However, some patients only experience eye issues. Heat, such as from summer weather or hot showers, can make symptoms worse, according to experts. As physical exertion can also exacerbate symptoms, Murray noted that patients must pace themselves. Certain health conditions — like COVID-19, the flu or urinary tract infections — can trigger a serious worsening of symptoms, called a "myasthenic crisis," which often leads to hospitalization for closer respiratory monitoring. It's important for patients to let their physicians know they have myasthenia gravis before starting a new medication, Murray said, as some drugs, including antibiotics, can worsen symptoms. "If there is a question, patients can always check with their neurologist," he advised. Doctors typically manage MG in two ways. First, they may prescribe a medication like pyridostigmine, which can temporarily reduce muscle weakness, according to Mayo Clinic. They may also prescribe medications that calm the immune system to stop it from attacking the nerves and muscles. In the past, this immune suppression was done with steroids like prednisone. Now, there are newer medicines that target the disease more directly. These targeted treatments can work well and may cause fewer side effects, according to Murray. While MG can be serious, the doctor stressed that it's not the end of the road. "Most patients live a fairly normal life, both personally and professionally," he said. "With close management and a neurologist familiar with MG, treatments can be tailored to optimize patients' quality of life." For more Health articles, visit Anyone who experiences occasional double vision, eyelid drooping or weakness that gets worse with fatigue should talk to their doctor about getting tested, Murray recommends. Diagnosis usually involves blood tests, nerve tests and a neurological evaluation. Symptoms like trouble breathing, swallowing or holding the head up require immediate emergency care, Murray said.
