Monica Seles first noticed symptoms of muscle weakness, a neuromuscular autoimmune disease she discussed in a recent interview with the Associated Press — when she waved her racket in a way she had multiple times, and her career after that and subsequently included nine Grand Slam titles and nine Grand Slam titles in the International Hall of Fame.
“I would play with some kids or family and I would miss a ball. I was like, ‘Yes, I saw two balls.’ These are obviously symptoms you can’t ignore,” Celes said. “For me, this was when the journey began. It took me a lot of time to really absorb it, talk about it openly because it was a difficult thing. It affected my daily life.”
The 51-year-old Seles, who won her first major trophy at the 1990 French Open and competed in her final match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with gravity therapy for muscle weakness three years ago and spoke publicly about it for the first time at the U.S. Open which began on August 24 to raise awareness of MG.
The National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke calls it “a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes voluntary muscle weakness” and “most commonly affects young women (under 40) and older men (over 60), but…can occur at any age, including childhood.”
Celes said she had never heard of this until she saw a doctor and was referred to a neurologist after noting weaknesses like dual vision and arms – “Just blowing my hair off…it became very difficult,” she said – “she said.
“When I was diagnosed, I was like, ‘What?!’” Sails said, who worked with Dutch-based immunology company Argenx to promote their large-scale campaign. “So that’s where I—I can’t emphasize—I wish I had people like me who speak up.”
It’s been three decades since Seles returned to the finals at the 1995 U.S. Open, more than two years after she was attacked by a knife in a match in Hamburg, Germany.
“The way they welcomed me…I will never forget after the stabbing,” Celes said of New York fans. “These are moments with you.”
She talks about learning today’s “new normal” and describes her health as another of a series of life steps that need to be adapted to.
“I think I have to reset in tennis terms – reset – a few times. When I came to the United States at 13 years old (from Yugoslavia) I called my first hard reset. I don’t speak that language; it was a tough time. Then, it was a tough time. Obviously, it was a great player, obviously a great player, obviously a person because it was a fame because I had a high focus and it was hard to change, and it was going to change, and everything was hard to stab – I had to do a lot of reset,” Celes said.
She added: “Then, in fact, the gravity of being diagnosed with muscle weakness: another reset. But, as I told the kids one thing to guide: ‘You have to always adjust.’ That’s what I’m doing right now. ”
