{"id":64177,"date":"2025-08-13T04:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/64177\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T04:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T04:05:09","slug":"tennis-great-monica-seles-shares-disease-diagnosis-im-not-backing-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/64177\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis great Monica Seles shares disease diagnosis: &#8216;I&#8217;m not backing down&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/05d1a2_49a64d8af3a1498cb77dd4270ec52246~mv2.jpg\" alt=\"Monica Seles. (Getty\/Clive Brunskill)\" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%;max-width:100%\" data-pin-url=\"https:\/\/www.thefirstserve.com.au\/post\/tennis-great-monica-seles-shares-disease-diagnosis-i-m-not-backing-down\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/05d1a2_49a64d8af3a1498cb77dd4270ec52246~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_734,h_511,al_c,lg_1,q_85\/05d1a2_49a64d8af3a1498cb77dd4270ec52246~mv2.jpg\" draggable=\"false\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Monica Seles. (Getty\/Clive Brunskill)<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-fovrc506\">Nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles has found comfort in sharing her battle with myasthenia gravis (MG), three years after being diagnosed. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-rqdmc3273\">The rare chronic autoimmune disease causes muscle weakness, which can impact breathing, facial expressions, swallowing and eye movement among other functions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-rfhq31984\">&#8220;I would be playing [tennis] with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, &#8216;Yeah, I see two balls.&#8217; These are obviously symptoms that you can&#8217;t ignore,&#8221; Seles told the Associated Press. &#8220;And, for me, this is when this journey started. It took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it&#8217;s a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-n8zeh685\">She added, &#8220;When I got diagnosed, I was like, &#8216;What?!'&#8221; So this is where \u2013 I can&#8217;t emphasise enough \u2013 I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-7rw8410920\">By entering the code TFS2025, you will receive 15% off the RRP on all non-sale items when you shop online at\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.racquetworld.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"OHs8- IyRpB\" data-hook=\"web-link\">www.racquetworld.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-bwjsq810\">The 51-year-old posted a video on Instagram to discuss her journey on court and a new battle behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-b752p783\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve seen some tough competition over the years, and now I&#8217;m taking on a new opponent, myasthenia gravis,&#8221; she wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-1chvu794\">&#8220;And like all my battles on the tennis court, I&#8217;m not backing down. I&#8217;m Going for Greater with MG.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-3e40t10998\">Seles is contributing to the Go for Greater campaign in the hope of raising awareness for the disease. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-8z2u55764\">In April 1993, Seles was stabbed by a spectator during a match in Germany, resulting in a 0.5 inch deep wound between her shoulders blades, which forced her to miss more than two years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-gqv2k7596\">Seles, who became an American citizen in 1994, recollected the emotional welcome she received at the 1995 US Open. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-ee9o49622\">&#8220;The way they welcomed me\u2026 after my stabbing, I will never forget,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-g4czj9649\">&#8220;Those are the moments that stay with you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-99ppv9691\">Now, Seles is adapting to a &#8220;new normal&#8221;, as she continues her brave fight. <\/p>\n<p class=\"pQuHl TfvTg z3yvg logrL\" dir=\"auto\" id=\"viewer-n665510787\">Sports FX empowers professional athletes with tailored currency management solutions that help you maximise your earnings while competing globally. To see how it works, head to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sportsfx.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"OHs8- IyRpB\" data-hook=\"web-link\">www.sportsfx.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/05d1a2_643ea64af8b94787895d406b016b5412~mv2.png\" alt=\"ree\" style=\"width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;object-position:50% 50%;max-width:100%\" data-pin-url=\"https:\/\/www.thefirstserve.com.au\/post\/tennis-great-monica-seles-shares-disease-diagnosis-i-m-not-backing-down\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/05d1a2_643ea64af8b94787895d406b016b5412~mv2.png\/v1\/fill\/w_1350,h_410,al_c,q_90\/05d1a2_643ea64af8b94787895d406b016b5412~mv2.png\" draggable=\"false\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monica Seles. (Getty\/Clive Brunskill) Nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles has found comfort in sharing her battle with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-64177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}