Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis while she was swinging a racquet the way she had done so many times.<\/p>\n
The 51-year-old Seles, who won the first of her nine major trophies as a 16-year-old at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with the neuromuscular autoimmune disease three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on August 24, to raise awareness about what is known as MG.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
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Seles won the last of her nine grand slam titles at the 1996 Australian Open. (AP: Steve Holland)<\/p>\n
According to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: “[MG 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 \u2026 can occur at any age, including childhood.”<\/p>\n
It can lead to problems with speaking, chewing, swallowing and breathing, and while many complications are treatable, some can be life-threatening.<\/p>\n
Seles said she had never heard of the condition before seeing a doctor and being referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her legs and arms, when even “just blowing my hair out \u2026 became very difficult”.<\/p>\n
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