A knife attack and a diagnosis of myasthenia. What was Monica Seles?

For several years, one of the great champions of the modern era has existed as a kind of tennis ghost.

Monica Celesh She won nine titles of the great helmet, seven of them to their 19th anniversary. Tennis is a sport in which the word “phenomenon” easily breaks out of the tongue. Celes, with her strokes on two hands on both sides and the ability to lay the balls along the lines somewhere and at any time, defined this concept. Celes spent 91 weeks in a row in the first place of the world rating, playing 34 tournaments during this time. She reached the finals for 33 of them.

In April 1993, Celesh and Steff, Count fought for the lead on the top of sports, when at the tournament in Germany, a fan, obsessed with a graph, hit Celesh with a knife. She returned to the court after more than two years of physical and mental trials and immediately won another Grand Slam title, even though the place where she showed her talents of the world – tennis court – lost her safety.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Injury to Monica Celesh Celes, in a word, restarted, carrying the burden of what happened. She completed her career in 2008, continuing to play show matches along with other stars, including John Macinro and Chris Evert. She regularly went to the court, instigating young players.

But since 2019, the 51-year-old Yugoslavia native has disappeared from the public space. That year, Selesh began in the eyes and strong weakness in the hands and legs. On a tennis court, she saw two balls flying in her direction instead of one.

“I thought, ‘Okay, just anxious,” Selesh said during a video interview from her home in Florida. “But then there were several incidents – on the court and in the ordinary life – when I realized that something was wrong.”

After a while, Selesh sought medical help, which was not easy to do, since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. Her doctor sent her to a neurologist. After two years of analyzes and examinations, she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (Mg Mg), a chronic autoimmune disease that affects from 150 to 200 people per million worldwide. The immune system attacks the neuromuscular synapse-a channel through which nerves and muscles interact.

Symptoms, such as duplicity in the eyes and muscle weakness that Celes have felt on and outside the court, can be wavy, which complicates accurate diagnosis.

“Patients may complain of fatigue, and then health workers do not know what to do with it,” said Dr. Beth Stein, director of neuromuscular diseases in St. Joseph’s Health in New Jersey.

As a result, a reverse quest begins when doctors carry out a series of tests to eliminate fatal threats such as brain tumors and lateral amytropic sclerosis. Antibodies can be confirmed by MG, but some patients are absent.

“When I was diagnosed for the first time, I have never heard about it, nor in the news or from anyone else,” Selesh said.

Tennis Legend Monica Selees Opens Up About Being Diagnored with Myasthenia Gravis and How Is Affected Her Day-to-Day Life.

Symptoms Include Weakness in the Arm and Leg Muscles, Double Vision, Fatigue, Shortness of Breath, Difliculty Speaking, and Swallowing.

🎥: sntv/ap photo pic.twitter.com/oap2xvujas

– Tennisone App (@tennnisoneapp) August 12, 2025

For Celesh Mg, it has become another restart – the process through which tennis players from a draw to a draw, from a game to a game, from a set to a set and from match to match throughout its career. Her return to professional tennis after the attack took place at the 1995 Canadian Championship. She won the title, losing only 14 games during the tournament. She lost the US Open Superfinal and then restarted again and won Australian Open in 1996. This process – both in small and large scale – determined her career and, to some extent, her life.

“After I left my home country to the IMG Academy, I had to restart completely. When I became one, it was a huge restart because everyone started treating me differently. Then, of course, when I was injured, it was a huge restart. And then again, when I was diagnosed, it was a huge restart.

You know, everyday life with this, depending on my symptoms, is really adaptation. I think anyone who has myasthenia understands that it is constant adaptation. ”

Sometimes celery can play tennis and piclball, as well as walk their dogs. She is watching time with people who understand why she passes. However, “some days are very difficult,” Selesh says.

This can be difficult to accept when you are a world -class athlete. Sport is part of her DNA, and Celesh asked who she will be if she could not train and compete. Again, she turned to the experience of tennis and the challenges she had already faced in her life.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Anke Huber and Monica Selesh after the Australian Open 1996 finals “After an attack with a knife, I had to cope with it for many years to comprehend everything, and a diagnosis of Mg was similar to the situation,” she said. “I had to understand my new norm of everyday life, what I can do in terms of work and other things.”

Celesh plans to visit the US Tennis Open Tennis at the end of this month to take part in an event organized by ArgenX immunological company to raise MG awareness. She will also watch a few tennis matches while she is there. Sport remains a large part of her life, and she monitors him closely. During the interview, she deducted hours to the finals of the Open Championship of Canada with the participation of Victoria Mboko and Naomi Osaki, thinking about the plot of the finals, in which the young sensation will fight against the four -time champion of the Great Helme [Вікторія Мбоко виграла трофей тисячника в Монреалі, перегравши у фіналі Наомі Осаку в трьох сетах].

“Women’s tennis is now unpredictable. None of us knows who wins the next tournament, and that’s great. ” She was particularly careful about Vinus Williams’s return. The Wimbledon semifinal between Arina Sobolenko and Amandimova intrigued, and her heart squeezed for Anisimov, when Iga Svontek won her 6-0, 6: 0 in the finals.

“Former players were on both sides of the barricades,” she said. “When I was arranged by the lamb myself, I still remember these matches in 30 years, but also when I won my big helmet tournaments. As a former tennis player, I am very interested in looking at it from that point of view, unlike how my mom looks at it as a fan. ”

Celesh would like to work a commentary. Earlier, she did it and she really liked it.

“Personally, I love to listen to Crissey (Evert), of course, because it covers so many different generations and has such extensive experience. She has so much life experience that I think it is very important to hear the younger generation, ”Selesh said.

And indeed, it is. However, there may be no one with more life experience in tennis than Celesh.

Matthew Futterman, Thethletic
Translation and adaptation – Danil Agarkov

Presse Sports. Monica Celesh on Rolan Harros 2025