Monica Ceres, who has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, said she was diagnosed with myosomyosomyopathy three years ago.
Ceres, who spoke publicly for the first time, told The Associated Press that he first noticed the symptoms while swinging the racket in the way he did multiple times during his carrier, including nine grand slam titles.
“I’m going to play with some kids and families and I’m going to miss the ball. ‘Yeah, I see two balls.’ These are obvious symptoms you can’t ignore,” Celes said. “And for me, this was when this journey began, and it took me quite a while to really absorb it and talk about it openly.
Ceres, 51, who won his first major trophy at the age of 16 at the 1990 French Open and played his final match in 2003, said he decided to speak publicly about the diagnosis to raise awareness about what is known as MG.
The National Institute of Neuropathy and Stroke calls it “a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes spontaneous muscle weakness” and “although it affects young adult women (under 40 years old) and older men (over 60 years old), … it can occur at any age, including childhood.”
Ceres said he had never heard of this condition before seeing symptoms such as double vision and weak arms before meeting his doctor and referring him to a neurologist – “Just blowing my hair off… it made it very difficult,” she said – and the legs.
“When I was diagnosed, I was like, ‘What?’,” Celes said. “So what’s here, I can’t stress enough – I want someone like me to talk about it.”
She now learns to live a “new normal,” and she has characterized her health, another health in a series of life steps that require adaptation.
“In tennis terms, it had to be reset – a hard reset – a few times,” Celes said. “When I came to the US as a young 13 year old (from Yugoslavia), I call the first hard reset. I didn’t speak any language. I left my family. It’s a very tough time. And obviously, I’m going to become a great player.
“And really, really, I’m diagnosed with gravitational musculosal muscles: another reset. But I tell kids, “You need to adjust at all times,” so that the ball has to bounce and adjust.” And that’s what I’m doing now. ”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.