Monica Seles one of the richest tennis legends in the world? Her incredible net worth will shock you

Tennis legend Monica Seles opened up about myasthenia gravis — a neuromuscular autoimmune disease during a recent interview with the Associated Press. She first noticed the symptoms while she was swinging a racket the way she’d done so many times. Monica Seles's career includes nine Grand Slam titles and a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

“I would be playing with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, ‘Yeah, I see two balls.’ are obviously symptoms that you can’t ignore,” Seles said. “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.”

The 51-year-old Seles, who won her first major trophy at age 16 at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on Aug. 24, to raise awareness about what is known as MG.


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Monica Seles net worth

Monica Seles is a retired Yugoslav professional tennis player, who youngest player to win the French Open at the age of 16. Monica Seles was at one time ranked number one in the world and has a net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

She went on to win the Australian Open four times, the French Open three times, the US Open two times, and made it to the Finals at Wimbledon in 1992. She was the #1 female tennis player in the world in March of 1991 and retired in 2008.

In 2014, Monica married multi-billionaire Paychex founder Tom Golisano. Tom is 32 years her senior, and the two have been dating since 2009.

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Over the course of her career, Monica earned $15 million in prize money—equivalent to about $25 million today—and brought in a similar sum through endorsement deals.

In April 1993, while she was playing a match against Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Germany, Monica Seles was stabbed by an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf. The fan, Gunter Parche, ran onto the court during a break in the game and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades. She was rushed to the hospital. While her physical injuries healed within a few weeks, Seles did not return to competitive tennis for over two years.

Monica Seles on myasthenia gravis

Monica Seles said she’d never heard of the condition until seeing a doctor and being referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her arms — “just blowing my hair out … became very difficult,” she said — and legs.

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“When I got diagnosed, I was like, ‘What?!’” said Seles, who is partnering with argenx, an immunology company headquartered in the Netherlands, to promote their Go for Greater campaign. “So this is where — I can’t emphasize enough — I wish I had somebody like me speak up about it.”

“The way they welcomed me … after my stabbing, I will never forget,” Seles said about the fans in New York. “Those are the moments that stay with you.”

“I had to, in tennis terms, I guess, reset — hard reset — a few times. I call my first hard reset when I came to the U.S. as a young 13-year-old (from Yugoslavia). Didn’t speak the language; left my family. It’s a very tough time. Then, obviously, becoming a great player, it’s a reset, too, because the fame, money, the attention, changes (everything), and it’s hard as a 16-year-old to deal with all that. Then obviously my stabbing — I had to do a huge reset,” Seles said.

“And then, really, being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis: another reset. But one thing, as I tell kids that I mentor: ‘You’ve got to always adjust. That ball is bouncing, and you’ve just got to adjust,’” she added. “And that’s what I’m doing now.”