"A guy would always end up mentioning my weight": When Monica Seles lamented how her boyfriends treated her during phase of struggling with body image

Monica Seles once opened up about how her boyfriends used to bodyshame her during a difficult period in her life where she struggled with body image. The American even faced issues with the media talking about it.

Seles struggled with weight issues upon her return to tennis after the unfortunate stabbing incident. In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, she recalled how the sport became increasingly focused on looks, especially after Anna Kournikova’s rise.

Feeling the pressure to stay thin, she constantly battled with her size, trying various diets, losing weight, only to regain it later. When it came to relationships, that area was already difficult for her as a tennis player traveling around the world constantly. But, it got worse with her eating habits. Some boyfriends even openly criticized her weight.

"A guy would always end up mentioning my weight in some form or other," she said. "They knew they should not go there; it was too painful for me. But they always did. It seemed so simple for them: stop eating, win grand slams, be happy."

Wimbledon was always the toughest time of the year for Seles—she disliked grass, faced relentless scrutiny from the British press, and struggled with emotional eating.

"The British press was so unbelievably cruel… These enormous guys, asking me if I could be in better shape—I mean, look at yourself in the mirror! Don't be so brutal!" she added.

Seles was on the wrong end of one of the most unfortunate and controversial incidents in tennis history. However, she refuses to call herself a victim.

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"I don’t feel like a victim" - When Monica Seles looked back at the 1991 stabbing incident

Monica Seles at the French Open 1998 - Source: Getty

In an interview with The Sunday Times in 2005, Monica Seles opened up about how things in her career and life had not gone to plan. She was a teenage prodigy when she broke through on the WTA Tour in 1990. The Serbian-American star won eight Grand Slam titles by 1993, defeating Steffi Graf in three finals.

However, at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany, an obsessed Graf fan stabbed her on court, stealing precious years from her life and career—leaving behind a lasting "what if."

"I guess you could say that mine has not been a conventional career," Monica Seles said. "Little about my career has gone to plan. Little of my life, perhaps."

Even though she faced the stabbing incident, she refused to call herself a victim.

"I don’t feel like a victim and I don’t want to be regarded as a victim," Seles added.

After coming back in 1995, she reached the US Open final and lost to Graf before winning the Australian Open in 1996. Seles never won a Grand Slam title again and officially retired from the sport in 2008.