"It was not the Monica Seles I wanted to see, my eating was out of control" - When tennis legend made honest admission about her health struggles

Monica Seles burst onto the scene as a teenage tennis prodigy, winning eight Grand Slams as a teenager. However, disaster struck when she was stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan in 1993.

Although she managed to win one more Grand Slam after that, her results were never the same. Along with the psychological trauma of the incident came other mental struggles as well, as the former World No. 1 had issues with binge eating that impacted her physical health.

In her book - 'Getting a Grip: On My Body, My Mind, My Self' - Seles shared the ordeals she went through, especially in the later stages of her career. The Yugoslavia-born icon revealed how she was unhappy to even look at herself in the mirror at one point, not able to stand the reflection she saw.

Then also struggling with an injury, Monica Seles recalled how she was stumped by why she was gaining weight despite constant tennis training.

"At the age of 30 I had to stop playing tennis because my foot was in a cast for three months. I thought, “Oh my god, I’m going to gain more weight.” It scared me. I knew I was very unhappy. When I looked in the mirror, it was not the Monica I wanted to see. My eating was out of control," Monica Seles said.

"I was playing tennis five hours a day and I was still 37 pounds heavy. It shows exercise alone is not going to get you to the right weight. I was eating because I was very unhappy, and I didn’t want to see it," she added.

In a quick decision, Seles responded by getting rid of all her trainers and nutritionists, hoping to solve the problem on her own.

"For the first time since I had this problem, I got rid of all the trainers, coaches and nutritionists. I wasn’t playing tennis, so there was no need to pay for them. I knew what I needed to do," Seles said.

Monica Seles on how she eventually overcame her body image issues

In her book, Monica Seles also shed light on how she eventually overcame her body image issues. Looking at herself one day, the nine-time Grand Slam champion realized that she was looking for answers on the outside, instead of introspecting on the problem.

That clicked, leading Seles to understand her emotions and why they were leading her to binge eating in the first place.

"My big “Wow” moment came when I looked at myself and thought, “You tried to look for answers on the outside. You hired the best trainers. You could buy yourself all these books. You know what you need to do, but you can’t do it because your emotions are so wacked.” I realized I needed to figure out my emotions," Monica Seles said.

Monica Seles played the final match of her tennis career in 2003, although her official retirement was confirmed only years later in 2008.