Mary Pierce and some of the others are nice to me but the majority of the girls just don’t like me I guess they see me as a threat.”. Monica Seles feels her life is back on track for the first time since the infamous Hamburg stabbing in 1993 that forced her out of the sport for more than two years. Monica Seles feels her life is back on track for the first time since the infamous Hamburg stabbing in 1993 that forced her out of the sport for more than two years.
The former world No 1, who has won nine Grand Slam titles, was deeply troubled when she turned up at the All England Championships last year. She was still grieving for her father, Karolj, who died in 1998 after a two-year battle against cancer, and was unable to motivate herself to play tennis.Happily this year is a different story. A more confident Seles is once again enjoying the sport she dominated so ruthlessly as a teenager.”Motivating myself has become a lot easier the last few months,” she said after her 6-4, 6-4 second round victory over Els Callens.”It’s so nice to have that feeling again for the first time probably since ‘93.”The past seven years have taken their toll on the 26-year-old American.

Since her return to the WTA Tour in 1995, she has been able only to win one Grand Slam title – the Australian Open in 1996.”When I came back, there was the euphoria of the first six months and then there was my father’s illness,” Seles said.”Tennis became not as important. I think subconsciously my mind didn’t want to be there a lot of times.”That’s why I just want to keep going. I think my tennis is going to be better and I feel better as a person,” she added.Seles is assessing her career year by year and still has targets left after the four Australian, three French and two US Open titles she has won.She is hoping that this year she will finally be able to break her Wimbledon jinx and win the one Grand Slam title to have eluded her. The sixth seed’s next opponent will be France’s Sarah Pitkowski.”I love Wimbledon; I would love to do well here. It’s a challenge every year that I keep facing, trying to do well here,” Seles said.. An aspirin a day – regarded for at least 20 years as one of the simplest and most effective ways of preventing heart attacks and strokes – may do more harm than good. An aspirin a day – regarded for at least 20 years as one of the simplest and most effective ways of preventing heart attacks and strokes – may do more harm than good.
Scientists have discovered that the common painkiller, taken by millions worldwide to thin the blood and ease strain on the heart, increases the risk of bleeding which, in some patients, outweighs the benefits.Researchers at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London studied for seven years 5,000 men aged 45 to 69 who were at higher risk of heart disease but who had not had a heart attack.

The men were divided into four groups to accurately establish the effects of aspirin.The results, published in the British Medical Journal, showed that aspirin reduced the risk of a heart attack in men with low blood pressure by about 45 per cent but not in those with high blood pressure (above 145mm of mercury).However, aspirin is a stomach irritant and is known to increase the risk of bleeding, mainly in the gastro-intestinal tract, which outweighed the benefit in men with higher blood pressure. Even in men with low blood pressure, the benefit did not clearly outweigh the risk.In one study cited by the researchers, a low dose daily aspirin more than doubled the risk of bleeding from stomach ulcers.Professor Tom Meade, director of the Medical Research Council Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit at the Wolfson Institute, said the findings only applied to people taking aspirin to prevent heart trouble but who had never had a heart attack or stroke.”It is very important that people who have already had a heart attack or stroke who are on aspirin should continue taking it because for them the risk of another heart attack or stroke is very high,” Professor Meade said. “Taking a daily aspirin will lower their risk by a great deal more than it will increase the risk of bleeding.”However, there were “at least tens of thousands” of people in Britain taking aspirin as a preventive measure, although they had never had heart trouble, because they had a history of heart disease in their families or high cholesterol. Those with high blood pressure were at highest risk because both high blood pressure and aspirin increased the risk of bleeding into the brain.Professor Meade said: “A lot of people are taking aspirin because they have heard it is a good thing to do but they are running the risk of bleeding. People [who have not previously had a heart attack or stroke] should think carefully before taking it because the reduction in risk [of heart attack or stroke] will be less for them and there is an increased risk of bleeding.”He added: “Bleeding can be a serious matter with about 10 per cent of cases, mainly among the elderly, being fatal.”The study is the first to show clearly that the harm caused by aspirin in otherwise healthy men may outweigh the benefit.