Tennis star Monica Seles reveals her diagnosis with myasthenia gravis
[August 13, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis — a
neuromuscular autoimmune disease she discussed during a recent interview
with The Associated Press — while she was swinging a racket the way
she'd done so many times during, and after, a career that included 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.’ These 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 U.S. Open, which
starts on Aug. 24, to raise awareness about what is known as MG.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke calls it “a
chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary
muscles” and “most commonly impacts young adult women (under 40) and
older men (over 60) but ... can occur at any age, including childhood.”
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.
“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.”
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International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Monica Seles waves
to the crowd as she holds her plaque during ceremonies in Newport,
R.I., July 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, file)
 It's been three decades since Seles
returned to competition at the 1995 U.S. Open, making it to the
final, more than two years after she was attacked by a man with a
knife at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany.
“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.”
She talks about learning to live a “new normal” nowadays and
characterized her health as another in a series of life steps that
required adapting.
“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.”
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