Tennis legend Monica Seles shares powerful gym message as she lives with incurable myasthenia gravis at 52

Monica Seles is back in the gym, and for her, that moment means far more than exercise. The 52-year-old tennis great, who won nine Grand Slam titles, is living with myasthenia gravis, a rare and incurable autoimmune disease that weakens muscles.

Over the weekend, she shared a photo from the gym along with a message about starting again, even if it feels late.Seles first spoke publicly about her diagnosis last year, saying the disease has changed her daily life in ways she never expected. Still, she is choosing movement, kindness toward herself, and hope. Her post did not focus on strength or goals, instead, it focused on showing up. For a woman whose life has been shaped by sudden change, pain, and restarts, this return to the gym was another quiet but powerful step forward.

Monica Seles explains life with myasthenia gravis and why starting again matters

In her gym post, Monica Seles wrote, “I’m a little late on my New Year’s resolution, but I’m reminding myself to be kind and to embrace the idea that it’s better to start late than not at all.” The photo showed her holding a medicine ball, dressed simply, with no attempt to hide the reality of her condition.Seles revealed in August 2024 that she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in 2022. Speaking to the Associated Press, she said it took her a long time to accept the diagnosis and talk about it openly.

“It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot,” she said in full.According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, myasthenia gravis is a chronic disease that causes weakness in voluntary muscles. It often affects the eyes, arms, and face, and symptoms can include double vision and severe fatigue. Seles said she first noticed something was wrong while hitting tennis balls. She began missing shots and sometimes saw two balls instead of one.Daily tasks became hard. Drying her hair felt exhausting. Lifting her arms caused weakness. Before seeing a doctor, she had never heard of the disease. “When I got diagnosed, I was like, ‘What?!’” she told the Associated Press. She also said she wished someone had spoken about it earlier so she could understand what was happening to her body.Seles knows what it means to rebuild. At 16, she became the youngest French Open champion in 1990 after beating Steffi Graf. She later dominated women’s tennis before her career was violently interrupted in 1993, when she was stabbed during a match in Hamburg. She returned to the sport two years later, won the Canadian Open, and reached the US Open final.Looking back, Seles says life has forced her to reset many times. Her illness is another reset. But she believes in adjusting and moving forward, even when the path is unclear.