NEW YORK: Bjorn Borg starts his new memoir, “Heartbeats,” with a story about being rushed to a Dutch hospital in the 1990s after overdosing on “alcohol, drugs, pills — my preferred ways of self-medication,” and the Swedish tennis great closes it by revealing that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“It’s good,” Borg, 69, said in a recent video interview with The Associated Press from his home in Stockholm, “to have a good beginning and a good ending.”
In between, the 292-page book, which will be released in the US by Diversion Books on Sept. 23, contains revelations about his love life, various adventures and regrets, and the 11-time Grand Slam champion’s detailed recollections of particular matches.
Bjorn Borg quit tennis at age 25 because he stopped caring when he lost
Famously private, Borg kept a lot to himself during his days on tour — as well as since he surprisingly retired in his 20s.
He brings readers back to when, having lost the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals to rival John McEnroe, Borg realized he was done.
“All I could think was how miserable my life had become,” he writes.
He was 25 and, while he would briefly return to tennis, he never competed at another Grand Slam event.
After the 1981 final at the US Open, a tournament he never won, Borg grabbed some beers and sat in the pool at a house on Long Island, where friends planned a party to celebrate a victory.
“I was not upset or sad when I lost the final. And that’s not me as a person. I hate to lose,” he told the AP.
“My head was spinning,” he said, “and I knew I’m going to step away from tennis.”
Bjorn Borg wasn’t always calm on a tennis court
Borg writes about his childhood and his relationships with his parents (and, later, his
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