In his biography, published on Thursday, the Swede also talks about a serious prostate condition.
Swedish tennis icon Björn Borg has gone public about his years of drug addiction. In his autobiography “Hjärtslag” (Heartbeat), published on Thursday, the 69-year-old recounts his repeated abuse of cocaine and his struggle against his “demons.”
“When I tried cocaine for the first time, I felt a rush that was just as strong as the one tennis had given me in the past,” he wrote about his first experience with cocaine in the early 1980s. His addiction was at its worst in the early 1990s, Borg explained, recounting a breakdown that included a hospital stay: “There, I fell into the deepest darkness.”
Borg talks about cancer
Borg also spoke to the BBC about his prostate cancer, which he also recounts in his memoirs. “I spoke to the doctor and he said it was really, really bad,” Borg explained. “He said I had these dormant cancer cells and that it would be a battle in the future. I have checkups every six months. It’s something I have to live with.”
Borg is considered one of the best tennis players in history. In his relatively short professional career, which he effectively ended in 1983 at the age of 26, he won eleven Grand Slam titles—six times at the French Open and five times at Wimbledon. He was number one in the world tennis rankings for 109 weeks.
