Anyone who knows anything about tennis knows the name Björn Borg. The legendary tennis star who dominated the sport in the 70s and 80s opens up in his memoir, ‘Heartbeat’, about the one time he nearly died from relapsing on drugs.
In the mid-90s, Borg was set to play the final of a senior exhibition tournament in the Netherlands. While walking to the venue with his father, Borg suddenly collapsed on the bridge and woke up in a hospital with no idea what had happened.
So what happened? The night before, at a cocktail party, Borg had relapsed on drugs after having struggled with addiction in the 80s. He woke up the following morning on the day of the event and told his father that he wasn’t sure he could make it and, “I’m going to have problems.”
His father told him “no” and was sure his son would be able to do it. Borg told PEOPLE it was the last thing his father said before he collapsed.
“I don’t remember anything. I woke up in the hospital with all these tubes and everything, and the doctor said, ‘You were really, really lucky at this time, because you were so close to dying,'” explained Borg.
Borg’s memoir details his struggle with drugs that happened after he retired from tennis at the age of 26 in 1983 due to having lost motivation for the sport. After divorcing his wife, also a tennis star, he started dating a Swedish model. It resulted in him hanging out with the “wrong people” who had no interest in tennis.
“I think that’s why maybe the drugs came into the picture, little pills, too much alcohol, … because these were not really people I should spend time with,” said Borg.
Some time later, in 1989, his then-wife, Italian singer Loredana Berté, found him unconscious in bed due to a mix of hard drugs, pills, and alcohol. To get his life on track, he returned to tennis at 34 as a form of “rehab.”
While having a few relapses in the 90s, including a near-death experience, his third wife, Patricia Östfeldt, set clear boundaries that helped him overcome his addiction. Borg now lives with his wife in Sweden.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, help is available 24 hours a day through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Hotline at 1-800-662-4357.
