Tennis icon Bjorn Borg has given a stark account of his descent into drug use following his abrupt retirement from the sport, revealing he first tried cocaine believing it could replace the adrenaline of competition.
The Void After Tennis and The First Hit
The Swedish superstar, who shocked the world by retiring at just 26 after winning 11 Grand Slam titles, described the hedonistic lifestyle that filled the vacuum. In an interview with The Times, Borg recounted being offered cocaine at a party in Manhattan in the summer of 1982, shortly after he stopped playing.
"I thought, 'I'm not playing tennis any more, so I can try (cocaine),'" Borg said. He admitted the logic was flawed, stating it would have been better never to start. "Going into drugs or pills or alcohol - it's terrible," he reflected. The initial experience, however, created a sensation he compared to the peak of his on-court career.
A Dangerous Descent and Near-Fatal Consequences
What began as an experiment spiralled into a lost decade dominated by substance abuse. Borg's memoir, Heartbeats, details two horrifying incidents where his life was in peril due to overdoses.
The first occurred in Milan in 1989, seven years after his first encounter with cocaine. His then-wife, Loredana, found him and rushed him to hospital to have his stomach pumped. The incident made global headlines, with speculation he had attempted suicide—a story Borg tried to cover up by blaming a bad reaction to sleeping pills.
An even more severe episode happened on a bridge in the Netherlands. After a night mixing drugs and alcohol during an exhibition tournament, Borg collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest. "My heart no longer goes boom boom boom, because now it's standing still," he writes. He required resuscitation and vividly recalls the moment he believed he was dying.
Finding Redemption and a Lasting Partnership
Borg describes the profound shame of waking in a hospital bed to see his father at his side. His path to recovery began with the support of his third wife, Patricia Östfeld, who has been his partner for 25 years and ghostwrote his revealing memoir.
Now 69, Borg looks back on a career that saw him claim his first major at 18 at the 1974 French Open and amass 66 singles titles before his premature exit. His story serves as a cautionary tale about the struggles athletes face when their defining purpose vanishes overnight, and the dangerous avenues some pursue in search of a new high.
