Björn Borg has disclosed for the first time that he fought an addiction to drugs, detailing a private struggle that intensified after his retirement and surfaced publicly in new extracts from his autobiography Heartbeats, released this week.
The book opens with an extraordinary relapse during a half-hearted comeback in the 1990s, when Borg collapsed on the way to a tournament in Holland with his father. The narrative lays out how the problems began after his retirement at 25, a decision that stunned the sporting world and left him feeling lonely, rootless and seeking an escape through self-medication with drugs, pills and alcohol.
With time on his hands, huge wealth from winnings and sponsorship, and superstardom, Borg describes sliding into a party lifestyle. He recalls how his first foray into drugs happened in the summer of 1982, during a so-called break from tennis when he was in New York. What began as experimentation evolved into a habit, used to blunt dark thoughts and to recreate a lighter, carefree bubble, he writes. He also contemplates the duality of his personality, joking about astrology and describing how, in moments, he felt split between two selves—one capable of genius, the other prone to impulsivity and self-destruction.
The book traces a path that includes a disastrous business venture, the collapse of his design company Björn Borg Design, and his personal life, including a marriage to Loredana Berte. Borg’s private years in Milan are labeled The Dark Years, a period marked by turmoil, intense mood swings and arguments with his partner that spilled over into family life.
A significant episode occurred in 1989 when Borg was rushed to hospital and had his stomach pumped after ingesting a dangerous mix of pills and alcohol. At the time, media framed it as a suicide attempt, but Borg and Berte describe it in Heartbeats as a crisis born of unmanageable substance use rather than intent to end his life. He says the incident exhausted him and intensified his resolve to change, yet he acknowledges that a complete break did not come immediately.
To get away from old circles, Borg says he fled to London and checked into one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, effectively turning the place into a private rehab center. He trained daily at the Queen’s Club with top players in Britain, cutting himself off from family and friends to focus on recovery. He recalls a careful balance of hard work and distance, noting that tabloids still hounded him even as he sought a new beginning. The stay in London helped him rebuild routines and end the most dangerous phase of his drug use, even as he faced the relapse that would test his commitment to sobriety.
The narrative returns to the broader arc of his life, including a relapse that began during a European tournament, when dinners and wine sparked old habits and his body finally gave out. Borg describes waking in a hospital bed with his father at his side, a moment he says remains the deepest source of shame—that his drug problem had reached such a level and was visible to his own family.
The extracts also recount his decisions around family life. Borg writes of marrying Berte in 1989 and of bringing his son Robin to live in Milan, a plan that ultimately proved stressful and unsustainable. Robin later moved back to Sweden under the care of Borg’s former wife and his parents, a decision Borg says he now views with regret, acknowledging the strain it placed on his child and his own sense of responsibility as a parent.
The memoir’s tone is candid about the loneliness of fame, the allure of an impulsive lifestyle and the struggle to rebuild after years spent chasing success. Borg reflects on the pressure of living up to the Iceman image while simultaneously fighting private battles, acknowledging that his ego and desire for control sometimes fueled risky choices.
Heartbeats is published as Borg continues to be a public figure in tennis circles. This year he appeared at Wimbledon in a personal context highlighted by fans and media alike, a reminder that his long career—marked by 11 Grand Slams and a lasting influence on the sport—shaped a life that extends beyond the court. The excerpts offer a window into a life that combined extraordinary achievement with private pain, and they place Borg’s past in a broader conversation about mental health, addiction, and the costs of sustained stardom.
As Borg looks toward the future, the memoir’s revelations are positioned as a turning point—an admission of fragility, a recognition of harm caused to those around him, and a documented effort to reclaim life beyond the spotlight. He notes that while some regrets are unavoidable, the decision to seek help and confront the past represents a hard-won step toward healing. The book underscores how public memory of an elite athlete can intersect with deeply personal chapters, shaping a legacy that is as complex as it is storied.