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Tennis legend Bjorn Borg reveals 'extremely aggressive' prostate cancer, discusses substance abuse after retirement
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Published 18/09/2025 at 11:37 GMT+1
Legendary former tennis player Bjorn Borg has revealed that he is suffering from an "extremely aggressive" form of prostate cancer, and had an operation as part of his treatment in 2024. The Swede, who won 11 Grand Slams over the course of a brief career that ended when he retired aged just 25, also wrote in his forthcoming autobiography that he had suffered from substance abuse.
Bjorn Borg
Image credit: Getty Images
Bjorn Borg has revealed that he has been diagnosed with "extremely aggressive" prostate cancer.
The 69-year-old is regarded as one of the finest tennis players of all time, despite retiring aged just 25.
Borg spent 109 weeks as the No. 1 men’s player in a period of exceptional dominance.
Borg won 66 singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam events - six French Open titles and five consecutive Wimbledon triumphs.
He played in four US Open finals, but lost on each occasion. He also featured just once in the Australian Open, in 1974, when he was 17.
In 1981, when he was defeated at Wimbledon and the US Open by John McEnroe in the finals of both events, he decided to retire, making a brief comeback a decade later.
The Swedish legend revealed the news in his forthcoming autobiography, 'Heartbeats: A memoir.'
"I spoke to the doctor, and he said this is really, really bad," the Swede told BBC Breakfast.
"He said you have these sleeping cancer cells [and] it’s going to be a fight in the future. Every six months I go and test myself. I did my last test two weeks ago. It’s a thing I have to live with."
He added that he had undergone an operation as part of his treatment in 2024.
The former player also writes in his autobiography about his battles with substance abuse as he struggled to leave competitive tennis behind and adjust to his new life, and said he twice came close to death after two overdoses.
"I had no plan. People today, they have guidance. I was lost in the world," Borg wrote. "There was more drugs, there was pills, alcohol, to escape myself from reality.
"I didn’t have to think about it. Of course, it’s not good, it destroys you as a person. I was close to dying many times. I fixed my life. I’m very happy with myself."
He wrote that he used the drugs as he suffered from panic attacks which began in 1982.
"The first time I tried cocaine, I got the same kind of rush I used to get from tennis," he added. He said that "the worst shame of all," was when his father visited him in a hospital following an overdose.
Borg explained that his decision to retire early came because of the disappointment of defeat at the hands of McEnroe. He wrote: "All I could think was how miserable my life had become."
Borg's 11 Grand Slam titles ranks him sixth in the list of male winners, behind Novak Djokovic (24), Rafael Nadal (22), Roger Federer (20), Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12).
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