“Heartbeats” Book Review: Bjorn Borg Reveals All in Uneven Yet Eye Opening Memoir

By Erik Gudris | Friday, September 26, 2025
Photo credit: Karwai Tang/Getty Images

Early on in his candid memoir “Heartbeats”, all-time great Bjorn Borg reveals he is a Gemini and firmly believes that one of the astrology sign’s core traits is that of having a dual personality. That would certainly seem to ring true as Borg reveals that behind the ice-cold personality he presented on court, there was another person prone to very volatile swings in mood and actions, especially off court.

Borg indeed reveals just that, as he recounts his rapid rise at the start of the book, from accomplished junior to soon becoming one of the greatest tennis champions of all time. His legendary feats include reaching World No. 1 while also winning six Roland Garros titles from 1974 to 1981, as well as a record five consecutive Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980.

If tennis fans are looking for a deep dive and insights from Borg on his glory years, they might be better off just researching Wikipedia. While Borg does share memories of those times, he really only goes deep while recounting his classic 1980 Wimbledon men’s final duel with rival, now friend, John McEnroe, who ironically once worked as a ballboy at one of Borg’s very early matches on the pro tour.

While he truly relished being at the top of the game, it was the sudden fame and his life away from the court that left Borg searching for more. Borg, at his height, was one of the biggest stars, sports or otherwise, in the world. That level of fame proved unbearable for Borg and his departure from tennis was his way of trying to find more meaning in life.

“All I could think was how I didn’t belong in this world anymore and how miserable my life had become,” Borg says about his decision to leave the sport.

It’s only when Borg starts discussing his life after tennis when he abruptly retired from tennis at age 26 that the book really takes off. 

Borg recounts that his fame and wealth allowed him the freedom to do whatever he wanted, now that he didn’t have to train and focus on tennis every day. While at first it felt liberating, Borg admits he wished he had more discipline and help from others in making decisions about his personal and professional life choices.

“I was lost in this world,” Borg said of post-tennis days in the 1980s. “I didn’t have any help. I didn’t have a team or agents to push me in the right way. I did everything by myself, I didn’t really have any help during that time and it’s very tough to fix yourself.”

Borg, though developing close friendships with McEnroe and the late Vitas Gerulaitis, admits that after he left tennis, he closed himself off from many other friends from the sport in his search for something new. A decision he now regrets.

“I didn’t keep in touch with the players,” he said. “When I left tennis, I left all my friends. I left everything. And that was a huge mistake. I went into a different crowd, people who weren’t interested in sport. That’s why I started with drugs and pills and drinking.”

Fame and money for Borg allowed him access to glamorous parties and high-profile celebrities. It also served as a gateway for him to start a troublesome drug addiction that he would end up battling for decades and nearly cost him his life in several near-fatal episodes.

Also during that tumultuous time, he made multiple bad business deals, which he admits he should have been more cautious about. These ended up costing him to bail out these ventures out of his own pocket, nearly putting him into personal bankruptcy.

Borg’s personal life also became a roller coaster. 

He recounts how his first marriage to former Romanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu ended as soon as Borg quit tennis. From there, Borg dated Swedish model Jannike Bjorling. Yet that relationship dissolved into a bitter custody battle over their son Robin that went on for years. In fact, it was Bjorling who first revealed Borg’s drug problem to a Swedish tabloid (which he then denied and later sued and won a defamation lawsuit against her).

Then Borg fell for and later married Italian singer Loredana Berte, which proved another bad match. Borg, deep into his drug addiction, soon found himself battling Berte on a daily basis. The rocky relationship was so bad that he really doesn’t talk about it much in the book, as it’s one of the shortest chapters, ominously titled “The Dark Years in Milan.” However, he does credit Berte for saving him from a near overdose of pills and alcohol in February 1989.

Borg started to turn things around in 1990 when he decided to return to tennis, not so much to try and win titles again, but to develop a health regime to get him back into shape. Though there was much fanfare about Borg’s return to the tour, it was relatively short-lived. Borg, still battling addiction, suffered yet another near overdose in 1993. However, Borg ultimately turned things around late in the decade. Especially when he met and later married his current wife, Patricia Östfeld, in 2003. Their son, Leo, follows in his father’s footsteps and currently competes on the ATP Tour.

Since then, Borg has finally found peace and contentment in both his personal and professional lives. He reveals that his recent stint as one of the coaches for the Laver Cup event, alongside John McEnroe, was one of the most satisfying of his career.

Late in the book, Borg reveals he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014. While it’s now in remission, Borg says that he still has to keep close tabs on his health.

“A few days after the operation, the surgeon said, ‘This was really, really bad. But you’re OK,'” Borg said. “I have these sleeping cancer cells. They could be sleeping for many years, but they could come out and give me problems. I just have to wait and see. I have to go back for six monthly checks. Right now I feel good, no problem.”

Overall, “Heartbeats” certainly reveals that Bjorn Borg has lived a full life, of great highs and terrifying lows. Borg’s memoir is particularly strong in documenting how big a star Borg was globally in the late 70s and 80s, even for those who didn’t follow tennis closely, and how heady and wild those days were for the superstars of that time.

As the late Arthur Ashe once said about Borg‘s fame during his height, “He was bigger than the game. He was like Elvis (Presley) or Liz (Elizabeth) Taylor or somebody. He’d lost touch with the real world.” Or to put it in today’s terms, Borg back then was on Taylor Swift heights of fame. For someone like Borg, who admits that he never liked the limelight, that he survived that turbulent time in his life is truly admirable.

It’s truly a relief that Borg managed to survive all of that and can now share his memories, as well as continue to receive the accolades and gratitude of fans for being one of the very best ever to pick up a racquet.

“Heartbeats” is available now.