STILL F**KING HANDSOME –
Dec. 30, 2025 – The Swedish superstar burst onto the tennis scene in the 1970s and claimed his first Grand Slam title – the 1974 French Open – at the tender age of 18. The 69-year-old recounted in his memoir, Heartbeats, details about the lost decades which shaped his early retirement, with his startling drug use a frequent feature of the late 1980s and 90s. ‘I thought, “I’m not playing tennis any more, so I can try (cocaine).” It would be better not to try it. Going into drugs or pills or alcohol – it’s terrible.
‘But then in the end, I took more drugs and pills, and it’s just to find happiness. Where is happiness?’
Borg then compared the rush of using cocaine to the rush he felt at the pinnacle of his playing career.
But the grip of using drugs and alcohol came with dangerous consequences, with Borg describing in his memoir two horrifying instances where he overdosed on a combination of the two.
The first took place in Milan, seven years after his first encounter with cocaine, when he was found by his then-wife Loredana and taken to hospital to have his stomach pumped.
Borg’s hospital visit made international headlines with reporting alleging that the retired star had attempted suicide.
