I have nothing right now. But every sixth month, I have to go for a check-up. The whole process, it's not something fun, says Borg to AP.
He adds, however, that he "feels very good".
Björn Borg tells about the disease in his upcoming autobiography "Hjärtslag", which will be published on September 18 by Norstedts förlag and which he has written together with his wife Patricia.
Borg says to AP that he had been tested for prostate cancer for "many, many years". And, he says:
The thing is that you don't feel anything – you feel good and then it just happens.
Extremely aggressive variant
It was in September 2023 that the doctors discovered something that didn't add up, and which had to be followed up. Borg writes in the autobiography that after further tests, he was diagnosed with an "extremely aggressive" variant of prostate cancer. The operation was scheduled for February 2024 – a wait that Borg for AP describes as "psychologically very difficult".
He says that his latest test results from August did not show any cancer.
"A new opponent"
In "Hjärtslag", Borg writes: "Now I have a new opponent in cancer – one that I cannot control. But I will defeat it. I don't give up. I fight every day as if it were a Wimbledon final. And those usually go pretty well, don't they?"
Björn Borg won 11 grand slam singles during his brilliant career, including Wimbledon five years in a row 1976–1980. In "Hjärtslag", Borg will also reveal, among other things, why he stopped playing tennis at the age of 26, despite still being one of the world's best tennis players.
Ingela Ahlberg/TT
Fredrik Shayn Scherman/TT
Facts: Björn Borg
TT
Born: June 6, 1956 in Stockholm.
Tennis career: 1973–1983.
Titles: 64.
Grand slam titles: 11. French Open 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981. Wimbledon 1976–80.
World number one: A total of 109 weeks.
Other (selection): Recipient of the achievement medal in 1974 and 1978, named best Swedish athlete of the 20th century at the Sports Gala 2000. The feature film Borg from 2017 is about his tennis career and rivalry with John McEnroe. Borg is played by Sverrir Gudnason.
