Book Review: Björn Borg's Memoir "Heartbeats"
An insight into 'Ice-Borg's' life—in his own words this time.
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Whether you’re closely following the rise of current ‘Sincaraz’ Gen Z galaxy, or still living off the nostalgia of the millennial ‘Fedal’ era (like me), whether you’re a tennis buff, or a casual follower of the sport—you will thoroughly enjoy this book.
Admittedly, despite being a tennis buff, I knew very little about this tennis legend when I picked up his memoir. And, am I glad not to have over-researched him beforehand! The memoir took me on a tennis journey of the 1970s—the good, the bad, and definitely the ugly.
Björn Borg was known famously as ‘Ice-borg’ and ‘The Jar’ for keeping everything under the lid, and for his calm demeanour on the court. This was in stark contrast to his fiery American rivals Jimmy Connor and John McEnroe (McEnroe and Borg were labelled Fire & Ice during the peak of their rivalry).
Björn Borg, however, stunned the tennis world by retiring at the young age of 26, and in reading his memoir, we now know that he was anything but calm and composed inside.
Living in an age where mental health is openly discussed among tennis players and other sportspersons in press conferences and podcasts, and having sports psychologists in the ever-growing entourage does not raise eyebrows, what Björn Borg handled during the peak of his career in 70s can only be defined as a rollercoaster.
Breakdowns, infidelity, failed marriages, parenting guilt, drugs, almost fatal hospitalisations, bankruptcy—you name it, and Borg was at the centre of it. Living in the public eye was something he did not know how to handle.
Borg represents many firsts’ in the tennis world as discovered in the memoir:
First person to have a full time travelling coach (unthinkable that tennis players didn’t do this before)
First tennis player to utilise the benefits of massages or physiotherapy on tour (physios are core members of every tennis player’s team now)
A revolutionary double handed backhand among pro players (which happened only because of Borg starting out with a really heavy racquet!)
Youngest person to win the Davis Cup at age 15 in 1972
Youngest person to win the Roland Garros at age 18 in 1974
First person to have won the coveted Wimbledon five consecutive times
He was also one of the first tennis players to go through ‘demons,’ dabbling in drugs, and retiring at the peak of his career. Telling us about his dual Gemini personality, an all or nothing approach, Borg certainly went all in—the first to reach tennis zenith, and come back down, and how it happened.
He shares candidly the (in)famous Swedish personality trait he has inherited—of not confronting conflicts, which often led him to sticky situations in personal and professional endeavours.
Today tennis stars have a full PR machinery operating behind each Tweet, Instagram post, and every brand endorsement. It is inconceivable to think now that even the most introverted tennis player would give a one word response to a question. But Björn Borg was the tennis superstar who did just that. Uncomfortable handling media, not being a people person, and no PR team to handle his image, he famously gave monosyllabic answers to journalists’ queries. Clearly, he wasn’t exactly the darling of the tennis media circle.
Borg does not go into micro details about many of his legendary wins—11 slams and 66 career titles. But he does give us generous, delicious details of THAT historic Wimbledon win against John McEnroe in 1980. The biggest chuckle moment of the book (and perhaps a spoiler to readers, sorry!) is that McEnroe was the ball-boy who couldn’t feed the balls straight to Borg in his US Open debut in 1970. Little did he know that the same ball boy would go on to be his biggest rival in the years to come.
Incidentally, Borg never won the US Open in his illustrious career.
The famous Fire & Ice rivalry is shared by Borg with the huge professional respect that it deserves. Their friendship has grown past their retirements, and on senior tours and exhibition matches. Borg, in fact, was best man at McEnroe’s wedding to his wife Patricia (fun fact: both their wives’ names are Patricia). He also reveals how it was McEnroe who phoned him and convinced him not to sell off his grand slam trophies to an auction house.
Borg vividly and candidly shares his struggles of feeling rootless, questioning his purpose and identity during those dark years of 1980s. Living between Sweden, Monaco, France, and the USA in different stages of his life, he finally feels at home in Ibiza, Spain. He’s known, but is still a nobody there, just as he prefers.
Living in the likes of Beatlemania and an Elvis Presley-level superstardom in tennis, complete with the highs and lows, superstitions and what not, Borg’s memoir is an indulgence every tennis fan should binge on, sans guilt.