��������

NEW YORK: Bjorn Borg starts his new memoir, “Heartbeats,” with a story about being rushed to a Dutch hospital in the 1990s after overdosing on “alcohol, drugs, pills — my preferred ways of self-medication,” and the Swedish tennis great closes it by revealing that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“It’s good,” Borg, 69, said in a recent video interview with The Associated Press from his home in Stockholm, “to have a good beginning and a good ending.”

In between, the 292-page book, which will be released in the US by Diversion Books on Sept. 23, contains revelations about his love life, various adventures and regrets, and the 11-time Grand Slam champion’s detailed recollections of particular matches.

Bjorn Borg quit tennis at age 25 because he stopped caring when he lost

Famously private, Borg kept a lot to himself during his days on tour — as well as since he surprisingly retired in his 20s.

He brings readers back to when, having lost the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals to rival John McEnroe, Borg realized he was done.

“All I could think was how miserable my life had become,” he writes.

He was 25 and, while he would briefly return to tennis, he never competed at another Grand Slam event.

After the 1981 final at the US Open, a tournament he never won, Borg grabbed some beers and sat in the pool at a house on Long Island, where friends planned a party to celebrate a victory.

“I was not upset or sad when I lost the final. And that’s not me as a person. I hate to lose,” he told the AP.

“My head was spinning,” he said, “and I knew I’m going to step away from tennis.”

Bjorn Borg wasn’t always calm on a tennis court

Borg writes about his childhood and his relationships with his parents (and, later, his children).

He writes about earning the nickname “Ice-Borg” for calmness on court — often contrasted by fans to the more fiery McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. And Borg writes that did not come about “organically,” but rather via “the bitter experiences” of a 12-year-old kid.

“I behaved so badly on the tennis court. I was swearing, cheating, behaving the worst you can imagine,” he recalled in the video interview.

He said his hometown tennis club banned him for six months and, when he returned, “I did not open my mouth on the tennis court, because I was scared to get suspended again.”

“Boiling inside? Yes,” Borg told the AP. “I had to control my feelings. ... You cannot do that in one week. It took years to figure out how I should behave on the court.”

Borg discusses cocaine and 2 overdoses that landed him in the hospital

Borg writes about panic attacks and his drug use, which he says started in 1982.

“The first time I tried cocaine,” he says in the book, “I got the same kind of rush I used to get from tennis.”

He also writes about “the worst shame of all,” which he says came when he looked up from a hospital bed in Holland to see his father. Borg also clarifies that an earlier overdose, in 1989 in Italy, was accidental, not a suicide attempt.

“Stupid decision to be involved with this kind of thing. It really destroys you,” he told the AP about drugs. “I was happy to get away from tennis, to get away from that life. But I had no plan what to do. ... I had no people behind me to guide me in the right direction.”

Borg name-drops Trump, Arafat, Warhol, Hefner, Tina Turner in his memoir

In all, Borg paints the picture of quite a life.

There was a water-skiing shoulder injury before 1977 US Open. Death threats during the 1981 US Open. Getting paid in cash ... and getting robbed at gunpoint. A woman claiming he was the father of her son. Coin-throwing by spectators in Rome that led him to never return.

This is not the typical sports autobiography: There is a reference to getting a message to Yasser Arafat and, five pages later, the phrase ”Andy Warhol was someone easy to like” appears. There are name-drops of Donald Trump, Nelson Mandela, Tina Turner and “my old friend Hugh Hefner,” among many, many others.

“People will be very surprised what really happened,” Borg told the AP. “For me to come out (after) all these years, all I went through — I went through some difficult times — (it’s) a relief for me to do this book. I feel so much better. ... No secrets anymore.”
 

WASHINGTON: A Black college student was found dead hanging from a tree on a university campus in Mississippi this week, prompting calls from civil rights advocates for a thorough investigation, as authorities say there was no evidence of foul play.
Demartravion “Trey” Reed, 21, was found dead early on Monday near the pickleball courts on Delta State University’s campus in Cleveland, Mississippi, according to campus police.
Campus police chief Michael Peeler called the death an “isolated incident” and said there was no active threat to students or faculty.
The university said multiple law enforcement agencies were assisting in the probe into the death. The FBI said in a statement that it was prepared to investigate, “if, during the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation.”
The local coroner’s office said there was no evidence to suggest that Reed was physically attacked or assaulted before his death and that further information would be shared “once the autopsy results are finalized.”
Reed’s body was sent to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for an official autopsy report.
While investigators have said they found no evidence of foul play, Reed’s death prompted calls for transparency among advocates, who noted Mississippi’s history of lynching and racially motivated violence in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Mississippi Democratic US Representative Bennie Thompson called for a federal probe into Reed’s death.
“We must leave no stone unturned in the search for answers. While the details of this case are still emerging, we cannot ignore Mississippi’s painful history of lynching and racial violence against African Americans,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has handled some of the highest profile police killings of Black Americans, has been retained by Reed’s family. Crump said on X the family “cannot accept vague conclusions when so many questions remain.”
“I stand with this family, and I will lead a team of civil rights leaders and organizations in pursuing transparency and answers for Trey’s family,” Crump said. The family is seeking an independent autopsy.
Delta State University’s enrollment last year stood at over 2,600 students, more than 40 percent of whom were Black.