"Every six months I go and test myself" - Bjorn Borg opens up on his prostate cancer diagnosis

Friday, 19 September 2025 at 08:30

Tennis great Bjorn Borg recently revealed he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2023, but has vowed to fight the disease with the same resolution that won him several Grand Slam titles.

The Swedish star ascended to the top of the tennis world in the 1970's and 1980's, holding the ATP World No.1 ranking for a total of 109 weeks. During his stay on tour, Borg 66 singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam trophies.

After retiring in 1983 and an attempted comeback in 1991, Borg finally hung up his racket in 1993. The Stockholm native spent most of his time away from the public eye, before eventually taking the role of Team Europe captain at the Laver Cup.

Borg would hand over the captaincy reins to French tennis star Yannick Noah beginning at the 2025 edition of the Laver Cup. However, he would reveal in his 2025 autobiography Heartbeats that he had been diagnosed with an "extremely aggressive" form of prostate cancer in 2023, underwent surgery in 2024, and now lives in remission with regular monitoring.

The diagnosis took a psychological toll on him, admits Borg

The retired star would announce his diagnosis in the final chapter of his autobiography. Borg would express his trepidation at the news, but vowed to "fight every day like it's a Wimbledon final".

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"I spoke to the doctor and he said this is really, really bad," Borg said in an interview with BBC Breakfast. "He said you have these sleeping cancer cells [and] it's going to be a fight in the future. Every six months I go and test myself. I did my last test two weeks ago. It's a thing I have to live with.
"The thing is that you don't feel anything - you feel good, and then it's just happened. I hope that I'm going to be OK. I take it day by day, year by year, hopefully."

Known as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Borg enjoyed a career that saw him develop numerous rivalries on the ATP Tour. One of his most renown is against American John McEnroe, with their 1980 Wimbledon final being labeled as one of the best matches of all time.

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Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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