The Swedish star said he used the time – around 24,000 steps – in his Stockholm flat to ‘think’ but he admitted his wife Patricia Östfeld gets ‘really annoyed’ when he starts marching
Tennis legend Björn Borg has revealed how he walks 12 miles every day – around his sofa. The 69-year-old, who won Wimbledon five times before retiring at the of just 26 in 1983, said he did the daily walks around the couch to keep himself fit.
The Swedish star said he used the time – around 24,000 steps – in his Stockholm flat to ‘think’. Even at a fast walk of 4mph, that works out at three hours spent pacing around the living room every day.
He admitted, however, that wife Patricia Östfeld got ‘really annoyed’ with him when he suddenly stood up and started marching around the sofa – just as the pair were about to ‘relax’ in front of the telly.
Asked if it was true that he ‘walked 12 miles-a-day around the TV couch’, Borg replied: “Yes – I can think in that time. (Patricia) gets really annoyed.” He also revealed how his greatest rival, John McEnroe, used to phone him all the time after he retired, begging him to get back on the circuit.
Asked if rivals tried to talk him out of retirement, he said: “The one guy who called me all the time and said ‘You cannot quit, you cannot retire from tennis’ was John McEnroe.
“He called me so many times, (saying) ‘What are you doing? I want to play you so many times. Bjõrn. How can you leave tennis? You’re not even 26 years old’.”
He said he replied simply ‘I’m sorry, John, I’ve taken this decision.’ He was very disappointed.”
Borg has just released his autobiography, Heartbeats: A Memoir by Bjõrn Borg.
The tennis legend also opened up about his prostate cancer diagnosis following life-saving surgery. The five-time Wimbledon winner described how “the cancer turned out to be extremely aggressive”. And during a heartfelt interview on BBC Breakfast, Borg explained he routinely monitored himself for prostate cancer and received some “difficult” news from his doctor in 2023.
The retired tennis star – famous for his epic rivalry with fellow great John McEnroe, voted the greatest sporting rivalry of all time – is now approaching life “day by day”. During his playing days he was also considered an international sex symbol, but the 69-year-old Borg has kept his life after tennis out of the public eye.
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