Question. Why have you decided to write your autobiography now?
Answer. I had many offers in the nineties, from England and the United States. I told them I wasn't ready. The offers kept coming, but I still didn't feel prepared. Even with a great journalist or writer as an interlocutor, if I didn't have confidence with them, I couldn't open up. My wife is very connected to the academic world, she is a great reader and writes a lot. One night, during dinner, I proposed the idea of writing the book to her. She was surprised, asked for time to think about it, and the next day she said yes. We have been together for 25 years. She knows my life, knows tennis, and has traveled with me around the world. It took us three years to complete it.
Q. At the end of the book, you reveal that you have prostate cancer. How have you dealt with it?
A. I was informed about it in September 2023. Mentally, it was very tough. I had to go to Vancouver as the captain of the European team for the Laver Cup at the end of the month. They recommended that I shouldn't go, but I did. Upon my return, I went to the hospital in Stockholm, and they told me that it was very serious and that I needed to undergo surgery in February. The time leading up to the operation was terrible. I couldn't stop thinking. The surgery went well. I have check-ups every six months. I am doing well now.
Q. Let's go back to tennis. An indestructible champion like you became vulnerable without a racket in hand.
A. I quit at 26 because I wasn't enjoying it and lacked motivation. I lost many of my friends and the essence of everything around me. I entered a different life, dark years. I constantly wondered why I hadn't stayed connected to tennis in a different way instead of making stupid decisions. Even now, I still ask myself that.
Q. It seems like a compelling case of someone consumed by their own success.
A. Finding balance in life is very difficult. I made mistakes repeatedly. When I returned in Monte Carlo in 1991 [lost in two sets against Jordi Arrese in an event that turned into disappointment], I didn't do it because I had regained the desire to compete, but to find myself. I feared dying. I wanted to keep living. Perhaps if I hadn't returned at that moment, I wouldn't be talking to you now. It seems like I have always had a guardian angel by my side, allowing me to escape death. Those were very, very dark years, full of demons.
Q. What were you looking for in drugs?
A. If you are not happy, you try to escape. Drugs, pills, or too much alcohol to flee from life. I was completely lost.
Q. Do you think the need to always have a woman by your side was related to the loneliness you felt on the court?
A. Always needing company has always been a problem for me. I would start a new relationship without having ended the previous one. But paradoxically, when I have felt best is when I stepped onto a tennis court, where no one could disturb me, a place to be myself, be calm, feel harmony.
Q. As you explain in the book, your generation changed tennis and turned it into a mass sport.
I believe we did a lot for tennis. Besides taking the game to another level, we were different personalities capable of enriching the competition. Today it is a completely different sport, the ball is hit much harder, but it also has many attractions. Right now, the rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner is incredible; I try not to miss any of their matches. I love staying connected to tennis because it is something very close to my heart.
Q. What was special about your rivalry with McEnroe compared to the ones you mentioned or the one between Nadal and Federer or Nadal and Djokovic?
A. Every time we played, we offered great matches and disputed unforgettable finals at Wimbledon. People still remember them. Rivalry is very important to increase interest in a sport, but I don't think it was better or worse than others.
Q. Besides your family, two people have had a significant impact on your life: Lennart Bergelin and Vitas Gerulaitis.
A. I was one of the first tennis players to travel with a coach. Bergelin was like a second father to me. Gerulaitis was a great friend. He visited me several times in Stockholm, and we developed a close relationship beyond tennis. He was a great person. I still miss him.
Q. You admit that greed for money led you to make wrong decisions.
A. When fame enters your life, people expect a lot from you, and that has a disturbing effect. I can understand it, but the most important thing for me has always been my family.
Q. What is the main advice you have given to your son Leo, who plays on the professional circuit?
A. He loves tennis, works hard, and has his own team. Sometimes we go to watch him play, my wife, Patricia, and I, and he knows that if he needs anything, he can count on me.
Q. Like Federer, you were troublesome on the court in your early days...
A. When I was 12, I would break rackets, protest, I was very bad. I was suspended for six months, and when I returned, I wouldn't say a word because I was afraid of being punished again. So, year after year, I learned not to show my emotions. It took me time to learn how to behave. Then they nicknamed me "Ice Borg."
Q. Have you thought about how far you could have gone if you had prolonged your career?
A. Maybe I would have won more titles and perhaps a few more majors. Who knows. When I retired, I was playing well.