Tennis ace recovers from pill overdose

Press, 9 February 1989, Page 34

Tennis ace recovers from pill overdose

NZPA-Reuter Milan, Italy Bjorn Borg, the Swedish tennis ace whose icecool nerves brought victory on court but little happiness in love, appears to have made a quick recovery from a sleeping pill overdose which friends denied was a suicide bid. Borg, aged 32, who retired abruptly in 1983, was rushed to a Milan hospital to have his stomach pumped on Tuesday morning after overdosing on Roipnol, a sleeping pill and tranquilliser related to Valium, doctors said. “I’m all right. It’s all over,” Borg said with a smile after leaving hospital before he dashed inside the Milan apartment he shares with his fiancee, Italian singer, Loredana Berte. Tuesday evening Borg and Berte left the apartment by taxi, protected

from waiting photographers by a police escort. Their destination was unknown. The Milan hospital refused to comment on Italian media speculation that Borg had tried to kill himself, saying staff had been told by the tennis player’s manager to say nothing. In Stockholm, Borg’s personal adviser, Ingmar Alverdal, told -Swedish Radio that Borg had been struck by stomach pains after a meal in a Milan restaurant. “Borg took a couple of sleeping pills but didn’t feel any better so he decided to go to hospital,” Mr Alverdal said. Two Italian friends of the couple gave reporters in Milan similar versions of the incident. Borg and Berte, aged 38, were reported to be dismayed last month when the Roman

Catholic Church turned down their request for a church wedding in Milan because both are divorced. In contrast to the lack of emotion in public that helped bring him five consecutive Wimbledon titles, Borg’s private life has been marked by a series of short-lived love affairs. He was married for four years to a Romanian tennis player, Mariana Simonescu, before taking up in 1985 with a 17-year-old model, Jannike Bjorling, by whom he has a son. Berte, known for her aggressive singing style and bizarre stunts, was previously married to an Italian businessman. In an interview recorded last week with a New York television station, Bjorling said she would sue for custody of their child if Borg married Berte.