It seems that Bjorn Borg has come to the end of his fortune and finds it necessary to auction off his Wimbledon trophies and signed tennis racquets. The former are expected to garner about $500K total and the latter 15K to 20K apiece.
What a shame. Does anyone know how he lost his money?
It must have been assimilated.
Well it HAS been, gosh, more than 25 years since McEnroe stopped Borg’s Wimbledon streak. I don’t follow professional tennis (nor any other sport for that matter) but I certainly haven’t seen Bjorn step back into the spotlight at any time since than. If he didn’t have a lucrative career waiting for him after his retirement, how long should one expect his earnings to last? Especially considering Sweden’s legendarily high taxes?
Bjorn Borg is the reason I play tennis today. The 1980 Borg/McEnroe Wimbledon is still one of the most incredible matches ever played.
Ah, I miss the days of the wooden racquets, before the 150 mph serve that has nearly killed the men’s game.
It’s very sad. It’s also surprising because had you asked me back in 1980 which of the two men would most likely have a stable marriage and career in 20 years, I would have picked Borg over McEnroe. Borg just seemed so together, while McEnroe was such a loose cannon. Looks can be deceiving.
He’s apparently had some bad luck in his post-tennis business ventures. (The article may say that, I couldn’t view it without IE crashing.) It’s a shame.
On the one hand, I was going to suggest that Andy Roddick should buy the trophies, since I don’t think he’ll get one any other way. But I’m actually hoping that somebody who loved Borg’s tennis - say, I don’t know, Roger Federer - takes pity, buy’s the trophies and lets Borg keep them.
“Buy’s?” Good lord, do I write for a living? :smack:
I would think he could’ve been making great money teaching, holding camps and with endorsements. I’ll have to go dig out my teddy bear I named Bjorn Borg when I was a kid. My sister named hers Lee Travino.
StG
He certainly could have. Unfortunately for him, he chose another path. This isn’t the first time he’s been broke, what with drugs and various business ventures.
Borg has done a lot of really, really stupid things, once his career was over. Escaping to Monaco to hide his wealth from the Swedish [IRS]* was the first. That made him a target for shady business advisors. The [IRS] was trying to get his offshore assets for the longest time, meanwhile, he got married (or lived with) four different high maintenence women, one who got pregnant and the three first divorces were messy and expensive (AFAIK he’s still with #4).
There was a well publizised libel suit here when a magazine accused him of being a coke head and doing drugs throughout the 80’s with former tennis pro Guillermo Vilas. He’s basically a working class kid, with an enormous talent for tennis, who got rich quick and couldn’t handle it.
However…
There’s been rumour in the media for almost 20 years that the bulk of his wealth is hidden abroad. Every now and then he declares himself bankrupt and sells some assets. He did so in 1995, with his own name, which is now a label (Warning: flash site with music) for underwear, swimwear, eyeglasses, shoes, bags and fragrances.
Specualtion is that whenever his running low on his official wealth in Sweden, he does something to keep the [IRS] from wondering how he manages to maintain his lifestyle.
Proper name: Skatteverket. [IRS] for clarity for Non-swedish readers.