An insight into the comings and goings of The Iceman

Philip Reid/TV View: Sometimes the old zapper can be like a tool in a miner's hand. Every so often, after much delving, you can unearth a little nugget. And, to be sure, the documentary on Bjorn Borg - simply called Bjorn Borg - which resurfaced the other day on the Biography channel was one of those moments that make life on the television couch a pleasant assignment.

It offered a real insight into one of the superstars of the 20th Century. Yet the Swede was also one of sport's most enigmatic figures. To know where he came from, and the heights to which he subsequently rose, we had to go back to the working-class suburb of Stockholm where Borg grew up. There, ice hockey was the only sport and it seemed everyone worked in the local truck factory. But it was where the young Borg spent hour after hour "torturing a garage door with racquet and ball".

As in all great stories, he was discovered by chance. A Swedish coach, Percy Rosberg, was walking through a park and spotted this blond boy playing on a public court. He knew immediately this boy was special, even if his two-handed, wrist-rolled backhand seemed a little weird. Borg was 14.

At 15, he was playing Davis Cup for his country and, by 18, he was winning his first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open.

This 1998 documentary was absorbing, as it showed Borg warts and all. A teenage prodigy who conquered the tennis world - he became the first player to win five consecutive Wimbledon titles - and became the world's undisputed number one, yet who hung up his racquet at 26 and went on to live a life in the fast lane involving drugs and women and a life as a businessman which saw him leave a trail of creditors around the world.

As the author John Feinstein reminded us at the start of the documentary, "Tennis at its best is great theatre . . . you give your best shot and he takes your best shot, you knock him down and he knocks you down. It's almost Romanesque, the way the crowd responds to the gladiators . . . tennis at its best is boxing without the gloves."

Borg was a one of the world's first million-dollar sportsmen. On court, he never showed emotion. John McEnroe, the antithesis of this behaviour, told us, "He was so fast and so fit, never changed his expression . . . he was abnormal, I was the one who was normal."

Questioned years later about his demeanour on court, Borg observed, "I was steaming inside, there were times when I felt like throwing the racquet into the fence . . . (but) I just ignored such feelings."

To get a measure of how big Borg was, all you have to do is reflect on his wins: five Wimbledon titles and six French Open titles in a career that, by 25, had brought 763 professional victories. But his body couldn't take the way he played, grinding out wins even if it meant going to five sets. He was burning out.

"When he retired, I just asked, 'why?' and I felt disappointed," recalled McEnroe.

Still, Borg had accumulated something like $19 million in his career, which even included - it was later discovered - that he was paid about $200,000 to play in the Davis Cup. In fact, some in his homeland turned on him early in his career when he became a tax exile in Monaco.

But he had charisma and he became a friend to the rich and famous. Prince Albert of Monaco simply stated that it was "really sad" what had happened to Borg.

When he gave up tennis, Borg tried his hand - unsuccessfully - at rally driving; at television commentary (his monosyllabic style led NBC to decide against renewing his contract after just one year); and, ultimately, as a businessman, where he failed with spectacular consequences when his Bjorn Borg Design Group, which produced a range of products from picture frames to aftershave collapsed, leaving a trail from Japan to the US of angry creditors.

It was during this time that Borg took an overdose of sleeping tablets in Milan. Subsequently, he claimed he had suffered food poisoning from eating fish and was unable to sleep and mistakenly took the tablets in order to sleep. But nobody believed him.

As Saul Schoenberg, his business associate in New York, claimed, "(He) lacked integrity, (was) arrogant, (and) wholly irresponsible."

Although his home in Sweden was auctioned off to pay some creditors, most never saw a cent. But it was to be revealed that Borg escaped much of the financial hardship as he had set up trusts in the tax haven of the Channel Islands. The trusts

were administered by his parents.

All in all, it was a fascinating story about one of the world's genuine sporting superstars.

"He was one of the greatest personalities," said McEnroe, "without being a personality."