A NET LOSS : Borg Going Back to Work, but Not on Tennis Court

More than six years since he retired from tournament tennis, Bjorn Borg is in business again, only not the tennis business.

No, the remaining Beatles aren’t getting back together to make a record and Borg isn’t pole-vaulting saunas back home in Stockholm, rounding into shape to make a comeback. In tennis, he’s not Bjorn again.

After all, in 10 days Borg is going to turn 32. That makes Borg 14 years older than superkid Andre Agassi. There could be serious gaps in the conversation at the table should they dine, but at least a title is prepared: “My Dinner with Andre.” But for Borg, surely 32 is way, way too old to even think about a comeback, which he isn’t doing anyway.

The days are long gone when Borg would surround his long, shaggy hair with a headband, then cross the Thames from London and win another championship at Wimbledon (he had five in succession), or ford the Seine and travel to the Bois de Boulogne to play unparalleled in Paris to win a French Open title (he had six).

Borg’s racket at the present time is something called the Bjorn Borg Design Group, featuring a line of menswear. It should not be confused with Bjorn Borg Menswear, the clothing company Borg started in 1982. This business, too, is tailored for him. Soon, the new Borg line is going to branch out into tennis wear, shoes and also fragrances called Bjorn Borg and 6-Love .

What should cologne named after an athlete smell like anyway? Musty socks?

“Classic and sporty,” said Borg, whose career played out just about the same way his perfume smells.

Anyway, Borg still gets around pretty good, even if he’s not lobbing with Ivan Lendl this week at the French Open, or bashing a backhand at Boris Becker at Wimbledon in a couple of weeks. On Thursday, Borg was in town at the Beverly Hills Country Club, where he took part in a project in which he chose two inner-city youths to train with him in Sweden for a week. They will then be his guests at the Swedish Open.

“One of them might be a champion,” Borg said.

They could do a lot worse than having someone like Borg to copy. From the mid-’70s until the 1980 Wimbledon, there was no better player in professional tennis than Bjorn Borg. When he defeated John McEnroe at Wimbledon eight years ago, it was Borg’s fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship and his five-set victory in the final against McEnroe is considered one of the best matches in the history of tennis.

Borg made more than $36 million in his career, then abruptly retired in January, 1982, in what was probably the earliest recorded case of burnout in professional sports.

Since then, Borg’s fortune has grown to an estimated $100 million. He has been busy doing just about everything except coming back to tennis full-time. He has played a few tournaments, many exhibitions, scores of clinics and thousands of public appearances.

About the only thing he failed at was television. Borg’s work for NBC at the 1983 Wimbledon was dismissed by more than one critic as, well, “ Bjoring .”

Borg has left Monte Carlo, where he lived for 11 years to escape Sweden’s high taxes, and moved to Stockholm, but he still has not left behind speculation he is going to come back to tennis and give it another shot. Forget it.

“Look, if I wanted, I could play tennis every day for 365 days a year, if I accepted every invitation I get,” Borg said. “People still ask me to come back. The thing is, no, I’m not. I’m completely satisfied with my career, but it is over. The only thing I did not win was the U.S. Open, although I was in the finals four times.

“When I left, I was 26 years old. What I did had never happened before. I think everybody was very surprised, but I only wanted to extend myself as a human being. This has been best for me.”

Even when he was playing, Borg’s personal life was always a matter of great interest, especially to the Swedish journalists who hid out in Borg’s flower bed or called him at midnight to discuss his serve.

“There are a limited number of people he trusts,” said Ove Bengtson, who is in that select group. Bengtson, 43, is a former No. 1 player in Sweden and a former Swedish Davis Cup doubles partner of Borg. Bengtson has known Borg since Borg was 11. “He can’t let too many people close to him.”

Borg has a son, Robin, 2 1/2, but not a wife. Robin’s mother, Jannike Bjorling, 21, whom Borg met when she was 17 and competing in a beauty contest at a Stockholm discotheque, broke off her relationship with Borg last fall. Borg was divorced from his wife of four years, former Romanian tennis player Mariana Simionescu, in 1984.

“He’s changed his whole life,” Bengtson said.

Borg doesn’t discuss his private life. “My life should not be an open book,” he said. “I should always like to keep a few things to myself.”

Certainly, Borg’s business life is out there in full view. The Bjorn Borg Design Group is based in Monte Carlo, where he employs four designers. Soon, there will also be an office in New York and possibly others in Singapore and Stockholm. The products are on sale in Spain and Switzerland and may be coming soon to your neighborhood.

So the life of Bjorn Borg is selling tennis clothes instead of playing in them. When he hit a few tennis balls at Thursday’s event, it was almost enough to make Borg yearn for the good old days, when he had a lot of hair and only a few problems.

“Life is not easy, whether you’re playing or not playing,” Borg said. “Who said it would be? To go through life is not easy. You can’t compare. I really think life was easier playing tennis. Go to practice, play the match, go home. It was so scheduled. But you know, I am so satisfied. I won’t complain. I would not change anything.”

What’s next? A Borg designer car, possibly. Maybe a Borg hotel. Whatever it is, Bengtson believes Borg is going to keep coming up with something until he is satisfied, if that ever happens, for a very good reason.

“Even if you had everything you ever dreamed for monetarily, it’s good to have something you started yourself,” Bengtson said.