Borg Says He Took Pills to Combat Upset Stomach

Former tennis star Bjorn Borg denied Wednesday that he had tried to commit suicide after he was rushed to a hospital in Milan, Italy, unconscious from taking sleeping pills.

Borg, the five-time Wimbledon champion from Sweden, who had his stomach pumped in the hospital, said he became ill after mixing alcohol and sleeping pills in an attempt to combat an upset stomach.

“It’s a lot of fuss about nothing,” Borg said. “I felt ill because I ate something that upset my stomach. Then I drank and then I took sleeping pills. After that I can’t remember a thing.”

A Milan newspaper said that Borg had tried to kill himself after an argument with his fiancee, pop singer Loredana Berte.

Said Berte: “Bjorn had an upset stomach, and to help his digestion he drank a couple of glasses of whiskey. Then he went to bed, but he couldn’t sleep. He was tortured by nausea.

“Hoping to get over it with a good sleep, he took a sleeping pill. Obviously this formed a deadly cocktail in his stomach.”

Hospital officials who treated Borg refused to say how many pills he had swallowed, or to comment on whether he had tried to commit suicide.