By Elliott West
“I don’t know if I was the real love of Björn’s life, but he was for me.”
Mariana Simionescu
Introduction
Sweden has produced many talented individuals over the years but one sportsman who towers above the rest is the former professional tennis player, Björn Borg. Björn was a fashion icon, shy, sophisticated and a man whose good looks made ladies swoon and their hearts skip a beat. His dominance on the tennis court in the 1970s and early 1980s was eyewatering, a tennis powerhouse whose hair reminds one of the biblical Samson, a man who had all the right shots and moves. One woman who did steal his heart was his first wife Mariana Simionescu and in this piece, I will reveal her recollections of her husband, providing, us the reader with a fascinating insight into the private life of this Swedish tennis icon.
A Lasting Love
Björn first met Mariana in 1976 and a beautiful romance would ensue. It was the same year that Borg won the first of his five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles and would create a frenzy of media interest with comings and goings on and off the court becoming front-page news. Mariana was part of this frenzied world until the couple divorced in 1984. A divorce occurred after Björn started a romance with a teenage model he had met while judging a wet T-shirt competition. Yet while it lasted, these eight years together produced some of the most powerful and deep love that only those who go through it and romance novels can describe.
A Summer of Love
“It’s like you’re dreaming, you’re flying. We were in love and it was beautiful. It was the most exciting time of my life. I was so much in love that I didn’t even know my own name”.
Mariana Simionescu
The summer that Björn and Mariana met produced a heady love that anyone who has experienced it, will know makes you feel that you can take on the world and produces a magical glint in your eyes. For Mariana, it was the best ever summer, a woman who managed to cut past Björn’s shyness and bring out his real emotions. Before long, this powerful love spilt out into the real world and Mariana was catapulted into the blinding glare of the media spotlight. Becoming a firm fixture at the front row of the player’s box at Wimbledon. A place where her nerves were shredded as her man played on the court, learning to hide her emotions when her love turned and looked up at her.
Sprinting out of the box during and after a match, Mariana would try and settle her nerves by smoking. She smoked so many that John McEnroe’s family, especially his father complained about the smell of tobacco smoke. Yet through this cloud of smoke, Björn’s love had an envious upper hand. She could read her love’s emotions when he was on court. Something that his opponents were constantly bamboozled by, an emotionless stare that could dissolve a smile in an instant. Rather like the Da Vinci Code, few were privy to the secret solution but Mariana knew. When Björn Borg was very upset, his eyes would cross. He couldn’t stand losing, such was the impact of a match loss that he wouldn’t talk to anyone for three days.
True Love
Mariana first met Björn at the French Open in Paris. A grand slam tournament that he would win six times. She had won the Junior Girls event in 1974 and went on to have a career-high of number 36 in the world rankings. In 1976, Björn held a birthday party for his coach and Mariana got a phone from Borg in her hotel room, asking her to join the party. Such were the times, that she had to ask her mother for permission to go. Her mother buckled and agreed with the proviso that she didn’t come back late. Well like any rebellious young woman, this didn’t happen with Mariana returning to her room at 5 am after talking to Björn for hours at the party.
A beautiful love would blossom between the two as a result but Mariana would have to deal with Björn’s rock-style status. Wherever he went, he was followed by an entourage of female fans who would literally do anything to speak to their tennis icon. One female fan in Japan was prepared to sleep outside their hotel room door and Mariana had to invite her in, just to get her to go away. A female frenzy that didn’t die down until the two got married and fans realised that he was now untouchable. The couple tied the knot in Romania in Bucharest where she was from on July 24 1980.
Life after Borg
“I’ve been married only one time in my life, with Bjorn, that’s all”.
Mariana Simionescu
Björn and Mariana divorced in 1984 with rumours at the time that she received a £6 million settlement as a result, something that Mariana has always denied. Björn would go on to have his son Robin with a Swedish model, Jannike Bjorling but that relationship was short-lived, fizzling out after three years in 1989. He would then marry glamour model Loredana Berte but they split in 1993. In 2002, he married Patricia Östfeldt.
Mariana would go on to have a relationship with racing driver Jean-Louis Schlesser having a son with him, Anthony but the couple never got married. They would later split and she now lives with her mother who she cares for, her son and her dog. It is clear that despite splitting from Björn, her love for him never waned. He was the love of her life, the man she married and gave her heart to. A romance that is relatively short but a love that is forever etched on Mariana’s heart.
