Bjorn Borg: From Hitting Balls to Covering Them

June 14, 2010
On my walk yesterday I did some window shopping and couldn’t help but notice that there were a lot of underwear shops in Gothenburg. Most of them displayed skivvies featuring the name “Bjorn Borg” on the waistband (where in the US you would see “Calvin Klein.”) Surely, I said to myself, this cannot be the same person as the iconic Wimbledon tennis champion. Well, I was wrong! Bjorn is indeed in the undies business and doing quite well, thank you. (I checked the website…comeflywithD is based on facts, not assumptions!) As an example, in the top photo he has designed a special pair to commemorate the June 19 wedding of Crown Princess Victoria, who is the heiress-apparent to the Swedish throne. Wedding fever is gripping Sweden, and in every store there is some kind of commemoration of the royal event. The lowest photo shows what the Swedish crystal house Orrefors has created for the Princess and her commoner husband-to-be. In the middle photo in the middle postcard is the 32 year-old Princess herself. There are two interesting things about her: one, she is the only female heir-apparent in the world. This is because in 1980 Sweden approved a constitutional change to the Succession Act of 1810 to allow the throne to be inherited by the oldest child regardless of gender. The other unusual thing is that it has been publicly acknowledged that she suffered from anorexia nervosa and in 1998she was sent to the United States for treatment and some college courses at Yale University. She has since recovered and already represents her father at official state functions when he is unable to attend. But Bjorn, couldn't you endorse a more dignified product as a member of the tennis "royal family?"