The Swedish tennis legend announced in the final chapter of his autobiography Heartbeats: A Memoir that he was diagnosed with an "extremely aggressive" form of the disease two years ago and admits it was "difficult psychologically" for him to hear.

Borg - who is now in remission - told BBC Breakfast: "I spoke to the doctor and he said this is really, really bad.

"He said you have these sleeping cancer cells [and] it's going to be a fight in the future.

"Every six months I go and test myself. I did my last test two weeks ago. It's a thing I have to live with."

The 11-time Grand Slam champion explained that he had been checking himself for prostate cancer "for many years" before his doctors spotted an issue in 2023.

Borg said: "The thing is that you don't feel anything - you feel good, and then it's just happened.

"I hope that I'm going to be OK. I take it day by day, year by year, hopefully."

Borg won five consecutive Wimbledon titles during his glittering career but decided to retire aged just 25 as he had "lost motivation", although he struggled in the years after quitting the sport.

The former world number one said: "I had enough. I lost the interest and the motivation.

"If I knew what was going to happen in the years after, I would continue to play tennis."

Discussing his post-tennis struggles, the six-time French Open champion added: "I had no plan. People today, they have guidance. I was lost in the world.

"There was more drugs, there was pills, alcohol, to escape myself from reality.

"I didn't have to think about it. Of course it's not good, it destroys you as a person."