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Ice: Bjorn Borg Aged just 16, with flowing blond locks a sensation was to strike fear into the tennis world - before John McEnroe - and when Jimmy Connors was in his pomp. 1974 made girls swoon for the Swede Bjorn Borg, whose elegance and deceptive strength would capture him 11 Grand Slam titles, in a career spanning ten years. While his slight figure and shyness made girls croon, the bowlegged Borg was distinctive, but unorthodox in appearance as his muscular shoulders and flexible wrists - developed while playing Ice Hockey as a youngster - gave him the strength to hit the ball with enormous top-spin on both forehand and backhand.
Borg's achievements are impressive in a winning reign, which, by modern standards was so short. Never fully accustomed to team ethos the introverted Swede went for personal gains, as he preferred to battle from the baseline, trading groundstrokes tirelessly in long rallies, retrieving and waiting patiently to outlast his opponent. Volleying, with his Western grip forehand and two-fisted backhand, was troublesome, and his serve was not impressive at first. To chronicle his rise to fame is to set the date for his first introduction to the game of Lawn Tennis, as a nine year old, who, was presented with a racket by his father, which he had won as a prize in a ping-pong competition. Björn Rune Borg was born on June 6th, 1956, in a town called Södertalje, which is 30 kilometres outside of Stockholm. As an ice hockey enthusiast Borg was reluctant to change sports, but did so while training after school for three hours every day as his two handed backhand "evolved" as a result of his winter sport development, gaining tremendous wrist power. Precocious achievements and championships followed for Borg. He won his first tournament at 11-years-old, and won every junior championship for the next four years. By the time he was 13 he was beating and embarrassing the best Swedish under-18 players and as word spread of his talent, Davis Cup captain Lennart Bergelin cautioned against anyone trying to change Borg's rough-looking, jerky strokes. Sweden and the world marvelled, as his Davis Cup teeth were sharpened at the tender age of 15, when he became the youngest player to win a match by beating New Zealand's Onny Parun in five sets, at Bastad in 1972. From that moment on his star shone for a decade as Percy Rosberg and Bergelin trained Borg to become one of the most recognisable and acclaimed athletes on earth. But Dwight's Davis' prestigious silver bowl was never his true metier: a stubborn individualist Borg was too often at odds with his association and never matched the commitment of his country's great Davis Cup players like Ulf Schmidt, Jan-Erik Lundquist, Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd, all of whom made over 35 appearances for their country. But when Borg did decide to play, no one could doubt his worth or commitment to the team. In singles he won 45 matches and lost just 11. Borg was in imperious form in 1975, just before his 18th birthday he became the youngest winner of the Italian Open and two weeks later confirmed much-heralded belief that he was a great in the making by winning at Roland Garros. For Borg he was the youngest winner - a record lowered by Mats Wilander, aged 17 in 1982 and lately by Michael Chang in 1989.
The fearless Swede was two-time singles champion at the U.S. Pro -
the oldest professional championship - in 1975, where he took the singles
at 18: another record broken. He would win the event for the third succesive
year in 1976. Borg was battle-hardened and ready to take on Wimbledon's fast grass and determined to win. He devoted himself to two weeks of solid practice on serve-volley tactics. This went against his ethos of battling from the baseline, wearing opponents down and patiently waiting an opponents mistake. His volleying was forever cumbersome with his western grip and two-fisted backhand, his serve at times was inconsistent, but Borg set about making amends. By 1976 Borg was ready and won the world's most prestigious tournament without losing a set, beating favoured Romanian Ilie Nastase, tennis' clown prince in the final 6-4, 6-2, 9-7. Once again he was the youngest winner of the modern era at 20-years-old, until Boris Becker won aged 17, in 1985. This set about an amazing run, which ended when a wild-looking young man from Douglaston, a suburb of New York hit the scene. While forever smashing records with his electrifying play, he was making tennis popular in the newly styled Open era. Another Wimbledon victory in 1977, with five set victories over American's Vitas Gerulatis in the semi-final and Jimmy Connors in the final were considered two of the best played at SW19. Inspired form and self-belief in his own game enabled Borg to 'rule the roost' in Paris as well, surpisingly able to change from slow to fast surfaces with ease and no rest-bite, as the tournaments are two weeks apart. Borg repeated his win over Connors in 1977 and became the first player to win three successive Championships since Fred Perry (1933-1936). He would make it four in a row a year later against the big serving American Roscoe Tanner, thus equaling Anthony Wilding's record of four between 1910-1913. With another superstar coming to the fore, his fifth straight Wimbledon victory, climaxed an all-time and never forgotten final against 'Super Brat' John McEnroe in 1980. Borg eventually beat the young pretender 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6, having battled through an anxious fourth set 34-point tie-breaker, where the cool Swede saved six set points and squandered five match points before surrendering. But his demeanour brought him through in another exciting fifth set. Borg knew now that he was flirting with history and an ancient record of six straight titles won by William Renshaw, between 1881 and 1886. The Challenge Round format during those primitive days, meant that Renshaw as last years winner was given a bye to the final, and therefore one match to play. Thus his match-winning streak was only 13, up to an 1888 defeat by Willoughby Hamilton.
By winning in 1980 Borg had surpassed Australian Rod Laver - who won two Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969 - match winning record of 31. Borg then built upon that record by reaching the 1981 final. In the ladies game Helen Wills Moody won 50 straight matches between 1927 and 1938. In his 42nd match the 'King' was dethroned, by volatile McEnroe 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. The Swede would not return to Wimbledon for another 19 years. Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam titles had seemed so attainable earlier in the year as Borg became champion of Roland Garros for a record sixth time, with another record - his 28th straight match win at the home of the Four Musketeers. Borg remained on 11; it was to be his last major title, as he remained tied with Laver in the pantheon of great champions. The seeds had been sown, as left-handed nemesis McEnroe completed his Wimbledon victory by winning a second successive U.S. Open title against Borg, stealing in the process, the world number one ranking that the Swede had held in 1979 and 1980. The four set defeat at Forest Hills effectively ended Borg's career, as he played two further matches, reaching the quarter-final on the clay of Monte Carlo. Weeks later the superstar of the Open era, thus far, retired at the age of 26, an age when most players have yet to hit their prime. With 62 singles titles, including the prestigious end of year Masters of 1979 and 1980, Borg turned his back on tennis.
For the shy Swede, tennis had a new ring-leader: John McEnroe, a player who could take the game onto a new platform of worldwide interest that the introverted Borg seemed unable to do. His rivalry with Connors, Gerulatis and McEnroe had transformed tennis in the uncertain days of the 1970s, when political demonstrations and breakaway tennis tours directly influenced enthusiasm amongst spectators. Despite talk of a comeback, tour officials thought his prolonged break from the game, was to the detriment to the young male stars and tennis's image. Chris Evert was particularly supportive when Borg most needed support within the corridors of power. He turned his back for good, but with a wooden racket in hand returned unsuccessfully in 1992. When Borg's career is recalled, his record on grass and clay is second to none, he broke records left right and centre and sent tennis' popularity into a new orbit, but his particular jinx was always the U.S. Open. Ten times he crossed the Atlantic and on four occasions he reached the final losing twice to Connors (1976 and 1978) and McEnroe (1980 and 1981). Nowadays, the thrills of the Seniors Tour occupy the world of Bjorn Borg, after brief sorties into fashion and business, his rivalry with McEnroe continues, although founding tour member Connors has seemingly turned his back on tennis for good, refusing to do interviews and attend any tournaments. His other many rival and friend Gerulatis unfortunately died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a rented holiday beach house in the early 90s. In 2000 during the new millennium celebrations at Wimbledon, Borg was back on centre court for the first time since his 1981 final with McEnroe, joining other singles champions. Borg was to get the biggest ovation from the 14,000 capacity crowd, as he walked on the hallowed turf once again during the 'Champions Parade.'
Whenever the question of: "Who is the greatest tennis player?" is asked the name of Bjorn Borg always features highly. Although American Pete Sampras holds the record of 13 Grand Slam titles - Sampras, nearing the end of his career, now aged 31, has never won on clay at Roland Garros. Roy Emerson stayed amateur, as fellow players turned professional before tennis turned 'Open' in 1968 and collected 12 majors. As Borg and Laver share 11 titles and are joint third on the list, comparisons are always made. Laver however, won the Grand Slam as an amateur (1962) and professional (1969) and didn't contest the Grand Slam arena, while as a professional between 1963 and 1968. Recently Sports Illustrated ranked Sampras as the best, followed by Borg then Laver, while L'Equipe, France's sports daily newspaper voted Borg as the second best of all-time behind Laver and ahead of Sampras. Whatever your answer, Bjorn Borg left his own indelible mark on the
game of Lawn Tennis and has ensured his legend will live on, as comparisons
will forever be made with players of different eras. Grand Slam Record French Open Singles 1974-1975, 1978-1981 Wimbledon Singles 1976-1980; Singles finalist 1981 U.S. Open Singles finalist 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981 Tournament Record (inc. Davis Cup and Olympics) Sweden Davis Cup Team member 1972-1975, 1978-1980; winning side 1975 Italian Open Singles 1974, 1978
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