Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his career, including eleven majors: six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon. Borg was ATP Player of the Year from 1976 to 1980, the year-end No. 1 in the ATP rankings in 1979 and 1980, and the ITF World Champion from 1978 to 1980.
A teenage sensation at the start of his career, Borg experienced unprecedented stardom and consistent success that helped propel the rising popularity of tennis during the 1970s. Between 1974 and 1981, Borg claimed 11 major singles titles, the most by any man in the Open Era up to that point. His rivalries with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe became cultural touchstones beyond the world of tennis, with the latter rivalry peaking at the 1980 Wimbledon final, considered one of the greatest matches ever played. Following defeats to McEnroe in the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals, Borg unexpectedly retired from tennis at the age of 25. He made a brief and unsuccessful comeback in 1991.
Borg won four consecutive French Open titles and was undefeated in six French Open finals. He is the only man to achieve the Channel Slam three times. He won three major titles without losing a set during those tournaments. However, he never won the US Open despite four runner-up finishes. Borg also won three year-end championships and 16 Grand Prix Super Series titles. In 1979, Borg became the first player to earn more than US$1 million in prize money in a single season. Overall, he set [|numerous records], some of which still stand.
Borg is widely considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, and was ranked by Tennis magazine as the sixth-greatest male player of the Open Era.
Early life
Björn Borg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 6 June 1956, the only child of Rune, an electrician, and Margaretha Borg. He grew up in nearby Södertälje. As a child, Borg became fascinated with a golden tennis racket that his father won at a table-tennis tournament. His father gave him the racket, beginning his tennis career.A player of great athleticism and endurance, he had a distinctive style and appearance—bowlegged and very fast. His muscularity allowed him to put heavy topspin on both his forehand and two-handed backhand. He followed Jimmy Connors in using the two-handed backhand. By the time he was 13, he was beating the best of Sweden's under-18 players, and Davis Cup captain Lennart Bergelin cautioned against anyone trying to change Borg's rough-looking, jerky strokes.
Career
1972–73 – Davis Cup debut and first year on the tour
At the age of 15, Borg represented Sweden in the 1972 Davis Cup and won his debut singles rubber in five sets against Onny Parun of New Zealand. Later that year, he won the Wimbledon junior singles title, recovering from a 5–2 deficit in the final set to overcome Britain's Buster Mottram. Then in December, he won the Orange Bowl Junior Championship for boys 18 and under after a straight-sets victory in the final over Vitas Gerulaitis. Borg joined the professional circuit in 1973, and reached his first singles final in April at the Monte Carlo Open, which he lost to Ilie Năstase. He was unseeded at his first French Open and reached the fourth round where he lost in four sets to eighth-seeded Adriano Panatta. Borg was seeded sixth at his first Wimbledon Championships, in large part due to a boycott by the ATP, and reached the quarterfinal, where he was defeated in a five-set match by Roger Taylor. In the second half of 1973, he was runner-up in San Francisco, Stockholm and Buenos Aires and finished the year ranked No. 18.1974 – First French Open title
Borg made his only appearance at the Australian Open at the age of 17, and reached the third round, where he lost in straight sets to the eventual finalist Phil Dent. In January, he won his first career singles title at the New Zealand Open, followed by titles in London and São Paulo in February and March respectively. Just before his 18th birthday in June 1974, Borg won his first top-level singles title at the Italian Open, defeating defending champion and top-seeded Ilie Năstase in the final and becoming its youngest winner. Two weeks later, he won the singles title at the French Open, his first Grand Slam tournament title, defeating Manuel Orantes in the final in five sets. Barely 18, Borg was the youngest-ever male French Open champion up to that point. At Wimbledon, Borg lost in the third round to Ismael El Shafei in straight sets in a match in which "Borg quit trying mid-way through the second set". At the US Open, Borg lost in the second round to Vijay Amritraj in five sets which was "one of the memorable matches on the famed center court- a duel of strategy and stroke making".1975 – Retained French Open title
In early 1975, Borg defeated Rod Laver, then 36 years old, in a semifinal of the World Championship Tennis finals in Dallas, Texas, in five sets. Borg subsequently lost to Arthur Ashe in the final.Borg retained his French Open title in 1975, beating Guillermo Vilas in the final in straight sets. Borg then reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Ashe. Borg did not lose another match at Wimbledon until 1981. Borg lost in the semi-finals of the US Open on clay in straight sets to Connors. Connors' "tremendous power when he found himself behind, blunted the 19-year-old Swede's topspin and balloon ball hitting". Borg won two singles and one doubles rubber in the 1975 Davis Cup final, as Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 3–2. With these singles wins, Borg had won 19 consecutive Davis Cup singles rubbers since 1973. That was already a record at the time. However, Borg never lost another Davis Cup singles rubber, and, by the end of his career, he had stretched that winning streak to 33.
1976 – First Wimbledon title
In early 1976, Borg won the World Championship Tennis year-end WCT Finals in Dallas, Texas, with a four-set victory over Guillermo Vilas in the final. At the 1976 French Open, Borg lost to the Italian Adriano Panatta, who remains the only player to defeat Borg at this tournament. Panatta did it twice: in the fourth round in 1973, and in the 1976 quarterfinals. Borg won Wimbledon in 1976 without losing a set, defeating the favored Ilie Năstase in the final. Borg became the youngest male Wimbledon singles champion since Sidney Wood in 1931 at 20 years and 1 month. Năstase later said, "We're playing tennis and he's playing something else." Borg also reached the final of the 1976 U.S. Open, which was then being played on clay courts. Borg lost in four sets to world no. 1 Jimmy Connors. Borg was awarded the ATP Player of the Year award and ranked world No. 1 by Tennis Magazine.1977 – Second Wimbledon title and world No.1 ranking
In February 1977 World Championship Tennis sued Borg and his management company IMG claiming that Borg had committed a breach of contract by electing to participate in the competing 1977 Grand Prix circuit instead of the WCT circuit. Borg eventually played, and won, a single WCT event, the Monte Carlo WCT. An out-of-court settlement was reached whereby Borg committed to play six or eight WCT events in 1978 which were then part of the Grand Prix circuit.Borg skipped the French Open in 1977 because he was under contract with WTT, but he repeated his Wimbledon triumph, although this time he was pushed much harder. He defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in a semifinal in five sets. His match with Gerulaitis was deemed by Wimbledon itself as "probably the greatest gentlemen's singles match played at Wimbledon". In the 1977 final Borg was pushed to five sets for the third time in the tournament, this time by Connors. The win propelled Borg to the No. 1 ranking in the ATP point system, albeit for just one week in August. Before the 1977 US Open, Borg aggravated a shoulder injury while waterskiing with Vitas Gerulaitis. This injury ultimately forced him to retire from the Open during a Round of 16 match vs Dick Stockton. Borg was rated number one for 1977 by Tennis Magazine, Tennis Magazine, Barry Lorge, Lance Tingay, Rino Tommasi, Judith Elian and Rod Laver. Borg was also named "ATP Player of the Year". Through 1977, he had never lost to a player younger than himself.