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Few rivalries have been as legendary as John McEnroe vs. Björn Borg.
Almost half a century has passed since their legendary clash.
Now the American McEnroe opens up about what he thinks of the Swede Borg.
Björn Borg is one of Swedish sports’ foremost heroes of all time and so immensely popular in our long country. He is one of the world’s greatest tennis players of all time and won a whopping 97 singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles, during his incredibly successful career.
McEnroe vs Borg
Everyone who knows Borg is also very aware of a certain one John McEnroe. The American became Björn’s great rival and therefore also has a very special place in Swedish sports history.
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McEnroe also achieved great success in tennis and won 77 singles titles, including 7 Grand Slam titles, during his career. But above all, he became world-renowned for his hot temper, which sometimes got out of hand.
“He must drink”
Many years later, McEnroe admits what kind of relationship he and his nemesis Borg have after their sports careers. And if they only talk about old tennis matches when they see each other.
– He has to drink to be able to talk about it, and he can do that in and of itself. Yes, I’ve seen him do it, McEnroe says with a laugh in an interview with Sportmagasinet in 2006.
– First we usually make up for what concerns our own families. I have told him: We need to spend more time together. It feels like our lives have taken different directions. Sometimes we have played exhibition matches just to meet, not because we want to meet on the court. In the future, I hope we can see each other without tennis having to be involved.
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John McEnroe holds Björn Borg in high esteem and has nothing but love for the archrival these days.
– He is the biggest rival I have ever had. He is the person I think about the most, and the person people most often ask me about, admits the American.
The words about Borg
When it comes to the best memory, it is of course that iconic “five-setter” from over 40 years ago that McEnroe immediately thinks of.
– The Wimbledon final in 1980. To be part of that match, which many consider to be the best tennis match ever. I have seen the tiebreak many times. It’s usually shown when it’s raining at Wimbledon, and it rains a lot there. I should have won the match in three straight sets, he says in the interview.
– I was convinced that I would win. He had already won Wimbledon four times in a row. He had burned several match points and I thought he was broken after losing the tiebreak. I thought he was human, but he continued as if nothing had happened. He was one of the best coached players at the time, maybe the best. The hard part was… Do you want to hear excuses now? He hadn’t played since Friday, while due to the rain I had to play my semi against Connors on Saturday, and then doubles after that. Yes, the point is that I played both singles and doubles while he rested the day before the final. I suspect it decided the decider in the fifth set. If it hadn’t rained I would have won Wimbledon. That’s what I wanted to say.
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But it was Björn Borg who won the 1980 Wimbledon final in a tiebreak in the fifth set and made history with his fifth straight title in the classic tournament. McEnroe and Borg met 14 times in their careers and they won seven matches each, but it was the American who ended the rivalry best with three straight head-to-head victories.
The reporter: You won the last three games against Borg. Did you get him to stop?
– I knew the question would come. In a way it may have had an effect. Maybe he felt he would lose first place forever. For him it was all or nothing, and he lived a very regimented life. He lived in the same hotel, ate the same food, worked out for a certain amount of time, got massages then, slept with women then… It was a very chaotic life, says the tennis icon from the USA.
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