THEOn September 13, 1981, Bjorn Borg was dismantled by John McEnroe in the US Open final. They had many classic games; this cantilever quadrilateral was not one of them. While McEnroe kissed his mother on the New York field, Borg retired, escorted by seven plainclothes policemen. He was absent from the presentation and interviews. It is said that he slipped through the kitchens of Flushing Meadows, jumped on a Volvo and headed directly to the airport, always with his Fila brand. Borg would never play another game of singles in Grand Slam. He was not over 25 years old.
In a sport where it is almost impossible to be an enigma, Borg remains one even 40 years later. Why did you stop? Why hasn’t he fought – as, say, Roger Federer has done in recent years – and has he shown that he can rebuild his game, get back stronger? What demons raged in that beautiful head with the angelic sweep of blond hair and those little cobalt eyes that approached only a fraction too close?
The weather revealed some of the answers. About others we can make informed assumptions. Some, we will never know.
The end was so unexpected because of what happened before. In the late 1970s, Borg dominated tennis in a way that no male player has ever done since. He would have beaten the pitch at Roland Garros on clay (which was slower than it is now), tune in for a few weeks on the grass, then erase everyone in Wimbledon (which played much faster at the time). Borg hasn’t achieved this double once, like Federer, or twice, like Rafael Nadal, but on three occasions. His final count was six French Open titles and five consecutive Wimbledon championships. His statistics in the Davis Cup, when these games really mean something, were strangely consistent: a record of 33 consecutive single wins from 1973 to 1980.
Borg has had a supreme game, without complications, for all the races and has brought to sport a professionalism that no one had ever thought of. He trained in grueling five-hour blocks and was so fit that he claimed he never felt tired during a tennis match. Her resting heart rate was 29 whale-like beats per minute. This makes sense for the iconic 1980 Wimbledon final against McEnroe, where he lost the fourth set 18-16 draw just somehow to bounce back and last the decisive set, winning him 8-6.
Borg also codified an unrelated stoicism that was later adopted by Federer (less than Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray). You might think that “Ice Man” was born just like that, but Borg had a terrible character growing up. At 12, he was suspended for six months in Sweden for his field explosions. Apparently, he came back reformed and made a point of principle that would keep his emotions in check. He has become compulsive, or at least highly superstitious, about routine: always the same locker, the number of towels and so on; no sex or shaving for how long he stayed in the tournament.
Tennis had never been really good before Borg played it. He had groupies. For a horrible period, the term “Borgasm” was used. The fact that he blocked it, blocked everything, only adds to the charm. Without Borg, Federer (as we know it) could never have existed.
So what happened that afternoon in New York in 1981? Certainly Borg was emotionally crushed. While winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon came easily, he had tried and failed to win the US Open on 10 occasions, and this was his fourth setback in the final. McEnroe’s victory confirmed him as the number 1 in the world for 1981. Ivan Lendl was popping on his heels.
But there was something more that day, and enough to suggest that Borg should not be wiped out as a sore loser, a man who could not tolerate being usurped by younger rivals. The reason for the police escort was that Borg had received a death threat, phoned by an anonymous male shortly before playing Jimmy Connors in the semifinals. Another death threat was made during the final, after Borg won the first set, although he only learned about it later. “He didn’t seem to play,” acknowledged McEnroe.
There is also the wider context in which the game was played. The 1981 US Open was the last major tournament a male player won with a standard wooden racket. Large composite racquets, which could generate five times the rotation, appeared on the Tour in the late 1970s. They required a player to change their game, making subtle changes to grip and footwork.
Obviously, these new skills would not have been impossible for Borg, the hardest worker tennis had ever seen, to learn. But maybe he didn’t want to change. It’s hard not to wonder if his own self-imposed restrictions became too burdensome to resist.
In early 1981, when he played McEnroe at the Volvo Masters in New York, Borg blew up the referee for a phone call. An almost defaulting point was deducted; McEnroe’s expression is pure confusion. After turning professional at 16, Borg needed a release and that’s exactly what he got after leaving tennis: a sometimes chaotic life that would have found him dodging bankruptcy and judging wet T-shirt competitions in nightclubs in Stockholm.
Everything had to happen, but for now we remember a bulletproof player, a competitive Terminator, a psychological warrior and, without a doubt, the most elegant man who has ever set foot on a tennis court.
Roll of honor
11 Grand Slam titles
French Open 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
Wimbledon 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
64 single titles
109 weeks like the world no. 1
From the archive
Today Björn Borg is the best tennis player in the world. The play of this 16-year-old Swedish boy was a bright spot in the wettest and most destructive French tennis championships in memory. Yesterday Borg came out in his men’s quarterfinal single interrupted by the rain against Adriano Panatta, but he left in his wake an impressive list of victims.
… Björn doesn’t drink or smoke and he doesn’t have a special girl. He has a good relationship with his association and they consider him a prodigal son. It seems he can’t fail them. Now he has left school, has given up on ice hockey and is dedicated to the success of his career. Wimbledon, where this year is taking part in the senior event for the first time, is the championship that would like to win the most. Grass fields present a special problem for him as his shot technique is no longer suitable for shots that tend to stay low and shoot, but he likes the atmosphere of large crowds.
He responded well to the central Parisian court and the rumored French crowd, which loves him very much. His attraction must be due to his youth and the fact that his build makes him fragile and vulnerable – when he is neither. He is very much a person today – confident of going his own way, doing his own thing and succeeding rather better than his elders.
Shirley Brasher, the Observer, June 3, 1973
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