Björn Borg has written his biography, “Beats”. The Swedish tennis player is considered one of the most enigmatic figures in tennis historyalways suspicious of the media, but now he opens up to speak in first person about his tennis triumphs, but also about his defeats in life and his relationship with drugs after retiring, which even came close to costing him his life. “The first time I tried cocaine I felt a rush of adrenaline as intense as the one tennis had given me in its best moments”he admits. And he adds other phrases such as: “Drugs had taken control of my life”; or: “When I left tennis I put anything in my body.”
Borg’s memoirs also help us see that tennis has changed in many aspects, but in others it is as if history was repeating itself. It is different in that, for example, a champion like him and number one in the world He only played the Australian Open oncewhich was also held in December. It wasn’t a time when records were talked about or thought about as much as now. Also today it would be unthinkable for a tennis player to give up Roland Garros, as he did in 1977, to play exhibitions in the United States. He had already been champion twice in Paris (1974 and 1975) and then he would be champion four more times (1978-81). There were three years in that decade, from 1973 to 1975, in which the first two rounds of the French “Grande” were played to the best of three sets.
The first tennis superstar
History is different in part thanks to him, considered the first tennis superstar. “Between the hair, the way he was on the court, the effect he had on people… The journalists were interested, they could sell him better than another athlete,” remembers Lluís Bruguera, father and coach of Sergi Bruguera, Roland Garros champion in 1993 and 1994. The paparazzi were always aware of what Borg was doing, both on the court and off, in the three marriages he has had, some stormy, always dependent on being with another person, as he himself admits. That media pressure is something that a player who also He starred in the revolution with the racket. “He was the one who introduced the two-handed backhand as an option to take into account. At that time there was also Connors who played with two hands, but you ask someone in the world of tennis about this shot, and the first thing that comes to mind is Borg,” says Lluís Bruguera. That two-handed shot was partly the result of chance, because Rune Borg, his father, gave him a racket that he had won in a ping pong championship that was too heavy and the young Björn had to hold it with both hands. They changed it to him with his right, but no with the backhand. Rafa Nadal also hit with both hands in his early days. The rebellion did not stop there “He was very fast on his legs and at that time the Americans imposed that the grass be very fast. He had to adapt to going online, but “He was the first to play at Wimbledon a little like on land.”continues Louis Bruguera.
Alcaraz, Djokovic…
But history is also cyclical. He “My way” by Carlos Alcaraz that attracts so much attention, wanting to have moments of disconnection, Borg did it, parties with Mick Jagger or Andy Warhol at the famous New York nightclub “Studio 54”although tennis, while he was active, was always a priority, as it is for the man from Murcia. Later, sport and his third and current wife, Patricia, were a lifeline for Borg. If now we have eccentric players like Djokovic who visits the Bosnian pyramids, in Visoko, to regenerate his energy, Björn Borg He resorted for years to the services of a mediumor he associates not being able to win the US Open (he lost four finals) with being a Gemini.
His return, like a Grand Slam final
A current topic such as mental health was what led the Swedish legend to leave tennis at the top, at the age of 26 (it was 1982), which gave way to that dark time of alcohol and drug abuse that made his figure even more mysterious. He took up tennis to overcome the addiction. He returned in 1991 and His first match was in Monte Carlo, against Jordi Arresesilver medalist later at the Barcelona Olympic Games, a tennis player who does not usually remember much of the matches he played, but this duel with Borg, of course, is clearly in his head. “I had had training matches, but tough ones, with Becker and Ivanisevic, and I had won them. This was known and no one wanted to play with him, the truth is, neither did I. The luck I had is that the draw was made two or three days before and I changed from nerves to seeing it as an opportunity: everyone was going to come, it would be seen in all countries,” says Arrese. “Entering the track for me was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever had. Everyone was waiting for Borg’s return and what the first five minutes were like, the warm-up and all that.”I have never heard so much shooting from photographers, I couldn’t even concentrate. I doubt that in a Wimbledon final or something like that you will experience what you experienced there,” Jordi continues. The Swede still used wooden rackets. “I saw at the beginning that the ball ran less, it also ran less for us than what we see now, but ours were already rackets with which the ball went faster. I saw that his ball was going fast, but then, whether you like it or not, he slowed down a little. And with the effect of my shots I hurt him a lot. It was a game in which I didn’t complicate myself much, I made few mistakes, I commanded when I could command. It was more or less comfortable, 6-2, 6-3. The truth is that I felt bad for him, but in the end, well, here you only think about winning,” concludes Arrese.
The figure of Borg is also linked to the John McEnroe, great rival, both protagonists of one of the best matches in history, the 1980 Wimbledon final who followed Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa; and a great friend (Does Nadal-Federer sound familiar to us?), being the man who convinced the Swede not to sell the five cups he had won in La Catedral (1976-80). Many of the other trophies he won (there were 66 in his career) were left in hotel rooms.
