Borg, Bjorn

Björn Borg was born in 1956 in the industrial suburb of Stockholm, Södertälje . The boy received his first tennis racket at the age of eight, when his father won the table tennis tournament and allowed his son to choose one of the offered prizes. Bjorn fell in love with tennis, in his own words, “from the first ball he hit”, and began to practice for hours in front of the garage door. His parents, who did not plan for a son a sports career, did not force the boy to train - this was his personal decision. Even then, Björn began to dream of playing for the Swedish national team in the Davis Cup ^[1] .

By the age of 13, Björn beat Sweden's best 18-year-old tennis players of that period. He developed a game style based on the exchange of long-range shots from the back line, spinning the ball strongly both on the right and on the left (this twisted hit became the main weapon in the arsenal of the Swede, who pulled the strings on his rackets more than any of the rivals ^[1] ). His presentation at first was not particularly impressive, and the access to the net - and, accordingly, the game on fast grass courts - was complicated by the fact that the Swede used the European racket grip and two-handed backhand , in which he held the racket like a hockey stick ^[2] . Nevertheless, the youth’s ability to move around the court attracted the attention of specialists. In 1971, when Björn was 15 years old, an experienced trainer began working with him. The very next year, Borg won the prestigious Orange Bowl international youth tournament in the age category under 18 years old, beating American Vitas Gerulaitis in the final. After that, Bergelin, who at that time was the captain of the national team of Sweden in the Davis Cup, included his ward in its composition ^[1] . In his first match for the national team, 16-year-old Bjorn, one of the youngest players in the history of the tournament, defeated Onni Paruna, an experienced New Zealand rival in five sets ^[2] .

In 1973, Borg first appeared at the Wimbledon tournament , where he was already seeded under the 6th number, but lost in the quarterfinals in five sets to the court's owner Roger Taylor ^[1] . In the spring of the following year, shortly before his 18th birthday, he became the youngest winner of the Italian Open at that time ^[2] , and two weeks later - the youngest winner of the French Open . In the final at Roland Garros , the Swede, losing 2-0 to sets by experienced Manuel Orantes , won the next three sets with a crushing score, giving the opponent only two games. Borg remained the youngest winner of the French Open until 1982, when another Swede broke his record - Mats Wilander ^[1] . Later that year, he also became the youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Championship among professionals , defeating Tom Ocker in the final; this record lasted until 1984, when he was beaten by 16-year-old Aaron Kriksteyn ^[2] .

Borg, for his equanimity on the court, nicknamed “ Ice Man ” ( English Ice Man ), won the French Open for the second time in a row in 1975, already being sown on it under the first number ^[1] , and ended the season at the age of 19 as the owner Davis Cup in the Swedish national team. At this point, he had won 19 singles wins in the Davis Cup in a row, including in both of his games in the finals (adding to them also a doubles victory with Uwe Bengtson ) ^[2] , and Sweden with his help was only fifth the country for the 75-year history of the Davis Cup, which won this trophy (after the "Big Four" - the USA , Great Britain , Australia and France ) ^[1] .

In 1976, Borg, at the age of 20 and 1 month, won the first Wimbledon tournament for his career, without giving a single set to Ilie Nastase in the final. After the match, the Romanians spoke about the opponent’s game: “We play tennis, and he plays something else.” The Borg remained the youngest winner of the Wimbledon Open Era Tournament until in 1985, the 17-year-old Boris Becker won the title. Borg then won Wimbledon four more times in a row, defeating Jimmy Connors twice, then Roscoe Tanner, and finally John McEnroe . In his 1980 match against Mackinroy, the tie-break in the fourth set lasted 34 rallies until the score was 18-16, and during this time the Swede did not realize five match goals and saved six set goals before the young American managed to win the set, equalizing the score in the match. In the fifth set, however, Borg was stronger. During the 1980 tournament, he broke Rod Laver ’s Wimbledon record for the number of consecutive wins in the men's singles (31 wins), and on the way to the 1981 finals brought the series of wins at Wimbledon to 41 (the women's record - 50 wins in a row - belongs to Helen Wills Moody ) ^[2] . Along with the successes at Wimbledon, Borg performed no less successfully at the French Open, from 1978 to 1981 he won this tournament four times in a row ^[1] and set new records for victories (6) and matches won in a row (28) ^[2] . To these results, the Swede added two victories at the Masters tournament - the final tournament of the year according to the Association of Professional Tennis Players - in 1979 and 1980 ^[2] .

After winning the French Open in 1981, Borg was the Open Era champion in the total number of titles at Grand Slam tournaments ^[1] , and it seemed that he would have to break the general record, which at that time belonged to Roy Emerson and amounted to 12 championship titles. However, at this point John McEnroe reached its peak. He defeated the Swede in the 1980 U.S. Open final, and the following year stopped him both at Wimbledon and for the second time in a row in New York. After a second defeat from McEnroe at the US Open, Borg also lost first place in the ATP ranking , losing to its winner. After that, for the entire remainder of his playing career, he won only two matches - on the way to the quarterfinals of the tournament in Monte Carlo in 1982. In 1982, Borg lost eight times in the first round, in 1983 - three ^[2] and on January 23, 1983 at the age of 26 announced the end of his career ^[1] . During the 1970s and early 1980s, he played in 88 singles finals, winning 62 titles and earning more than $ 3.6 million; As part of the Swedish national team, Borg won 33 straight Davis Cup games in a row. ^[2]

In the early 1990s, Borg made an attempt to return to professional tennis. For three seasons he was unable to win a single match, and after losing in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in 1993 from Alexander Volkov (where the Swede failed to realize the matchball during the match), he finally left the big sport ^[2] .

Professional since 1973. The first racket of the world since August 23, 1977, retained this title (intermittently) for 109 weeks. Eight consecutive years won at least one Grand Slam tournament in a season.

The best results in Grand Slam tournaments :

• Six-time champion of the French Open (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981) in singles
• Five-time Wimbledon champion (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980) in singles
• Finalist of the US Open (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981) in singles
• Winner of the Masters Cup in 1979 and 1980
• The holder of the Davis Cup in the national team of Sweden in 1975.

Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, he became the youngest winner of the Italian Open , and two weeks later the youngest winner of the French Open. In 1987, the name of Björn Borg was listed on the International Tennis Hall of Fame . On clay courts, the Swede won 93% of their matches, on grass courts - 89% and on hard courts - 85%; all these results remain in the list of the best achievements in the history of professional tennis ^[1] .

Singles (11-5)

Singles (3-5)

The athlete’s personal life became public when his first marriage to tennis player Mariana Simionescu ended in divorce after the publication of the announcement of the birth of the illegitimate son of Borg from model Janika Bjorling - Robin. Another unsuccessful marriage followed with Italian singer Loredana Berthe (1989-93). With his current wife Patricia Ostfeld Björn Borg has a son.

Bjorn Borg is engaged in entrepreneurial activities, owns his own brand Fila Bjorn Borg.

In 1987, the name of the Borg was included in the lists of the International Tennis Hall of Fame ^[1] .

In 2003, Björn Borg went on a veteran tour, where he can once again fight with opponents of his youth - John McEnroe , Jimmy Connors ^[3] .

Former Borg friend and manager Lars Skarke wrote a book about him - “The Winner Loses Everything . ” On the confrontation between Björn Borg and John McEnroe at the 1980 Wimbledon tournament, the feature film "The Borg / McEnroe " was shot. In the role of Bjorn Borg as a child in this film was played by his son Leo ^[4] .

• Profile on ATP website

• Profile on ITF website
• Profile on the Davis Cup website

• Björn Borg on the website of the International Tennis Hall of Fame . Archived April 17, 2019 on Wayback Machine