Bjorn Borg

This article describes the former Swedish tennis player. For the swimmer of the same name, see Björn Borg (swimmer) .

Bjorn Borg
1991
Nation:	Sweden
Birthday:	June 6, 1956
Size:	180 cm
1st professional season:	1973
Resignation:	1983, again in 1993
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Prize money:	$ 3,655,751
singles
Career record:	654: 140
Career title:	66
Highest ranking:	1 (23 August 1977)
Weeks as No. 1:	109
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	93:89
Career title:	4th
Highest ranking:	890 (March 22, 1993)
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Björn Rune Borg ( listening ^{? / I} ; born June 6, 1956 in Stockholm ) is a former Swedish tennis player .

In the course of his relatively short career, Borg won 66 individual titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles. From 1976 to 1980 he won five consecutive Wimbledon titles, and between 1974 and 1981 he secured six titles at the French Open . As part of the team , he brought the Davis Cup to Sweden for the first time in 1975 . He also won the season's final tournament, the Masters, twice .

In 1979 and 1980, Borg finished at the top of the world rankings . He was one of the dominant players of the second half of the 1970s and early 1980s and is counted among the best players in tennis history.

Career

Record world number one in men's singles

rank	Tennis player	Weeks
1.	Roger Federer	310
2.	Pete Sampras	286
3.	Novak Đoković	283
4th	Ivan Lendl	270
5.	Jimmy Connors	268
6th	Rafael Nadal	209
7th	John McEnroe	170
8th.	Bjorn Borg	109
9.	Andre Agassi	101
As of August 26, 2020

As early as 1972, at the age of 15, Borg caused a sensation when he won his first Davis Cup match for Sweden. In the same year he also won the Wimbledon junior title. 1973 Borg played his first full season on the professional tour and reached the second round at the French Open and the US Open, as well as his first quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

In 1974, at the age of 17 years and 11 months, he won his first professional title at the Italian Open . In the same year six more titles were added, including the title at the French Open , which Borg won as the youngest player to date. He finished the season in third place in the world rankings. In 1975 he continued his rise to the top of the world. Among his five season titles was again the title at the French Open, which he won in the final against Guillermo Vilas . At Wimbledon, Borg reached the quarter-finals again, and even the semi-finals at the US Open. At the end of the season he led Sweden to their first Davis Cup triumph; Borg won both singles in the 3-2 final victory over Czechoslovakia .

In 1976 he won his first title at Wimbledon - in the final against the favored Ilie Năstase . The success of the clay court specialist Borg was considered a medium sensation at the time. In the big clay court tournaments himself, however, he was unsuccessful this year; he failed each time at world number one Jimmy Connors - at the French Open in the quarter-finals and at the US Open in the final. In 1977 Borg defended his Wimbledon title in a five-sentence thriller against Connors and meanwhile took first place in the world rankings. With a total of eleven season titles, he ended the fourth season in a row among the top three players in the world.

In 1978, Borg finally dominated the professional tour. With nine wins of the season he also managed the first double of the French Open and Wimbledon, at the US Open he lost the final against Connors again. In 1979 Borg was able to defend the titles in Paris and London and end a season as number 1 in the world rankings for the first time with ten other titles. He also won the Masters for the first time in his career , which only took place in January of the following year.

In 1980, Borg managed the third double of the French Open and Wimbledon in a row, which is still one of the greatest achievements in tennis history. In the final of the US Open, however, he lost for the third time in a row, this time to the up-and-coming John McEnroe . Thanks to another Masters title and nine more titles, Borg finished the season at the top of the world rankings.

The 1981 season was his last big one. For the third time in his career, Borg made three finals in Grand Slam tournaments. At the French Open he celebrated his fourth title in a row and sixth tournament victory overall (this record was not set by Rafael Nadal until 2011 ), at Wimbledon, however, his record series of five titles in a row ended with a final defeat against John McEnroe. And also in his fourth US Open final he lost to McEnroe. Borg then won his 66th and final title in Geneva in September 1981.

After the season he decided to take a four-month break from the tournament. He only entered the tournament in Monte Carlo (his residence), where he reached the quarter-finals. The officials then advised him that in future he would have to play the qualifying rounds of the respective tournaments if he did not play the required number of tournaments during the season. Borg then ended the 1982 season prematurely. In 1983 he competed again in Monte Carlo and shortly afterwards - at the age of just 26 - announced his resignation.

In the following ten years, Borg made several comeback attempts. He failed in the first round of tournaments in Stuttgart in 1984, in Monte Carlo in 1991, in a total of eight tournaments in 1992 and in another three tournaments in 1993. In Moscow he finally lost the decisive tiebreak against Alexander Volkov in November 1993 , whereupon he finally ended his career. He has been a player on the senior tour for many years.

Björn Borg, along with Anja Pärson and Ingemar Stenmark, is the only athlete to have been honored twice with the renowned Svenska Dagbladet gold medal (1974, 1978).

Career record

Tournament / statistics	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
Australian Open	-	-	3R	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
French Open	-	AF	S.	S.	VF	-	S.	S.	S.	S.
Wimbledon	-	VF	3R	VF	S.	S.	S.	S.	S.	F.
US Open	VR	AF	2R	HF	F.	AF	F.	VF	F.	F.
Tournament victories	0	0	8th	5	7th	12	9	13	9	3
World ranking at the end of the year	-	18th	3	3	2	3	2	1	1	4th

VR = preliminary round; AF = round of 16; VF = quarter finals; HF = semifinals; F = final; S = tournament victory; Digit = 1.-3. Tournament round;

Tournament victories

Legend

Grand Slam (11)

Masters Grand Prix (2)

Grand Prix Championship Series (15)

Grand Prix World Series (38)

No.	year	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	1974	Auckland	race	Onny Parun	6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 1
2.	1974	London	Hard court (i)	Mark Cox	6: 7, 7: 6, 6: 4
3.	1974	São Paulo	Hard court (i)	Arthur Ashe	6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 3
4th	1974	Rome	sand	Ilie Năstase	6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2
5.	1974	French Open	sand	Manuel Orantes	2: 6, 6: 7, 6: 0, 6: 1, 6: 1
6th	1974	Båstad	sand	Adriano Panatta	6: 3, 6: 0, 6: 7, 6: 3
7th	1974	Boston	sand	Tom Okker	7: 6, 6: 1, 6: 1
8th.	1974	Adelaide	race	Onny Parun	6: 4, 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 2
9.	1975	Richmond	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4
10.	1975	Bologna	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	7: 6, 4: 6, 7: 6
11.	1975	French Open (2)	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 2, 6: 3, 6: 4
12.	1975	Boston (2)	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2
13.	1975	Barcelona	sand	Adriano Panatta	1: 6, 7: 6, 6: 3, 6: 2
14th	1976	Toronto Indoor	Carpet (i)	Vitas gerulaitis	2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1
15th	1976	Sao Paulo (2)	Carpet (i)	Guillermo Vilas	7: 6, 6: 2
16.	1976	Dallas	Carpet (i)	Guillermo Vilas	1: 6, 6: 1, 7: 5, 6: 1
17th	1976	Dusseldorf	sand	Manuel Orantes	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 0
18th	1976	Wimbledon	race	Ilie Năstase	6: 4, 6: 2, 9: 7
19th	1976	Boston (3)	sand	Harold Solomon	6: 7, 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 2
20th	1977	Hilton Head	sand	Arthur Ashe	6: 1, 6: 2
21st	1977	Boca Raton	sand	Jimmy Connors	6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 3
22nd	1977	Memphis	Carpet (i)	Brian Gottfried	6: 4, 6: 3, 4: 6, 7: 5
23.	1977	Nice	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 4, 1: 6, 6: 2, 6: 0
24.	1977	Monte Carlo	sand	Corrado Barrazutti	6: 3, 7: 5, 6: 0
25th	1977	Denver	Carpet (i)	Brian Gottfried	7: 5, 6: 2
26th	1977	Wimbledon (2)	race	Jimmy Connors	3: 6, 6: 2, 6: 1, 5: 7, 6: 4
27.	1978	Hilton Head (2)	sand	Roscoe Tanner	6: 4, 7: 5
28.	1977	Madrid	sand	Jaime Fillol	6: 3, 6: 0, 6: 7, 7: 6
29	1977	Barcelona (2)	sand	Manuel Orantes	6: 2, 7: 5, 6: 2
30th	1977	Basel	Carpet (i)	John Lloyd	6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 3
31.	1977	Cologne	Carpet (i)	Wojciech Fibak	2: 6, 7: 5, 6: 3
32.	1977	Wembley	Hard court (i)	John Lloyd	6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 3
33.	1978	Birmingham	Carpet (i)	Dick Stockton	7: 6, 7: 5
34.	1978	Boca Raton (2)	sand	Jimmy Connors	7: 6, 3: 6, 6: 1
35.	1978	Las Vegas	Hard court	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 5, 5: 6, 6: 4, 6: 5
36.	1978	Milan	Carpet (i)	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 3, 6: 3
37.	1978	Rome (2)	sand	Adriano Panatta	1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1, 4: 6, 6: 3
38.	1978	French Open (3)	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 1, 6: 1, 6: 3
39.	1978	Wimbledon (3)	race	Jimmy Connors	6: 2, 6: 2, 6: 3
40.	1978	Båstad (2)	sand	Corrado Barazzutti	6: 1, 6: 2
41.	1978	Tokyo Indoor	Carpet (i)	Brian Teacher	6: 3, 6: 4
42.	1979	Richmond (2)	Carpet (i)	Guillermo Vilas	6: 3, 6: 1
43.	1979	Boca Raton (3)	sand	Jimmy Connors	6: 2, 6: 3
44.	1979	Rotterdam	carpet	John McEnroe	6: 4, 6: 2
45.	1979	Monte Carlo (2)	sand	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 2, 6: 1, 6: 3
46.	1979	Las Vegas (2)	Hard court	Jimmy Connors	6: 3, 6: 2
47.	1979	French Open (4)	sand	Víctor Pecci	6: 3, 6: 1, 6: 7, 6: 4
48.	1979	Wimbledon (4)	race	Roscoe Tanner	6: 7, 6: 1, 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
49.	1979	Båstad (3)	sand	Balázs Taróczy	6: 1, 7: 5
50.	1979	Toronto	Hard court	John McEnroe	6: 3, 6: 3
51.	1979	Palermo	sand	Corrado Barazzutti	6: 4, 6: 0, 6: 4
52.	1979	Tokyo Indoor (2)	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	6: 2, 6: 2
53.	1979	Montreal	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	6: 4, 6: 2, 2: 6, 6: 4
54.	1979	New York City	Carpet (i)	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 2, 6: 2
55.	1980	Salisbury	Carpet (i)	Vijay Amritraj	7: 5, 6: 1, 6: 3
56.	1980	Boca Raton (4)	sand	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 1, 5: 7, 6: 1
57.	1980	Nice (2)	sand	Manuel Orantes	6: 2, 6: 0, 6: 1
58.	1980	Monte Carlo (3)	sand	Guillermo Vilas	6: 1, 6: 0, 6: 2
59.	1980	Las Vegas (2)	Hard court	Harold Solomon	6: 3, 6: 1
60.	1980	French Open (5)	sand	Vitas gerulaitis	6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 2
61.	1980	Wimbledon (5)	race	John McEnroe	1: 6, 7: 5, 6: 3, 6: 7, 8: 6
62.	1980	Stockholm	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	6: 3, 6: 4
63.	1980	New York City (2)	Carpet (i)	Ivan Lendl	6: 4, 6: 2, 6: 2
64.	1981	French Open (6)	sand	Ivan Lendl	6: 1, 4: 6, 6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 1
65.	1981	Stuttgart	sand	Ivan Lendl	1: 6, 7: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4
66.	1981	Geneva	sand	Tomáš Šmíd	6: 4, 6: 3

Statistics and records

• Best Grand Slam match record in the Open Era with 141 wins and 17 defeats (89.2%).
• Best five-rate record in Grand Slams with 24 wins and three losses (88.9%).
• Borg was the only player to win the French Open and Wimbledon three times in a row (1978–1980).
• At the 1978 French Open, he lost only 32 games in seven matches, which is a record in all Grand Slams.
• At Wimbledon he has the highest win rate with 51 wins and four losses (92.7%).
• In addition, Borg won 41 matches in a row at Wimbledon, the Open Era record of five titles in a row (1976-1980) he shares with Roger Federer (2003-2007).
• Only Borg (1976) and Federer (2017) won Wimbledon in the Open Era without losing a set.
• Along with Richard Sears , Tony Trabert and Rafael Nadal , he is one of four players who won three Grand Slam tournaments without losing a set.
• Borg played 27 Grand Slam tournaments in his career, of which he won eleven (victory rate of 41%).
• Besides Nadal, he is the only player to have 16 tournament wins as a teenager.
• From Tokyo 1979 to Las Vegas 1980 he won ten tournaments in a row, a record in the Open Era.

Play style

Björn Borg revolutionized the game of tennis by developing and perfecting a fundamentally new grip and striking technique. While until then the same universal grip ("shake hand grip") was more or less common for forehand and backhand , Borg used a different grip position for the forehand ("Western") than for backhand strikes ("Eastern"). Although he was not the first top player with a two-handed backhand - the somewhat older Jimmy Connors already played the backhand with both hands - his grip position enabled him to hit mainly on the backhand side, which the reaction time of the opponent was enormous shortened. Borg perfected the topspin technique, which Rod Laver had already further developed, and played it extremely precisely and reliably. This enabled him to dictate his games mainly from the baseline. Against his powerful and extremely precise topspin strokes, tennis players with outdated grip and stroke techniques were mostly at a loss.

The disadvantage of the topspin shot, the reduced ball speed, was more than compensated for by the increased precision and the far greater security. Because the "straight" and thus faster and more powerful strokes carry a higher risk of landing either in the net or behind the baseline due to the flatter trajectory.

Borg's dominant position in top tennis was primarily based on this technique. In the meantime, it has become the basis of modern tennis and of course at all levels - from beginners to top players.

However, Borg was also known for being cool ; one never saw his emotions during an encounter. Neither hopeless arrears nor antics of his opponents or wrong decisions by the referees and linesmen disturbed him. This earned him the nickname Ice-Borg in the English and American press . Often he only played his best tennis on the verge of defeat and turned around matches believed to be lost. In his autobiography, after the end of his career, Borg revealed the reason for his apparent apathy: As a junior, he was banned for several months due to a violent tantrum after a blatant disadvantage. Wrong decisions did not leave him indifferent afterwards, but he no longer showed his displeasure. Borg's coolness resulted from his consistent self-discipline.

His image also included his exceptional fitness for the time. He was always well trained and his opponents cannot remember ever seeing him sweat profusely or even with difficulty breathing. Behind this, however, was extremely tough and sophisticated training with his long-time coach Lennart Bergelin or his friend Vitas Gerulaitis , who were top 10 players at the time. Borg brought a new professionalism to the "men's sport" tennis.

influence

Bjorn Borg (2014)

Because of his aura , Björn Borg became a formative role model - especially for young people who are interested in sports and far beyond tennis. Borg sparked a real tennis boom. Many who hadn't known what to do with tennis up until then suddenly became interested in this sport; Countless children began to learn to play tennis just to emulate it. In this respect, it seems entirely justified when the tennis world - based on Beatlemania - spoke of a "Borgmania". Björn Borg deserves the great merit of having turned the niche sport of tennis into a decidedly popular sport.

Its marketing was also groundbreaking. The now global marketing and modeling agency International Management Group (IMG) of the late Mark McCormack grew up with sports personalities like Borg and the golfer Arnold Palmer .

After his professional career, Borg tried his hand at being a businessman. However, several large-scale economic projects did not achieve the desired success. Although his fortune was estimated at about US $ 80 million towards the end of his career, Borg filed for bankruptcy in Sweden in 1996 . He has now overcome this economic low point and is now a successful businessman in Sweden.

Björn Borg has been namesake for a clothing and perfume brand that is particularly successful in Scandinavia for several years. In 2004, customers spent around 70 million euros on Björn Borg products. On December 20, 2004, the brand owner World Brand Marketing (WBM) was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange OMX (Neuer Markt).

Borg was revered as a star for his successes , but the taciturn Ingemar Stenmark , who was acting at the same time, was a hero .

Personal

Björn Borg was born in Södersjukhuset in the south of Stockholm. He grew up in Södertälje .

His first youth romance was the tennis player Helena Anliot , who later also played the sport professionally. On July 24, 1980, Borg married the Romanian tennis player Mariana Simionescu in Bucharest , and in 1984 they were divorced. In 1985 he met the photo model Jannike Björling, with whom he had his son Robin (* 1985); they separated in 1988. Between 1989 and 1993 he was married to the Italian singer Loredana Bertè . Borg has been married to Patricia Östfeldt since June 8, 2002, with her he has his son Leo (* 2003).

Movies

• 2017: Borg / McEnroe : Biography, Director: Janus Metz, Script: Ronnie Sandahl (published early September 2017)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Arnd Krüger & Swantje Scharenberg (eds.): Times for heroes - times for celebrities in sport . LIT, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-12498-2 .
2. ↑ John Hellström & Leif Yttergren: Ingemar Stenmark, folk hero and media star. The media construction of a Swedish skiing hero in the 1970s. In: European Studies in Sport History 6 (2013), pp. 93–110.

Web links

Commons : Björn Borg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Bjorn Borg (English)
• ITF Profile of Bjorn Borg (English)
• Davis Cup Statistics for Bjorn Borg (English)
• Björn Borg in the "International Tennis Hall of Fame" (English; with picture)