Although I didn't see the programme, I have just read that Bjorn Borg has won the lifetime achievement award in the BBC Sports Personality of the year awards.

He was presented the award by Boris Becker, and by all accounts it was an emotional moment.

I happen to be currently reading a book called 'Borg Versus McEnroe', and am already enjoying it very much. It does a great job of evoking this period in tennis where, along with McEnroe and Connors, Borg was instrumental in taking tennis to new heights in terms of its profile.

What an exciting period it was for the game!!

It also focuses heavily on the Wimbledon final of 1980 and THAT tie break. I was watching recordings of some Wimbledon matches when I got in last night where Mac was commentating, and he mentioned that when he is at Wimbledon, whenever people ask him about the matches that he played, and more specifically the key moments in the matches that he played, he almost always gets asked about the tie break in the 4th set against Borg in 1980.

Some thoughts about this tie-break from Frank Deford (an American sportswriter, quoted in the book):

"The pressure! They won serving, passing, volleying, off both sides, down the line, cross-court. Neither would yield, neither would even swallow hard. The crowd would then cry out and absolutely hush, the alternating unnatural silences that tennis demands taking much more out of the place than unrestrained yelling ever could have. The tie-breaker was as an excruciating a battle as ever was staged in athletics"

The 3-way rivalry in the late-70s between Borg, McEnroe and Connors was far more intense, more dramatic, and more memorable imo than any other rivalries that have since come and gone in the men's game.

And there is real respect in this rivalry, particularly between Mac and Borg. In fact Borg was the best man at Mac's wedding to Patti Smith in the late 80s. I was glad that Mac also went out of his way to persuade Borg to withdraw the sale of his Wimbledon trophies earlier this year..

For me, Borg thoroughly deserves his place amongst the all-time greats of the game. He was a hugely talented player, an immense competitor and a fantastic champion.

I think that he is a true icon in men's tennis, and that the below image from the 1980 SW19 final is one of the defining moments of the game.. :)

I cant think of a tennis player who had more impact on the game, and indeed sport in general . He was like a Viking God . Ill never forget the paper headlines when he finally lost in 1981, 'IceBorg melts at last.' So fitting, and made us realize he was human after all.
How many of us actually watched the 1980 final live I wonder? :blink:
I remember Borg sinking to his knees on one of his many match points in the tiebreak , thinking he'd won, but the call went against him ! ;) Characteristically, he just carried on playing , even after the disappointment of losing the fourth set .
I dont think there were many other players who ever had his mental strength and implacabilty , I remember it being described as 'psycho-tennis' .
And Petalp , thanks for the picture , it is indeed a defining moment in tennis :bow: .
( Reminds me of his unusual racquet grip too , which led to blisters )

Petalp - I saw the programme tonite and was well pleased that my fave sport did so well, what with Fed winning the Overseas Personality of the Year Award. I could hardly believe my eyes that they'd actually managed to get Bjorn to put in an appearance on the show! Never one to show much emotion, at one point he did look quite moved by the reception he got from the audience.

I've got the DVD of that 1980 final and it fascinates me how, after losing that tiebreaker, Borg walks back to the chairs without a flicker of emotion on his face. Years later he said it was the worst moment of his life (at that time) and you'd never have known it. I so admire that quality (probably because I don't have it!).

Now if they could only persuade Bjorn to come to Wimbledon next year when in all probabiity Fed will equal his record of 5 consec wins there ... I heard the 2 of them played for an hour together in Dubai some weeks back ... if only I could have seen that!!

I wish i was old enough to see the guy play as i didnt start watching tennis properly until like 1996.So Sampras and Federer remain the two best players i have seen to play the game.

I feel robbed! I picked the picture first! ;-)

Yes, Borg might not be the greatest player of all time, but more than Laver, Sampras and Federer (so far), he is tennis greatest icon.

:cheers:

Well done petalp,it's nice sometimes on the boards to respect past players.Great post.

I just about remember watching the match.I think I was around 9 at the time.The tie-break and the last set stick in the memory,but not as vividly as later years at Wimbledon.
That match is the reason I became a fan of tennis.

During the programme Johnny Mac made a very good point about his rivalry with Borg – that they were essentially the antithesis of each other in every respect, and that’s why their rivalry made such an impression on the viewing public.

I remember the 1980 final vividly. I remember the weather outside and I even remember some of Dan Maskell's comments which when I finally acquired the DVD this year (26 years later), I discovered I had remembered almost word for word. I can also remember being caught out when McEnroe finally won the tie-break so that it took a few seconds to sink in that McEnroe had actually won it. I remember the extraordinary atmosphere of that final set, when logic dictated McEnroe should win and yet Borg responded by dropping only three points on serve (two of those being the first two points of the set.) And I remember to relieve tension, I ran out into the garden during at least one of the changeovers to swish a golf club about ...

It's amazing to have such a vivid memory that includes not just the events of the match but everything else that was happening.

The only time I've seen anything to equal it was the 2003 Tour de France, which was similarly epic but drawn out over three weeks.

I remember too. In fact I only saw a couple of points there and then since but never saw that 4set tie break fully again but i remember Mc's ball going out on match point for Borg and Borg was "robbed" as it was called in. I guess this would be "easy" to check with your DVD now. Was I too much of Borg's fan or was the ball really out and Borg shoudl have won it in 4?

What do you think?

Tenez, I just had a look at my DVD and in fact, there isn't a line call as you remember it. The closest Borg came to winning was when McEnroe had a net chord that cruelly went his way on match point against.

It's a tremendous tiebreak with few unforced areas considering the pressure. On the other hand, watching it now, I'm struck by just what a different game it was in those days, which makes the blatherings of the "three unwise monkeys" all the more ludicrous.

Every body remembers 'that' match , but what about the 1981 semi against Connors ? It was tremendous experience to watch Jimmy running away with the first two sets , after everyone had written him off as a has -been .

Al, I think that I remember Connors' quote after that match:

'I played some of my best tennis, and still he beat me!'

Was this not the one where Connors bagelled Borg and still lost??

Oh, if anyone is interested, here is a link to a review of the book that I am reading :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Borg-Versus-McEnro...ie=UTF8&s=books

A perfect Christmas gift for the discerning tennis fan, etc, etc!!

Yes, I'm glad you mentioned the 1981 Connors match! It's an absolute cracker. Not only did Connors win the first set 6-0 but Borg responded with a 6-0 fourth set. The second set features an enormous game in which Borg finally breaks Connors, only for the American to unexpectedly break the very next game and serve out the set.

Marvellous stuff...

I must get a copy. B)
Yes the Connors match was amazing , he won the first two sets 6-0 6-4 and then Borg turned it around with a bagel of his own . He went on to beat Connors in the US open for the first time that year .
Just remembered, there was a good exhibition match between McEnroe and Borg in about 1987 , . It was indoor in the US, if I recall correctly ...

Hmm Pity that I'm too young to have seen him.
From what I've heard he was an awesome player.I saw a few clips of the rivalry between him and Jhonny Mac/

It sounds to me that it would be worthwhile investing in a few dvd's of matches from that time. And the 2 matches discussed would be pretty good places to start!

I have just read a review and excerpts from a biography of Borg published in 1980 (interesting to note that it talks about his 4 Wimbledon triumphs!).

In fact, it is less of a biography than a deconstruction of his game. And reading this, it seems that his technique seems to be a blueprint of that adopted by many players in today's game..

http://tennis.quickfound.net/training/bjorn_borg.html

LOL. Yes true Nick. Mac said in 83 or 84 (only 3/4 years after that final) that when he watched it again, it felt like it was played in slo-mo.

Going to this 4th set tie break, I am extremely surprised by your post about not mentioning this line call on Borg's match point. I do remember Borg was almost celebrating when the line judge called McEnroe ball in. Maybe it was in one of the game in the 5th but I remember being it in the tie break.

Nevermind....

I watched the exciting Borg-Mac match live on TV all those years ago and it was quite moving to see a grey-haired Borg again on Sunday evening.He was as undemonstrative as ever I found.At the time of his match with Mac,Mac's personality appealed to me more.I find the the contrast in character between Mac and Borg is somewhat similar to the difference between the temperaments of Fed and Nadal today.

Hi fedrules,

I will tend to disagree with you on this one:

and this because:

A. It is quite abusive to see a similarity between Borg and FED (in terms of their on court behavior not in terms of their Tennis):

Borg was definitely more sensible and annoyed by crowd's behavior than FED is. I remember to follow some matches of him at the USO when he had all the cards to beat his opponent but he was failing "only" (is huge) because the usual (very "classy") US -New York crowd was against him.

FED has proved during the last two editions of the USO (against Agassi last year, Blake and then AROD this year) to manage better his relationship with the crowd and to appear less sensible than Borg on that side.
Besides, FED is definitely showing more on the court than the Swede: I mean when he manage to win the match point in Shanghai against Nadal...Well I did not remember Borg doing that.

B. Nadal is a fighter a very competitive player. But he is definitely far away from John: John, when he was losing a match, he was able to use the referee as an additional weapon against his opponent: Lendl knows something about that

Nadal is far more fair play: He is cool on that side and he rarely contest a call.

Mac was able to deliver such a nice Tennis to watch...His touch near the net was just great. But his behavior was just disgraceful: He had the chance to play when the crowd was accepting this behavior.
Nowadays with his character he would have a lot more of problems.

I think it is an interesting comparaison as the rivalry Borg/McEnore and Fed/Nadal have quite a lot in common while being actually very different in some ways.

In common:

1 - A lefty against a right handed
2 - an up and coming against an already well estalished force
3 - a demonstrative character v a well behaved one
4 - an attacker (risk taker) v a teaser (retriever)
5 - a Brilliant shot maker v a consistent player.

The differences are in fact quite interesting as we can attribute what they had in common to the opposite player.

1 - The up and coming one is this time the retriever
2 - the demonstrative character is the one with the retriever game
3 - the artitstic tennis player is the well established one (extremely rare to have in any sport the consistant And the talented or creative player in one athlete. They usually are one or the other). That is what makes Fed a special sport athlete).
4 - the up and coming shines on clay while the established shines on fast surfaces.

So I can really appreciate the 2 rivalries and they have definetely many points in common (I did not list them all) but the differences are mostly down who takes the seat of who in their respective rivalries (i hope it makes sense).

I've watched THAT tie break many times as I have it recorded. When Borg walks back to the chair (acutally don't think they had chairs in those days!) you would think he had just lost an insignicant first game of the match as his face shows not a glimmer of the dissappointment he must have been feeling - incredible resolve. In Mac's autobiography, Mac says he could barely hold his raquet when they step out for the final set. Borg was also not finding it easy, but as usual the cool exterior was all we could see.

Gutted I didn't see the Sports Personality show, and hope it may be repeated so that I can see the Borg moment.

and BIG thanks to Petalp for the photo, brings the memories of Borg's 6 finals flooding back, although of course, I would rather forget the 1981 encounter :rolleyes:

As for the 1981 Semi with Connors, I recall Connors coming out with all guns blazing playing at a terrific pace. He completely blew Borg of the court in those first two sets and me being a huge Borg fan was slightly worried to put it mildly, but also had a sneaky feeling that Borg was going to bide some time, in the confidence that Connors was going to tire quicker and come out of the Zone.