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| Björn
Borg Legendary Swedish tennis player For some, he is the tennis player of the century, for others, he was the charismatic and good looking young man who was the first to bring a sexy touch to tennis. His fifth straight Wimbledon championship win in 1980 over John McEnroe is the most legendary moment in tennis history "My first love was ice hockey" Like many boys in the small town of Södertälje, near Stockholm, Björn Rune Borg liked playing ice hockey with his friends. But one day, Björn's father came home with a tennis racket he had won as a prize in a local ping-pong tournament. That was the beginning of Björn Borg's brief but record-breaking professional tennis career. At the age of 11, Björn won his first tennis tournament. At 13 he was beating the best of Sweden's under-18 players. At 14 he left school to devote his time to tennis. At the age of 15, much before the young phenomenons were something common in sport, he was selected to play for Sweden in the 1972 Davis Cup, defeating Onny Parun of New Zealand and becoming the youngest player to win a Davis Cup match. Björn Borg also became the youngest winner of the oldest professional championship, the US Pro, whose singles he won in 1974, 1975 and 1976. At the age of 16 Björn was the Wimbledon Junior Champion. In 1974, when he was 17, Björn Borg was the youngest winner of the Italian Open, and one month later he was the youngest winner of the French Open, the most important clay court tournament in the world. Borg won the Roland Garros a record of six times (1974, 1975, 1978-1981). In 1975, the young Swede won the Davis Cup in a record streak of 19 singles. The year after, he won the first of his five consecutive Wimbledon singles titles (1976-1980). Björn Borg was winning so often that his 1976 rival Ilie Nastase said that "they should send Borg away to another planet. We play tennis. He plays something else". The "Ice Man" who converted Tennis into a sexy sport Björn Borg had just turned 20 and he was the most famous tennis player in the world. No one had beaten so many records in the history of tennis. He was the only man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year for three years in a row and the only one to have won at least one Grand Slam tournament for eight years in a row (1974-81) during the open era. Björn Borg was ranked the World's No.1 for 109 weeks in total between August 1977 and July 1981, including for 46 weeks consecutively in 1980. But most of his fans didn't actually care at all about tennis... "The way he looked... he was the first tennis player I ever saw who had legions of young girls following him on the court", said John McEnroe about Björn Borg. "It brought a whole new element of interest and excitement to tennis". Björn Borg had irresistible looks, with his long blond hair, athletic body and typically Scandinavian shyness. On the court, he was strong, fast and unforgiving; yet, his opponents called him the "Ice Man" for his calmness and reserved personality. Tennis became overnight an extremely popular sport. Like as taken from the peak moments of the Beatlemania, the organisers of Wimbledon had once to ask the girls' schools in the area to keep an eye on their pupils while the Swedish superstar was playing at the court. Björn Borg was more popular than many rock and pop stars of the time. He was a major celebrity all around the world, and most particularly in Europe, where his smily face was found everywhere, in every magazine. When Björn Borg married Romanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu in 1980 the wedding became the major social event of the year. By then, Borg was earning more money from publicity and other non-tennis activities than from the game itself. Borg-McEnroe 1980, the Greatest Match in Tennis History Of all the 62 singles titles and 11 Grand Slams won during his short career, Björn Borg is best remembered for winning Wimbledon in 1980 against John McEnroe, in a marathon five-sets final which many regard as the "Match of the Century". The "Match of the Century" was Borg's 5th straight Wimbledon championship, an all-time exciting final with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6 triumph over John McEnroe. He had made tennis history. No man in the modern era of tennis had ever won five French Open singles titles and five consecutive Wimbledon singles title. Björn Borg retired from professional tennis soon after, at the age of 26. He was an unusual champion in that he never followed the entire world-wide tennis tour; for example, he never competed in the Australian Open. His Cup singles streak record of 33 and his 41 consecutive matches won in Wimbledon were unbeated at his retirement. Between 1973 until his last tournament in the US Open in 1981, Björn had 141 victories and 16 defeats in Grand Slam Tournaments. That is a 90% of victories, a much superior rate to any player of the 20th century. Borg tried a comeback in 1991, aged 35 and still using his old wooden racket in a time when players were now using high-tension graphite rackets. He had little success and decided to stay playing on senior events instead, where he could meet again with his former rivals Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. The golden years of Swedish Tennis The sporting success of Björn Rune Borg sparked a tennis boom in Sweden, a country that has produced many world-class tennis players such as Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Magnus Norman, Thomas Enqvist or Jonas Björkman. Mats Wilander, from Växjö in southern Sweden, won three Davis Cup finals and seven Grand Slam titles: French Open in 1982, 1985 and 1988, Australian Open in 1983, 1984 and 1988, and US Open in 1988. He was ranked number 1 in the world between September 1988 and January 1989. In the 1982 Davis Cup quarter-finals, Wilander lost to John McEnroe in a six-hour-and-22-minute, five-set marathon, the longest Davis Cup match in history. Stefan Edberg, from Västervik in southern Sweden, won six Grand Slam tournaments: two US Opens, two Australian Opens, and two Wimbledons. He was ranked number 1 player in ATP for 72 weeks between August 13, 1990 and October 4, 1992. He won 41 singles tournaments and appeared in 54 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, which was a record. © October 2004 Ulla Holmberg
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