Why borg quit

Five at Wimbledon and six at the French Open and he did it all with his old wooden Donnay racket! One rivalry is known for one particularly memorable match involving one particularly memorable tiebreaker: John McEnroe vs.

Bjorn Borg in the Wimbledon final. There were a couple of ill-fated comebacks but, to all intents and purposes, one of the world's great players had jacked it in, at the age of 25, with 11 Grand Slam titles. During the intervening decades, the Swede went five years without picking up a racket and nearly 20 without visiting the Wimbledon lawns on which he made his name.

He was persuaded back, as a one-off, for the Parade of Champions in Then, in , he returned again. That seemed to trigger something, maybe provide some closure, because this year will be his fifth visit in succession.

Suddenly he cannot keep away from the place. The famous blond mane lacks a headband and is now silver, but it remains lush. Lean and tanned, he is still recognisably the man who won five successive Wimbledons in The difference, from the Nordic ice-Borg of legend, is the warm smile and effusive manner.

The best explanation Borg can give for his sudden retirement is that he just lost motivation. He had been on the professional circuit from the age of 14 and dedicated himself to playing tennis as well as he humanly could.

Without that drive there was no point continuing. It was all or nothing, and nothing meant forgetting about tennis, including SW19, and seeing what else life had to offer.

The answer was plenty, not all of it good. He was married and divorced twice, fathered a child with a teenager he met while she was competing in a wet T-shirt contest he was a judge , and developed a business that collapsed into bankruptcy. After needing to have his stomach pumped, he was even alleged to have attempted suicide, but he has always insisted it was an episode of food poisoning which was scandalously reported.

My life had been training, hotel, match, airport, training. To do other things is very difficult for someone who is not used to it. I had possibilities to do more things, but at first I was not really ready. I learned eventually a lot of things. It is a learning process.

As Borg cemented himself as the king of the sport, holding the Wimbledon title for five years straight, McEnroe relished in their meetings. The two met 14 times, ending with an inconclusive record.

It was the fourth set of the Wimbledon final that made them a permanent part of tennis lore — there is even a movie based on the clash. The tiebreaker had Borg trying everything he could to land the championship point against McEnroe. The brash New Yorker held off five attempts, before finally winning the set Borg, seemingly unfazed, ended up coming back from the setback with an win.

He fell to his knees, overwhelmed by a rare display of emotion. Borg also codified an unblinking stoicism that was later adopted by Federer less so by Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Aged 12, he was suspended for six months in Sweden for his outbursts on court. Apparently, he came back reformed and made it a point of principle that he would keep his emotions in check. He became compulsive, or at least highly superstitious, about routine: always the same locker, number of towels and so on; no sex or shaving for however long he stayed in the tournament.

Tennis had never really been cool before Borg played it. He had groupies. The fact that he blocked it out — blocked everything out — only added to the allure. Without Borg, Federer as we know him could never have existed. So what happened on that afternoon in New York in ? Certainly, Borg was emotionally crushed. While winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon came easily, he had tried and failed to win the US Open on 10 occasions, and this was his fourth setback in the final.

Ivan Lendl was snapping at both their heels. The reason for the police escort was that Borg had received a death threat, phoned in by an anonymous male shortly before he played Jimmy Connors in the semi-final. Another death threat was made during the final, after Borg won the first set, though he only learned of it later.