Tennis365 Top 10 countdown to the greatest tennis players # 7: Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe

Okay, so we’re tweaking the rules a bit with the latest entries from our list of the top 10 tennis players at Tennis365, as we have awarded the joint seventh place to the duo who will always be linked to the Sports Hall of Fame, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.

The clash of styles when these two great tennis players met on the field made the viewing captivating and while Borg’s retirement from the game at the age of 26 ended the competition too soon for an audience who wanted more, these two are sitting side by side as they claim a unique place in the list of tennis greats.

BJORN BORG
Born: June 6, 1956 in Stockholm, Sweden
The year is getting pro: 1973
Grand Slam wins: 11
French Open: 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
Wimbledon: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
Davis Cup: 1975
Total tour titles: 64
Record of wins / losses: 644135

JOHN McENROE
Born: February 16, 1959 in Wiesbaden, Germany
The year is getting pro: 1978
Grand Slam wins: 8
Wimbledon: 1981, 1983, 1984
US Open: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984
Davis Cup: 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1992
Total tour titles: 77
Record of wins / losses: 881198

Tennis had never seen a superstar like Bjorn Borg.

All the ladies wanted to go out with him and all the men wanted to be him, with the cross-over appeal of this dashing Swede transforming him into an icon on the ground in the 1970s and early 1980s.

If Rafael Nadal is now considered the king of clay, Borg invented this coat when he dominated the red earth after winning the French Open for the first time at the age of 18 in 1974.

Five more titles followed in Paris, but it was at Wimbledon that Borg engraved some of his most iconic moments, with the London crowd loving his fights with Nemesis John McEnroe, while the silly and smooth good guy faced the cheeky bad guy from New York.

Tennis365 Top 10 countdown to the greatest tennis players n ° 8: Andre Agassi

If McEnroe’s rivalry with compatriot Jimmy Connors was animated, his duels with Borg were much more respectful, as the two men were inspired to elevate their game to new levels.

McEnroe admitted his own motivation to play diving tennis when Borg called time on his career after falling in love with tennis in 1983, but arguably the greatest performance of his career came in the Wimbledon Finals in 1984. , while convincingly destroying his great rival Connors on Center Court.

“I have always had respect for Jimmy Connors and in my book, the only guy who has ever tried harder on a tennis court is Rafael Nadal,” said McEnroe. “What differs between my relationship with Connors and Borg is Jimmy and I didn’t like myself.

“Jimmy didn’t want a young American child to come and take his coat and I can understand it now, but it was different with Borg, who was hard to hate.

“Of course he had all the looks and all the talent and it was a little boring, but I enjoyed the battle with him on the field and when he called the time on his career at the age of 26 ridiculously young, my desire to improve was impacted by this. It made me better and it was so shocking when it stopped. “

McEnroe’s epic final at Wimbledon in 1980 against Borg immediately made history as one of the best games ever played, with the legendary fourth tie-break set of that match etched in folklore as one of the ultimate shots of tennis history.

When he assesses where Borg should sit in our top 10 in Tennis365, his record of winning five successive titles at Wimbledon guarantees that he deserves to be promoted in the rankings, while McEnroe’s incredible record with 78 Duplicate titles and nine Grand Slam titles – many with long-standing partner Peter Flemming experience – is a record that cemented his status as a sports legend.

Borg and McEnroe have earned their place among the legends of the game and using our criteria which take into account the world popularity and the inheritance as factor in our calculations, these two deserve a joint invoicing at n ° 7 of our list.

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