Bjorn Borg Biography

Born: June 6, 1956
Residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Career singles titles: 62
Grand Slam singles titles: 11 (6 French; 5 Wimbledon)
Notable: In what is considered by many to be one of the greatest singles finals in Wimbledon history, Borg defeated John McEnroe in the 1980 Wimbledon men’s singles final, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18), 8-6. Borg is a member of the Tennis Hall of Fame.

Because of his imperturbable manner, both on and off the tennis court, and his relentless ground strokes, Bjorn Borg was dubbed Ice-Borg by his opponents on the pro circuit. He was the first of the teenage wonders to achieve world-class status.

Borg won his first tournament when he was 11. In four years he captured all the world's junior titles. He dropped out of school when he was in the ninth grade, at 15, and qualified for the Swedish Davis Cup team, becoming the youngest player ever to win a cup match. This was his first encounter with team captain Lennart Bergelin, who later became Borg's full-time coach. In 1975 Borg' s three match victories (including doubles) brought Sweden its first Davis Cup.

In his first decade in competitive tennis, the golden-haired Swede compiled a record of career firsts that was the most wide-ranging in tennis history. His remarkable string of singles titles on the grass of Wimbledon (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980) and the clay of the French Open (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981) was unprecedented.

The widely circulated story that Borg's pulse rate was only 35 beats per minute was no doubt an exaggeration. His preference for extremely tightly strung rackets (80-pound tension) was unusual. His consistency, concentration, and speed on court were awesome.

Borg's brilliant baseline play and the athletic ability that often enabled him to retrieve seemingly impossible shots made him the dominant male player in international tennis during the late 1970s and into the 1980s.

Even though he never played in the Australian Open and never won the U. S. Open, Borg won 11 singles championships in grand slam events, second only to Roy Emerson's 12. He won the Wimbledon title five years in a row, 1976 through 1980, and reached the finals again in 1981 but lost to John McEnroe. Borg also won the French Open a record 6 times, in 1974 and 1975 and from 1978 through 1981. He lost in the U. S. Open finals four times.

Borg was an unusual champion in that he never followed the entire world-wide tour. He insisted on taking a four-month vacation, which embroiled him in a dispute with the men's tennis council in 1982. Borg was told he would have to enter the qualifying round for every major event that year because he refused to commit himself to playing the required number of tournaments. As a result, he took the year off and then announced his retirement in 1983, when he was only twenty-seven.

A major celebrity in Europe, Borg married Rumanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu in Bucharest on July 24, 1980. It was the major social event of the year; a company paid about $200,000 for the right to photograph the ceremony and reception. That was just a fraction of Borg's non-tennis income, which reached about $4 million a year in commercial endorsements.

With 62 Singles title to his name, Borg will not only be remembered for his sheer athleticism on the court, but for his ice cool temperament under pressure.

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BJORN BORG BIOGRAPHY