"Are you joking, what the hell are you going to do" - When John McEnroe reacted to Bjorn Borg's retirement

Writing about his reaction to Bjorn Borg's retirement in his book You Cannot be Serious, John McEnroe said that the Swede told him and Vitas Gerulaitis about his decision to end his career before going public.

Borg is among the greatest players of all time and was arguably the best player of the 1970s. He won 11 Grand Slam singles titles at a young age and called time on his career when he was just 26 years old.

McEnroe said that he was having beer in a room with Borg and Gerulaitis before a press conference when the Swede told them that he was walking away from tennis. The former World No. 1 wrote that he and Gerulaitis initially thought that Borg was joking.

"In the fall after the ’81 U.S. Open, several of us played a set of exhibitions in Australia. Vitas, Bjorn, and I were in a room, having a beer before a press conference, and Bjorn said to us, “I’m quitting tennis.” We barely even responded to it. In fact, Vitas and I laughed. 'Are you joking? I said. 'What the hell are you going to do? You’re twenty-five!' But Bjorn was dead serious. All he would say was, 'No, no, no, I’m not playing anymore,'" John McEnroe wrote.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion stated that Borg's news left Gerulaitis and him dumbfounded before following Borg to the press conference, where the Swede confidently said that he was excited to compete on the tour the following year.

"Vitas and I just sat there, dumbfounded. Then we walked down to the press conference, and Borg promptly told the reporters how excited he was to be playing next year! I remember thinking, he would’ve made a great politician. He certainly had me confused," McEnroe wrote.

"There was some speculation about Borg at the time, because he hadn’t signed the ATP commitment for the coming year—each year, at the U.S. Open, we had to make a schedule for the entire next year and sign a form saying what tournaments we were going to play. Borg didn’t want to sign his commitment form in September of ’81. He felt that, emotionally, he wasn’t in a position to do it," he added.

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John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg locked horns on 14 occasions over the years

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe had a short yet fierce rivalry. The pair locked horns on 14 occasions, with their head-to-head tied at 7-7. However, the Swede had the upper hand in Grand Slams, where he won three out of their four meetings, all of which came in the finals.

Borg and McEnroe recently captained Team Europe and Team World respectively at the Laver Cup, where the latter's side won the competition for the first time by defeating Team Europe 13-8.