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Swedish Tennis legend Bjorn Borg was an enigma who dazzled the tennis world in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the first man to master the art of winning effortlessly on clay and grass. A prodigious talent, Borg rose to prominence as a teenager and was a professional only till the age of 26. His decision to retire at the peak of his game at such a young age certainly deprived tennis fans of watching more of his brilliance.
Known as the 'Ice Man' or 'Ice Borg' for his on-court and off-court demeanour, Borg possessed exceptional mental toughness. His heavy topspin, superior two-handed backhands and ability to serve-and-volley on grass and stick to the baseline on clay make him the only player to have mastered the art of winning on clay and grass by tinkering and making small adjustments to gameplay.
Borg featured in the Australian Open only once as a 17-year-old and never played in Australia again. He was a 4-time runner-up at the US Open and had he played tennis for 5 or 6 more years, he would win a lot more Grand Slams than the 11 which he won.
We take a look at 5 unbreakable records set by the great Swede which in practicality will never be broken by anyone:
#5 A hat-trick of Channel Slams
One of the most difficult things to achieve in tennis is winning the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back in the same year. On one hand, you have the clay courts of Paris where the surface is slow and bounce is high and on the other, you have the fast-paced lawns of Wimbledon. The key part is there is very little time to prepare for athletes to transition so quickly from one surface to the other.
In the earlier days, it was more difficult because mandatorily in those days, Wimbledon used to start on the 4th Monday of June. Now, players get an additional week to prepare for the Championships.
In the Open Era, barring Borg only Nadal and Federer have achieved the 'Channel Slam' winning both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Borg stands apart as he went one step ahead and became the only player to achieve a hat-trick of Channel Slam wins (in 1978,1979,1980).
#4 Best 5-set record of all-time
Apart from having a supreme mental toughness and a technically sound game, Bjorn Borg possesses very good physical strength. So much was the confidence that the Swedish Tennis Federation had in him that they drafted him to play in the Davis Cup when he was just 15 years of age in 1972.
Borg made history by becoming the youngest ever winner of a Davis Cup Singles rubber. Borg with his solid baseline game and tireless strength was a nightmare for every opposition player. He, in fact, holds the all-time record for bageling (6-0) his opponents the most number of times at 131.
Borg's 5-set record was simply exemplary, to say the least. He won 24 of the 27 5-set matches that he was involved in throughout his career notching up a win-rate of 88.9%. In fact, in the 1980 Wimbledon final against John McEnroe, Borg won 19 consecutive points on serve in the fifth set - another Open Era record.
#3 Grand Slam tournament won with fewest games lost
Borg's powers lie in his ability to remain steadfast and dismantle his opponents with solid groundstrokes unperturbed by what was happening all around. Such was the finesse and class that Borg brought to the game that Romanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase once had this to say about Borg - 'We're playing tennis. But Borg was playing something else.'
In his career, Borg enjoyed a winning record against most of his contemporaries like Jimmy Connors, Ilie Nastase and Ivan Lendl. His record against his great rival John McEnroe was 7-7.
Borg won 3 Grand Slam titles without dropping a set (an Open Era record tied with Rafael Nadal). He achieved this at the 1976 Wimbledon Championships, 1978 French Open and 1980 French Open. At the 1978 French Open, Borg won the tournament by losing only 32 games in all - a record which still stands and looks unlikely to ever be broken.
#2 Highest win-percentage at Wimbledon
What makes Borg stand out from the rest is the relative ease with which he could adapt his game to play seamlessly in the clay courts of Paris and the lawns of Wimbledon.
Between 1976 to 1980, Borg won all 5 Wimbledon Championships making him the first man in the Open Era to win 5 consecutive Wimbledon Championships - a feat that was later matched by Roger Federer in 2007. Borg is the only first-time winner of Wimbledon to have won the tournament without dropping a single set. He achieved this remarkable feat in 1976.
In his career, Borg played 55 matches at the hallowed courts of Wimbledon winning 51 of them giving him an all-time high win-percentage of 92.73%. His record of 41 consecutive wins at Wimbledon hasn't been matched by anyone.
#1 Highest Grand Slam win-Percentage of all-time
Bjorn Borg was the youngest ever player to achieve 11 Grand Slam victories. Borg won his 11th and final Grand Slam at the French Open of 1981 one day after his 25th birthday. Borg is the only player in Open Era to have logged two winning streaks of at least 40 matches or above. He achieved this twice - first in 1978 (49-match winning streak) and then in 1979-1980 (48-match winning streak).
In his 10-year career, Borg played in 157 Grand Slam matches and won a remarkable 141 of them losing only 14 times in Grand Slams. His win-percentage of 89.81% is the highest among all tennis athletes - male or female across all Eras. Borg who won 6 French Open titles was beaten at Roland Garros only twice in his career - a record that as of 2018 is matched by Rafael Nadal.
