Björn Borg

Björn Rune Borg {{Audio|sv-Björn Borg.ogg|listen}} (b. June 6 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden), is a former World No. 1 tennis player. During his relatively brief eight-year career, he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles ? five at Wimbledon and a record six at the French Open ? leading some to consider him the greatest male tennis player of all time.

Records and Trivia

Grand Slam Records

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• Won more Grand Slam titles in the Open Era (11) and more Wimbledons (5) than any player until Pete Sampras. This despite competing in the Australian Open only once, at the age of 17.
• Won more French Championships (6) than any other male player in tennis history.
• Won 4 consecutive French championships, an alltime record. His streak of 28 consecutive matches was broken, not by defeat, but by his subsequent absence and retirement.
• Won more consecutive Wimbledons (5) than any man in the modern era. Only Willie Renshaw won more consecutive titles there (1881–86)— and in Renshaw's day, the defending champion played only one match, the Challenge Round. After the adoption of the present-day rules, Fred Perry established a record of three consecutive Wimbledons in 1932-34, until Borg equalled it in 1978. Borg's streak of 41 consecutive match wins at Wimbledon remains an alltime record. Sampras has come closest to this record with four consecutive Wimbledons in 1997-2000 (and 31 consecutive match wins).
• Played in 6 consecutive Wimbledon finals, still a record since the abolition of the Challenge Round in 1922.
• Played in 4 consecutive French finals, an Open-Era record.
• Played in 16 Grand Slam finals, a record for the Open Era (and second in tennis history only to 17 by Rod Laver) until Ivan Lendl played in 19 (and Sampras in 18).
• Won at least one Grand Slam title for 8 consecutive years (1974–1981), an alltime record. Only Sampras has matched this (1993–2000).
• Defeated more players (9) in Grand Slam finals than any male player in history. Sampras was able also to tie this mark.
• Won 11 Grand Slam titles out of 27 tournaments played, giving him a record 41% winning percentage for the Open Era.
• In Grand Slam tournaments, his match record is 141–16, giving him an 89.8% winning percentage, better than any male player ever. The only other male players in the Open Era with winning percentages over 80% are Jimmy Connors (81.9%) and Ivan Lendl (81.8%).
• His 11 Grand Slam titles put him fourth on the all-time list, tied with Laver, and behind Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12).

Youngest to win

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• In 1972 he became the youngest-ever winner of a Davis Cup match, at age 15.
• In 1974, one month before his 18th birthday, he became the youngest winner of the Italian Open up to that time.
• In 1974, only days after his 18th birthday, he became the youngest man ever to hold a Grand Slam title. He retained that distinction until another Swede, Mats Wilander, took the French Open in 1982.
• At 18, he was the youngest winner of the U.S. Professional Championships until Aaron Krickstein won in 1983.
• In 1976 at age 20, Borg became the youngest winner of the Open Era at Wimbledon until Boris Becker became the youngest Grand Slam winner of all time by taking Wimbledon in 1985.
• Won his 11th Grand Slam in 1981 at age 25, the youngest to that number of titles. By comparison, Sampras won his 11th at almost 27, Emerson at 30, Laver at 31.

Match competition

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• Compiled 576-124 singles record, winning more than 82% of the matches he played. By comparison, Sampras had a 77% winning percentage at retirement.
• Won 14 consecutive five-set matches before losing to John McEnroe at the 1980 U.S. Open, a record for the Open Era (and possibly for tennis history).
• In career five-set matches he is 24-4, his winning percentage of .857 unrivalled in the Open Era, with Aaron Krickstein in second place at .757 (or 28-9). Five of his wins were in Grand Slam finals -- a mark that surpassed Bill Tilden (who won four) and has remained unequalled.
• In 1980 he won the longest-ever Wimbledon final up to that time, 3 hours and 53 minutes (the record stood until 1982). That year he also lost the longest-ever U.S. Championships final up to that time, 4 hours and 13 minutes (a mark broken in 1988).
• Won the longest tiebreak of the Open Era, 20-18 in the third set of his first round match at the 1973 Wimbledon -- a mark that has been tied twice (by Federer and Goran Ivanisevic) but not broken.
• Won 19 consecutive points on serve in the fifth set -- a feat perhaps unequalled at any time -- on two occasions, his 1980 Wimbledon final against John McEnroe and his 1980 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Roscoe Tanner.

Career winning streaks

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• On the list of Open Era winning streaks, Borg is both first (49 tour matches won in 1978) and fifth (40 in 1979–80). The only other men with winning streaks of 40+ matches are Guillermo Vilas (46), Ivan Lendl (44), and McEnroe (42).
• Holds the record for most consecutive wins on grass, with 41 victories (all at Wimbledon), Roger Federer had a 36 match winning streak (2003–2005).
• Holds the Davis Cup record singles winning streak at 33 consecutive victories -- a string broken only by retirement.
• Holds second place for most consecutive wins on clay, with 44 victories in 1977-79. Only Vilas holds more with 57.

Miscellaneous

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• Captured 62 titles over his brief career, tying him with Vilas for fifth on the all time list of players with most career titles behind Connors (109), Lendl (94), McEnroe (77), and Sampras (64).
• Retired with $3.6 million in career prize money, a record at the time.
• Was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 at only 30 years of age.
• Finally, in 1999 Borg was elected the best Swedish sportsman ever by a jury in his homecountry. His tennis rivals included a pair of world #1's: Wilander (who won 7 Grand Slam titles) and Stefan Edberg (who won 6).