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Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and Leo Borg

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K 



Joined: 09 Sep 2011


PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:39 pm
Post subject: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and Leo BorgReply with quote

Leo Borg Steps Into His Father’s Shadow

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/sports/leo-borg-steps-into-his-fathers-shadow.html

"When he was 10, Leo Borg sat his mother down and told her something that made her cry:

He wanted to be a tennis player.
...

When asked if he had ever seen one of his father's matches, Leo shrugged.

“No, actually,” he said. “None. I don’t think so.”

He thought about it some more, as if to make sure. “No,” he added, finally. “Not a single match.”

His parents laughed when the story was relayed to them. Leo’s favorite player growing up was Rafael Nadal; Patricia said her son was comically indifferent to her husband’s accomplishments.
...

There was one time, though, that Leo Borg did try to embody his father. When he was 12, he and his mother responded to an online advertisement seeking young actors in Stockholm who could play tennis. Only later did they realize the role: to play Bjorn Borg, as a child, in the film “Borg vs McEnroe.”

At first, Bjorn Borg told his wife he was against the idea: Was it smart to let his son pretend to be him in a big international movie, given all his concerns about casting a shadow over him? “I tried to protect him,” Borg said.

Janus Metz, the Danish director of the film, was unsure, too: Would the tennis legend try to assert some control over the film’s narrative now that his son was involved? But Metz’s reservations vanished when he met Leo. The physical resemblance, he said, was striking. But more than that, Metz perceived in the boy’s eyes a vague yet familiar quality: “that shy vulnerability and sort of hellbent willpower that’s so special to Bjorn.”

Leo Borg’s scenes included one in which he recreated his father’s childhood garage-door practice sessions and one that required him to throw a tantrum on-court.

“It was so real,” Metz said. “I could get lost in his face and his eyes from behind the camera, take after take, because it would just spill out of him.”

(Bjorn Borg came around to the film, too. Metz said Borg cried during the filming when he showed him a rough cut of one of the final scenes of the movie, which depicted the quiet moments after his final Wimbledon win in 1980 with the melancholy song “Stars,” made famous by Nina Simone, playing in the background.)
...

In the end, Leo's success will be determined on the court, by him. He said his goal now was to grow stronger, to add muscle to his spaghetti-thin frame. After completing school next year, he will continue to be based in Stockholm while he looks for opportunities to play and train overseas.

His parents are committed to supporting him, perhaps hoping, half-seriously, that he still may have a change of heart."


Last edited by K on Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:11 am; edited 1 time in total
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K 



Joined: 09 Sep 2011


PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:55 pm
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Few Top Players Can Say Tennis Is Family Business

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/sports/tennis/few-top-players-can-say-tennis-is-family-business.html

May 30, 2014

"According to the International Tennis Federation, only four father-and-son pairs have cracked the top 100 in the Open Era, which dates to 1968: Fred and Sandon Stolle, Phil and Taylor Dent, Leif and Joachim Johansson, and Christophe and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. None of the women in the current top 100 had mothers who reached the same threshold, according to the Womens Tennis Association.

Edouard Roger-Vasselin is the only one of the four sons currently playing professionally, and he said he believed the top tier in tennis was much more selective than in other sports.

In soccer, if you are top 100 in the world, you are a superstar playing for Real Madrid, said Roger-Vasselin, who is ranked 51st.

He said that even though his father never pushed him into playing tennis, he would caution his own son against staying in the family business.

Its very difficult to be top 100, even if your father has been one of the best players, he said. But for me, if my son is going to play tennis, honestly I would not ask him to play full time. I mean, its so many sacrifices to be like this.

His father disagreed slightly.

He hasnt done any other jobs, so he doesnt know, Christophe Roger-Vasselin said. Life is sometimes tougher than being on the tennis tour. "
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K 



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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2018 2:16 pm
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K 



Joined: 09 Sep 2011


PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 7:16 pm
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McEnroe interview:

Reporter (on Borg): "He says he loves you."
McEnroe (emphatically): "And I love him!"
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K 



Joined: 09 Sep 2011


PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:02 am
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Leo Borg acting as his father Bjorn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsl1_0JQs90

No subtitles!

But McEnroe, speaking on a Swedish talkshow here, mentions Bjorn had a bad temper as a twelve-year-old and was banned from tennis by his father:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zO3w8_F8XE

Perhaps that is what the movie scene above depicts. Anyone speak Swedish?
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K 



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 1:37 pm
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Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe: The 1980 Wimbledon tie-break in full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnwYdF8a5ws


"34 points that defined a rivalry.

In the fourth set of their 1980 final, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe contested perhaps the greatest tie-break in Wimbledon history."
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 7:55 pm
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Borg vs. McEnroe Head to Head Record:

1978 Stockholm (SF) = McEnroe 63 64
1979 Richmond WCT (SF) = Borg 46 76 63
1979 New Orleans (SF) = McEnroe 57 61 76
1979 Rotterdam (F) = Borg 64 62
1979 Dallas WCT (F) = McEnroe 75 46 62 76
1979 Montreal/Toronto (F) = Borg 63 63
1979 Masters (SF) = Borg 67 63 76
1980 Wimbledon (F) = Borg 16 75 63 67 86
1980 US Open (F) = McEnroe 76 61 67 57 64
1980 Stockholm (F) = Borg 63 64
1980 Masters (RR) = Borg 64 67 76
1981 Milan (F) = McEnroe 76 64
1981 Wimbledon (F) = McEnroe 46 76 76 64
1981 US Open (F) = McEnroe 46 62 64 63
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 5:02 am
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Tennis365 exclusive with Boris Becker
January 17, 2018

Tennis365: Is Roger Federer the best player in the history of the game?

Becker: “I don’t know. You have to say he is the most successful, but how can you decide for sure that he is the best ever. Comparing generations is tough, especially in tennis, but he ticks many boxes as the greatest ever. He has 19 Grand Slams, the most ever. He has the most weeks at world No.1, which is an impressive record. However, would he have beaten McEnroe when he was at his very best in the 1984 Wimbledon final using a very different type of racquet to the one he has now? I doubt it. Would he have beaten Bjorn Borg at his very best when he was dominating at the French Open at Wimbledon? Again, I doubt it, but that is not to belittle Federer’s achievements for one moment.”

Tennis365: So does racquet technology make it impossible to compare players from different eras?

Becker: “It makes it difficult, for sure. I started with a wooden racquet and you simply could not do some of the things guys like Federer and Nadal have done in recent years using that type of equipment. It would not have been possible. So they would have had to adapt their styles. I would love to see Federer and Nadal play a match with a wooden racquet and see how they get on. It was a very different sport when McEnroe and Borg did their thing, but clearly the guys winning the big tournaments now deserve to be respected.”

https://www.tennis365.com/tennis-features/tennis365-exclusive-legend-boris-becker/
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 11:55 pm
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From a book review in The Guardian, Sat 10 Sep 2011:

"Ultimately they cared little for Connors, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, or any other pretenders. Unlike the simmering resentment that exists to this day between the era's other two great sporting rivals, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the two tennis players have only the greatest regard for each other. A recent HBO documentary about the two men concludes with Borg stating that he loves McEnroe, but noting that McEnroe has never said this back to him. However, McEnroe's wife makes it clear that John loves him too, although it's probably too much to expect the hot-blooded kid from Queens to admit to such emotional conformity."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/sep/09/high-strung-stephen-tignor-review


Well, John said it in 2018 in a TV interview (see the post above)!!
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:36 pm
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Bjorn Borg vs. Rod Laver, 1976, Boca Raton , USA (highlights):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYr9ZCmeLP0


Rod was almost twice Bjorn's age in this match!
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Jezza Taurus

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 02, 2019 9:50 pm
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Amazing seeing that footage.

Laver was 38 and Borg was 20 years of age.

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