With exclusive insight from Borg, his first coach and rivals, ATPTour.com recounts the Swede’s breakthrough run in Paris that triggered his rise to sporting icon.
The depth of his groundstrokes was striking; his court speed and ability to play big points so well, was on another level, while his first-serve percentage under pressure was amazing. Those on the international circuit in the infancy of Open Tennis, knew Björn Borg was coming. For many, they foresaw the break-up of traditional serve-volley tennis with a new level of physicality, intelligence, and consistency in the precocious 15-year-old, fresh out of school.
There had been baseliners before, but instead of yielding to critics of his technique, the Swede was able to absorb punishment in matches and showcase resilience time and again by focusing solely on the next shot. For it’s all Borg had known since first striking a ball against his garage wall on Torekällgatan 30 in Södertälje. He didn’t receive any coaching for the first three years. “Upon leaving school, I gave myself two or three years before I’d potentially return to my studies,” says Borg, 50 years on. He never needed to look back.
“I took training just as seriously as matches from a young age, and that was one of the keys to my breakthrough and career,” Borg told ATPTour.com, from his home in Stockholm. “My mentality was one of my greatest strengths and I went onto court training myself to focus.
“I learned to concentrate initially for an hour, then two hours, and early on the pro circuit, I knew I could last however long the match lasted. In training, I would empty my mind and think only of the present: the next ball, the next shot. I’d focus on switching on and off, of winning the next point. ‘I have to win. I have to get the impossible ball back.’”
Percy Rosberg immediately recognised a special talent, when he first met an 11-year-old Borg in 1967. Today, the 91-year-old still takes the three-minute walk from his apartment to SALK Hall, his second home.
“A boy got sick, so Björn jumped into a group of 10 talented children,” said Rosberg, who had once been the Swedish No. 4 behind the likes of Sven Davidson, Uffe Schmidt and Jan-Erik Lundqvist. “In our first hit, Björn moved me around the court for 20 minutes, getting every ball back and moving me from corner to corner. His footwork was fantastic. I tried to put him in his place, correcting his backhand technique, but it didn’t work. He had total control over length of shot. I felt, even then, Björn already knew that if he put the ball over the net one more time than his opponent he would win. Anyone can have good strokes, but if a player has a good head they will do well in the pressure of matches.”
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