Bjorn Borg

World Famous People

Bjorn Borg

World Famous People - Bjorn Borg is a former World No.1 tennis player from Sweden. He is also known as one of the greatest tennis player in the history of the game. He is the winner of 41% Grand Slam singles tournament that he played and 89.8% Grand Slam single matches he ever played. He has also won 6 French Open singles title. Read on to find out about the biography, childhood and profile of Björn Borg.

Childhood

Bjorn Rune Borg was born on June 6, 1956, in Sodertalje, Sweden. He grew up in this small town near Stockholm. He was interested in the game of tennis since his childhood days. Borg was fascinated by a golden tennis racquet that his father had won in a table-tennis tournament. His father gave him the racquet, with which he would play all day long.

At the age of 14, Borg left school so that he could devote his whole time to the game of tennis. When he was just 15 years of age, Borg became one of the youngest players ever to represent his country in the Davis Cup. He went on to win the debut singles in five sets against the professional Onny Parun, of New Zealand.

Early Career

After winning the Davis Cup at the age of 15, he also won the Wimbledon junior singles title later that year. In 1973, he reached the Wimbledon semifinals in his first attempt. Later, during 1974, Borg managed to win his first ever top-level singles title at the Italian Open. Then, just two weeks later, he won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open as well. He defeated Manuel Orantes in the final match. Borg was the youngest player of the French Open Championship at that time.

After winning the French Open tournament, later, in 1975, he defeated Rod Laver in a semifinal match of the World Championship Tennis (WCT) in Dallas, Texas. But eventually he lost to Arthur Ashe in the finals. He retained his French Open title in the year 1975 when he beat Guillermo Vilas in the final in straight sets. He also managed to reach the Wimbledon semifinals, but lost in four sets to Ashe.

Professional Career

During the 1975 Davis Cup, Borg managed to win two singles and one doubles title as Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 3-2. Since then, Borg never lost any Davis Cup singles and by the end of his career, he had stretched his winning streak to an amazing 33; which was a record, and it still stands to this day.

During the Wimbledon 1976, Borg managed to win the Championship, without losing even a single set. He defeated Nastase in the final, who was the favored one among the two. Borg also became the youngest champion of the Wimbledon when he was just 20 years and 1 month old. This was a record, until Boris Becker came in and broke it when he won the Championship at the age of 17 in the year 1985.

During the U.S. Open Championship in 1976, he managed to reach the finals but he lost in four sets to the then World No.1 Jimmy Connors. Because of his contract with the WTT, Borg missed the French Open tournament in the year 1977 but he subsequently went on to win the Wimbledon. He defeated Vitas Gerulatis in the semifinal, who was a good friend of his. Then, in the final, he finally managed to beat Connors. As a result of this win Borg reached the No.1 spot. He was at his career best from 1978 to 1980, winning both, the French Open and the Wimbledon, all three years.

Borg established himself firmly in the top spot with his fourth French Open singles title win and fourth straight Wimbledon singles title win, defeating Connors in a straight-set during the semifinal at the Wimbledon tournament. On the other hand at the French Open, Borg defeated Victor Pecci in a four-set final. When he reached the Wimbledon final in the year 1981, he had already stretched his winning streak at the All England Club to an amazing 41 matches.

However, on January, 1983, Borg announced his retirement from the game; at that time he was just 26 years of age. It came as an absolute shock to the whole of tennis world. After he retired, he became a drug addict. As a result of a drug overdose, he even attempted suicide. But, he bounced back later with Björn Borg fashion level.

Personal Life

Borg was a big celebrity of Europe. He married the Rumanian tennis professional player Mariana Simionescu in Bucharest, on July 24, 1980. It was one of the major social events of the year.

A company even went on to pay about $200,000 for the right to photograph the whole ceremony. By the time he retired, he had enough money apart from owning a number of homes, a penthouse in Monte Carlo, and a small island off the Swedish coast as well.

Awards

• Borg was ranked the World No. 1 in six different stretches between 1977 and 1981, totaling 109 weeks.
• Tennis commentators considered him as the best player from 1977 through 1980.
• Borg won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 1979.
• Borg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
• On December 10, 2006, the British Broadcasting Corporation gave Borg a Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by Boris Becker.