Word: borg
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Last April, Borg returned to tournaments from a five-month rest, grudgingly giving in to the game's stiff rulemakers, who require even a five-time Wimbledon champion to play his way back into grace through qualifying matches. But at Las Vegas, Borg's second stop, he abruptly lost to Dick Stockton. "Half the time, he's serving with two balls in his hand," Stockton puzzled. "How can a guy with a two-handed backhand play with a ball in his hand...
That's what Borg was wondering. "There was something missing inside of me," he says. "I had to fight with myself to train four hours every day. And it sort of didn't matter when I lost...
That's not my style." During his holiday, Borg unexpectedly found out how pleasant life was without tennis. Along with his wife of 2½ years, the former Rumanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu, he lapsed into the most debilitating state of all, contentment. "We were able to go out together without thinking about training or a match the next day. It's a nice feeling...
Flatly, without any topspin, Bjorn announced last week, "It's finito." Some of the endorsement contracts that have made him perhaps the highest-paid athlete ($25 million since 1974) will have to be renegotiated. So much of Borg's 5-ft. 11-in., 160-lb. form is let for advertising space, on the court he looks almost like an Indy racer. "I won't turn in the racquet al together. I will play when I feel it. It is possible I will play some tournaments just for fun. But I will never play the big ones like...
...pressure at the top of this grueling and uncertain game must be some thing more than immense. For all his considerable talent and grit, McEnroe did not last there a year. "People don't realize how difficult it is to be on top," says Borg. "There is a huge difference between...