Word: racquets
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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What is most remarkable, however, is Borg's consistency. His strokes remain the same, whether it is match point at Wimbledon or a practice session at home in Monte Carlo. Altering the angle of the racquet face just 1° at the moment of impact can translate into as much as a 6-ft. difference in where the ball lands on the other side of the net. As a result, Borg never knows those secret fears so familiar to weekend hackers: "I hope he doesn't hit it to my backhand ..." On the contrary, Borg is confident that...
Gerulaitis dropped his racquet in amazement. Some 10,000 fans, grateful to be present at the miracle of the parting of Borg's lips, gave him a standing ovation. "Bjorn does have emotions, but he has a special talent for masking them," says Gerulaitis...
...wills comparable only to that between two prizefighters or a pitcher and a hitter. For all its elaborate etiquette, its hushed crowds and blazered officials, its serene and verdant settings, tennis is hand-to-hand combat. It is the sizzling serve that leaves an opponent unable to lift the racquet, the passing shot that crushes the spirit, the drop shot or lob that bounces and dies far beyond reach. In the closing games
...Borg says. "The strings will break, ping, ping, ping." Mike Blanchard, 73, a tennis umpire at international competitions for five decades, has seen his share of tennis players, but he has never seen racquets like Borg's: "It's like playing with a board. The ball jumps off the racquet so fast because there's no give to it. The reason other people don't do it is they can't get control. But Borg just caresses the ball...
Then Borg is nothing less than a tennis juggernaut. Only his eyes betray the fierce competitive fires within: when the ball is hit toward him, they widen, then darken with concentration as he follows the ball to his racquet...