CAMELOT FANTASIES

Bjorn Borg: 

"I practiced for two weeks for six hours a day at the same place, the Cumberland Club in North London.

I just ate, slept and practiced. And there was no sex with my girlfriend (Mariana Simionescu, later his first

wife). It was definitely not a glamorous lifestyle. And we couldn't go out as there always seemed to be a

hundred girls in the lobby."

After playing Roland Garros and winning 6 times there, this is the kind of effort it took for the clay topspin legend to win on grass at Wimbledon a couple of weeks later.
Borg had to change his baseline game completely to play on the fast uneven grass that it was then.
You had to come to net, because by the second week of the tournament the grass was too uneven in those days to rally back and forth without getting bad bounces.

The rewards were considerable, though. 5 consecutive Wimbledon Championships.

General Hercules is right.  This is the kind of effort Rafa has to put in if he wants to get back to the top.  Except multiply 2 weeks times 20 I think.  He first lost his grass ability, but now he's lost much of his clay fitness.  That requires even more effort.  But the kind of effort to repeatedly win big championships is tough. It takes it's toll, even with today's modern medicine and science. 

Borg played in majors from age 16 to 25, winning his first at 17 and last at 25, losing the 1981 US Open Final to John McEnroe and ran off the court after he had his life threatened earlier.  After taking a 5 month break, the men's tennis council decided that because he hadn't played enough events, the 11 time major winner would have to play qualifiers to get into Grand Prix tournaments including the slams. Borg refused and he never played another major and basically retired, only fulfilling some contractual obligations at some invitational tournaments the next couple of years.

Respectfully,
masterclass

great post.


it will take a huge sacrifice to be able to make a difference again.