Borg goes over his basic strokes: Forehand, backhand, serve, volley, overhead. This was transferred from a couple of old VHS tapes I recently found from when I was a kid. Please forgive the quality.
After watching this video, Bjorn Borg is clearly the pioneer and father of the modern tennis. His tennis mechanics paved way to what tennis is today. Thanks for sharing this video.
Borg explains that he puts his left foot in front before hitting the forehand but when you watch the videos you can see that he hits an open stance forehand like all the top players hit today. His "bolero" style finish where he whips the arm upwards on finishing reminds me of Nadal. Technically, this man was decades ahead of the pack. No wonder he beat them all.
I had strange grip... it's now the most used grip for the forehand. He was a pioneer in the game with his grips, style of play, use of topspin, conditioning..everything..simply the best
he revolutionized the forehand , thats the way majority of players today play their game where topspin and leverage is of the highest priority , borg was such a genius
His stroke on the forehand starts like Federer’s (with racket face down to the court) and ends like Nadal’s way over his head. And of course his weight is on the back-foot at the at the strike point just like Federer and Nadal. Beautiful but no one hit it this way in Borg’s era. He was the truly the Grandfather of modern tennis and a genius. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Sampras and Borg.
Jerome1965 Yep! If you watch players today, you see that they hit the forehand off the back foot, with an open stance, which is exactly what Borg did. Their swings aren't as loopy as Borg's was, but basically the same technique. Watching Borg was how I learned to hit topspin off both wings.
Brilliant! Borg was one of the greatest players ever and a true tennis genius. His style was very innovative and allowed him to do some amazing things with the ball similar to today's top stars. But it required a lot more hand-eye coordination then simply rotating your body. Most people can't do this and even Borg when he got older and tried to play on the senior tour had lost some of his hand eye coordination, reflexes and timing and couldn't compete with people who had simpler swings like McEnroe. He said his grip was a western grip but it is a low eastern grip like Federer's grip. He said a volley is a short swing. He did not say it was a punch like so many instructors say which is a bad description of it. It is indeed a short swing. He said to start out having fun and don't be serious because you will tire out too quickly. That is what happened to him when he quit at just 26.
Perhaps loosing at the 1981 Wimbledon title is what took out this great man. He had the look of shock and disbelief in his face after that my match. Up until this point and after five consecutive Wimbledon titles he was pretty much invincible, god like in the tennis world.
He describes the grips differently than what we hear today, no wonder they have us confused. He appears to describe what is called the eastern grip today, as a western grip. And he calls an eastern grip where it looks like his bottom index knuckle is on bevel #8 for a backhand. And to me it's closer to making sense than the descriptions used today.
I think it took more years after this video to his teachings reach young players, because we were watching Borg on TV but the coaches at that time was still teaching old school to me... revolutionary ideas take time to spread.
Yes, when I grew up we were all being taught the standard Western grip even if it didn’t feel natural. When Borg, Vilas and others came along we saw that you could actually successfully hit almost any way that was comfortable.
So simply and clearly explained and demonstrated. Especially valuable on the serve, which these days is often broken down so much that it seems very complicated.
I wish my coaches back in the 70's could have watched this video before they kept forcing me back to a Continental grip and "swinging gate" forehand motion. They also poo-pooed my semi open stance. You don't know what you don't know
@@thebigmonstaandy6644 it was the best technique for him cuz his game was and is unique. But yeah most players hit the BH flatter like Conners even Rafa and Djok hit a pretty flat BH compared to Borg. The reason is they don't have the top hand release as Bjorn did so their BH is more boxy and linear. But guess what Borg BH suited him as he could dip his BH more and make sharper angles on his passing shots and that worked so good on the attacking style players of that time as they were always attacking the net.
Thanx for posting. I bought a Donnay raquet like that for £45 , in 1976. If my dad had known that he would of gone ballistic!!! Nice raquet though. He strung his at a tightest of all 65 lbs.
He had a reverse finish on his forehand, somewhat like Pete Sampras did on his running forehands, or like Rafa. He had the beginnings of the modern forehand. Borg was a joy to watch. My brother would emulate him and hit topspin lobs and heavy topspin forehands. My brother was very annoying. He didn't have the two hander on the backhand side though.
On the backhand you can see him hitting a top spin backhand to his opponents backhand slice backhand. So again technically he had more power and a greater margin for error when playing backhand to backhand.
Can i ask something? In this video Borg is saying that he was using a western grip on his forehand, but to me it seems that he was using a semi western grip. Does anyone knows what kind of grip he was using?
+xsandinistax There is a good picture of Borg holding the racket at an angle. You can try to match the angle and ignore the label. I agree I think this is semi-western.
I know I'm late to this, but the terms for what was considered Eastern and Western have fluctuated as players started using more and more extreme grips. Borg's grip is not as extreme as modern western grips, so yes, it's more akin to what is now considered semi-western.
Considered to be western grip back then when many pros were still using continental and eastern grips for forehands. It's now considered to be semi-western or extreme eastern grip by today's definition.
hit the ball at highest point reach up r in front of left foot then follow through on the left side all in 1 motion foot towards the net toss straight up in front of your body
Nothing like having the greatest athlete of his generation stand in a room with a chair in the way so he can't actually swing. They must have spent hundreds of dollars making this video. Interesting to compare his backhand (weight tending to go back on any ball higher than waist) with Agassi's 15 years later, with weight shift more through the ball. Surprising Borg could win so much with such a defensive-looking backhand. But I guess only Connors and McEnroe could effectively pick on it, and Borg still out-slugged Lendl in their meetings in '81 -- and in Jan. '81 Masters final Borg's backhand is less defensive than it looks in these clips here.
Maybe the sequence? but yeah Borg could rip some BH passing shots by one of the best volleyers of all John McEnroe. Thought Mac got him in their second Wimbledon final. Borg got some of his technique on BH from slap shot playin hockey. It's more visible on his hard BH passing shots.
Borg was clearly revolutionary. Nadal was also revolutionary and more successful in terms of outcomes, but the step ahead that Borg made was just too big. Here's some evidence.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (Psalms 51:1-4)
The father of modern tennis. Rafas forehand is all borg. Borg only played until 25 STILL got 11 slams AND he did it with a wooden racquet, wich weights four times modern racquets and has a sweet spot half, half, the size of modern racquets. So tell me again about your boring big 3 thing....goat thing
If Borg was never born, all players might still be playing one handed backhand. But because the #Goat was born almost ALL players hit a two handed backhand and a heavy topspin forehand, like rafa....tell me again about your ridiculous goat race. Borg is superior or right in the same conversation as the big 3.
