They played two of the greatest matches ever between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Many of us were hoping it was a rivalry that would go on for years but unfortunately it didn't happen with Borg retiring at only 25 years old.
Amazing to watch these 2 after a few decades as I was 9 when I first started playing and grew up up watching them for many years. I even got days off school to watch the very same match and others being played. These 2 were the absolute best in their day. When you compare ot to todays tennis, It's amazing to see how the game today has become so much faster, with much longer rally's and less unforced errors. Not to mentioned the change in equipment.......I played with Borgs Donnay Pro and McEnroes Wilson Pro staff racquets during my competitive days and managed to get a state ranking. Tennis is such a great sport that gives you a competitive drive and good social skills. Thanks so much for posting this and for the memories!
This is one of the best quality videography I have seen for older tennis matches on RU-vid. The resolution is high enough that you can really see the ball. I wish there were some more having this resolution from this time range.
I was at this match as well as the 2 five set semifinals the day before (mac-Connors at night, Borg-kriek during the day). While I was excited to be there, how little did I realize as a 14 yr old kid, how lucky I was watching these greats in their prime at the US open.
Oh that's cool you were there...I was 13 and this was the first tennis match i ever watched. I was visiting relatives in Florida and there was nothing else on TV so i put this on. I didn't understand tennis but after watching a few games i was totally swept up into the game, by halfway through i was screaming at the TV, emotional and on the edge of my seat at every McEnroe return. To this day it's still maybe the greatest sporting event i ever watched
@@rrfamig It was like 2 different matches. Kriek taking chances vs ho hum Borg first 2 sets, then Borg serving a lit better, and Kriek started missing everything as he'd do when his game went south. There was no in between with Kriek. Either hot or cold,
I love McEnroe's heart and skill. ****** No 2021 nonsense (social justice, politically correct, white-black issues, LGBTQ) just great tennis. ****** So entertaining, pure-tennis!!!! Just tennis....
you have the 1980 quarterfinal game with McEnroe versus Ivan Lendl. McEnroe won in 4 close sets. It's interesting to note that McEnroe the defending champion had to play and overcome his three greatest rivals, Lendl, Connors and the King, Bjorn Borg.
When you watch Borg's incredible parabolic, looping groundstrokes, you can imagine by logical extension just how much more spin and arc his shots would have with today's copolyestor, lubricated strings! He'd drive opponents nuts in today's tennis with the excessive spin he would put on the ball. Fans would be just as much impressed, if not even more so, with his spin on the ball than Nadal's! And imagine how much more effective McEnroe's superb finesse/touch shots would be with today's tennis strings than they were even back in his era in tennis with regular, nonlubricated gut strings!
@@chasam1234 Only in your certifiably delusional mind! McEnroe and Borg at the very peak of their respective primes (in 1984 and 1979, respectively) would have the definite edge over Federer, Djokovic and Nadal! Only those who know absolutely zero about the game of tennis delude themselves into laughably and erroneously thinking and asserting otherwise!
To be fair the modern generation would have too much power using modern rackets. How many top players these days are the size of Borg and Mac? Spin the coin the other way and modern players could not compete with the wooden rackets. Its like comparing badmington and tennis. Different sports.
I know the music. Today these players would be wounded destroyed by all the Nadal Federer Ferrer Murray and so on.. But 35-40 years later these players still make me excited by the game. Looking at these marvelous Champions with they oldies woodies rackets make me an entire and deep love to the Tennis. The young timer Tennis, forever the best.
You mentioned the wood racquets, that makes it impossible to compare generations. Personally, I liked the variety of the old game, one could come to the net without getting annihilated
"Dolly Parton giving you a hotdog and soda out by the playground" Ha ha ha ha ha.....Where do they come up with this shit?!? Anyway it was a great match. Thanks so much for uploading these classics! It means a lot.
The unfortunate thing about the 1980 U.S. Open final was that Borg played horribly in the second set. McEnroe played very well in that set, but Borg made it so easy for him to win that second set with his poor play. But the major disappointing thing is that Borg didn't win that match and then travel to Australia in December of that year to try to complete the first Grand Slam in men's tennis history since Laver achieved it in 1969! Borg got royally screwed by a horrible baseline call to give McEnroe a break point at 3-3 in the 5th set which McEnroe converted to get the critical break of serve to lead 4-3 in that fifth set and ride out the set to win the match.
That call was clearly a blown call by the line judge, but your portrayal of it is also wrong: that call did NOT "give McEnroe a break point". It put the score at 0-15. Borg evened the game score at 15-all the next point, and he would even it to 30-all, and to Deuce. But he had two double-faults on the deuce side to go down 15-30 and 30-40, and then hit a lob wide to fall to Ad-out. Then he was unable to volley a passing shot at the net to....finally....get broken. It was a poor line call. But Borg climbed out of that hole quickly, and then climbed out of hole after hole that he himself - not any line judge - put himself into, until at the end when he couldn't. So ultimately, that poor call had little to do with Borg losing that game.......
@@Bitshitter . First, although I made an error in claiming in my above-posted comment that the bad call Borg got in the fifth set of that 1980 U.S. Open final gave McEnroe a break in that seventh game, I corrected that error in another comment in the comments section either on this video or on another video about that match. I clearly stated in that comment that it was the first point of the game! Second, you wrongly assume that the baseline judge made a bad call on that point. It may have been that the baseline judge signalled to the chair umpire that he (the baseline judge) was "unsighted" when the ball hit the court because Borg's body blocked his view of where the ball landed and the chair umpire then made the bad call on that point! Or the baseline judge may have made the proper call of out on that ball, but then the chair umpire overruled the baseline judge and called the ball as good. Third, even though Borg got the score in that game even at 30-30, that doesn't mean that the momentum in that set didn't go in McEnroe's direction as a result of that atrocious call! Borg was clearly pissed off by that horrible call (even though he didn't verbally complain to the chair umpire about it - that's the class he showed during his tennis matches) which can affect a player's concentration, especially since the seventh game in a set (particularly in a fifth and deciding set) is the critical game in a set as pointed out by many tennis experts such as the late tennis champion Bill Tilden. As the late Vitas Gerulaitis accurately pointed out, it is an erroneous belief in tennis that the bad calls in a match even out. They do not because a bad call in the first set of a match that goes the five set distance is not crucial, whereas a horrible call in a fifth and deciding set can be and frequently is crucial to the outcome of a tennis match!
When you see Borg successfully hit a drop volley as he did once against McEnroe in the seventh game of the fourth set in this match, you have to realize/appreciate just how difficult that is to do with a wood racket strung at 80 lbs. tension because at that extreme tension in a 65-70 square inch head-size wood racket, the strings have no resilience (flex).
Borg perse probabilmente qui la finale. La palla era fuori, non fu chiamata e si deconcentrò. Con questa vittoria avrebbe vinto facile in Australia e completato il Grande Slam.
Mac had the game to frustate Borg. I mean the serve volley on these fast courts, gave him an advantage. Against Connors it was different. Connors felt more at home at the US open. At the same time Borg had the game to frustate Connors, bringing the ball in the game, while Jimbo kept attacking.
Finale somptueuse (excepté le 2ème set à sens unique, où Borg est totalement passé au travers), finale dans la lignée de celle de Wimbledon quelques mois plus tôt (avec un tie-break d'anthologie du 4ème set). Dire que c'était la seule finale de l'US Open que Borg pouvait potentiellement gagner (sur les quatre qu'il a disputé).
Il aurait fallu que Connors élimine McEnroe en demi-finale pour que Borg puisse en remporter l'USOPEN...car Jimmy malgré toute sa bravoure,ne parvenait plus à battre Bjorn depuis 2 ans...je suis persuadé que Borg aurait pris le meilleur sur Connors, même au prix d'une finale en 5 sets...
Big Mac tout heureux de se retrouver en finale face à Borg,alors qu'il aurait dû se faire battre en 4 sets par Connors,en demi,si Jimbo n'avait pas déserré son étreinte...Connors l'avait brisé de la même manière, à Dallas, quelques mois plus tôt....mais quel champion ce McEnroe !!!!!!
Même si ça jouait plus lentement que maintenant, que c'était bon ces rivalités entre ces trois immenses champions qu'étaient Connors, Borg et McEnroe !
@@miguel6440 oui magnifique McEnroe lors de cet USOPEN 80..mais il allait le payer physiquement au tournoi de San Francisco, 3 semaines plus tard, en étant éliminé par Johan kriek, en quart de finale
1:03:10 Borg perse probabilmente qui la finale. La palla era fuori, non fu chiamata e si deconcentrò. Con questa vittoria avrebbe vinto facile in Australia e completato il Grande Slam.
Borg's lack of a great topspin lob couldn't be more evident than it was in this match, when, for example, on game point for McEnroe at 4-5 in the fourth set, Borg attempted a forehand topspin lob with McEnroe at the net and the ball was way to short and McEnroe put away an easy overhead! And on the deuce point before the last point of the critical 7th game in the 5th set in which McEnroe broke Borg's serve to take a 4 games to 3 lead in the 5th set, McEnroe hit a floating backhand approach shot to Borg's backhand which gave Borg an easy topspin lob opportunity and Borg screwed-up that opportunity by hitting the two-handed lob down-the-line (obviously thinking that since he was lobbing to McEnroe's backhand side that would give McEnroe a much more difficult backhand overhead than if the lob were hit cross-court to McEnroe's forehand side) instead of cross-court! The ball landed wide of the singles sideline. Had Borg lobbed cross-court on that shot, he would have given that lob the maximum possible distance with which to land in! Borg regrettably never had a great topspin lob in his game like Lendl and McEnroe's great forehand topspin lobs!
People today have said that Borg and McEnroe would not be able to compete with today's "Big 3" to which I say baloney. They absolutely would have been able to compete if they had today's rackets which are FAR superior to the junk 40+ years ago. Borg and McEnroe wouldn't be as dominant but they would easily be able to hold their own. They were both well-conditioned athletes especially Borg who was lightning quick on the court..
Its a different sport these days. Players are so much taller and stronger. Borg and Mac were tiny by todays standards. With wooden rackets though they would still dominate.
I used to think my generation was spoiled to have such incredible talent as Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Lendl to grow up on. But even that era pales in comparison to the ridiculous golden age of tennis what with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovich (to say nothing of Serena on women’s tennis). I think kids these days will realize later in life they were spoiled rotten to have such luck growing up on those guys and gals
It is incredible that the baselineman on Borg's side of the court who made the aggregiously bad call on McEnroe's forehand service return on Borg's second serve on the first point of the seventh game at 3-3, fifth set in the 1980 U.S. Open final failed to either (1) call that ball out since it was blatantly out by about 3 inches, or (2) indicate to the chair umpire that he was unsighted (i.e., he couldn't see whether the ball landed in or out because Borg's body blocked his view of where the ball landed)! Either way, Borg got royally screwed on that atrociously bad call which led to McEnroe's breaking Borg's serve that game and that may have changed the outcome of that match! Of course it is also possible that the baselineman indicated to the chair umpire that he was unsighted on that ball and the chair umpire made the aggregiously bad call on that ball. Whichever one of those three possibilities actually happened, even if the baselineman had made a good call on the that point ( or if the baselineman indicated to the chair umpire that he was unsighted on that ball and if the chair umpire had called the ball long or if the chair umpire had overruled the bad call and awarded the point to Borg), McEnroe might have still gone on to win the match. But we will never know! CBS Sports incredibly failed to show an instant replay of that point, but if you watch that point repeatedly, it is clear that that ball was about three inches out!
@@athelstan927. The fact that that match was 41 years ago (not 40 years ago) is irrelevant to the fact that Borg got a horribly bad call on that crucial point at that stage in the match! Imagine if McEnroe or Connors had been the recipient of that atrocious call!? They would have gone absolutely ballistic over that call!
@@athelstan927 . You misunderstood the point of my comment which was merely to state the fact that Borg got royally screwed by that call at that juncture of the match! I do not, contrary to the implication in your response comment, obsess over that point!
Death threats, dodgy calls (check out 3-3 in the 5th, Borg's 1st serve), the arrangers always ensuring he played under the floodlights which he naively admitted he hated did not help. The US Open then as now was horribly biased towards helping the US players. It is the main reason Serena Williams still plays, she knows she will get favored there no matter what her seeding is.
51:45 - McEnroe tries to give his racket to former tennis great and hall of famer Jack Kramer. The racket that McEnroe was using for this match: the Wilson Jack Kramer Signature Pro Staff racket....
we deserved this stellar match. did you catch that drivel CBS was passing off in prime time? Alice, One Day at a Time, Trapper John (rehashed MASH) and Archie Bunkers Place ( rehashed all in the family)
A 3/3 le retour de McEnroe était sans doute out....bon,au mieux il y aurait eu tie break au 5ème set, tant McEnroe me semblait solide au service ...on peut tout imaginer..
Borg really was off beat in this finals. He had many miss hits with his racket and his ground strokes where very unprofessional. Probably it was the honeymoon that got the better of him!!!
In 1:03:10 that ball was clearly OUT (watch in 0.25X speed and you'll get it) So the break all in itself was an unfair hapenning... since that point you certainly can call it a ROBBED match, same that the ball unrevised in the FO Final of Mac vs Lendl which they called out (I saw otherwise)... well the good thing is that because of all that, robbed matches, calls, etc, they invented the hawk-eye, clearly a great driver and incentive for the game.
I just tried a search for any mention of the crucial, controversial call & can't fnd a mention. I watched the match & Tennis Channel has edited out the controvery & the broadcast right after the call. They showed a stop action replay along the baseline, the ball landing behind the line & no commentator said it was in. Wanted to see that replay again to see how definitely it is that Borg got robbed.
