Why Bjorn Borg's 1990s Comeback was a Disaster 

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Borg remains an absolute legend of his time. The 90s post retirement simply weren’t his time, that’s all.

I remember when Agassi was making a comeback after his demons. He played on the challenger tour for a while, but worked his way back up to the top. and he hadn't even taken a full break from the sport. After being out of the game for so long it really is important to build confidence in your game, and develop match experience. Seems like Borg just didn't want to do the leg work he had done before to work his way up the ladder, and the game had evolved a lot during his time away.

This tennis channel is absolute god-send

I asked Goran Prpić few weeks ago how come he beat Borg so easily in Munich 1992 (6:1 6:0), and he said that he was surprised how Borg’s ball was so slow, he had all the time in the world, and in that match Borg played with modern graphite racquet….

Loved this. Having been a huge Borg fan, the “comeback” was really bizarre. Glad he seems to be in a good place today.

I remember some matches of Borg´s ill-fated comeback, especially the one against Arrese in Monte Carlo 1991. I recall that I thought Borg´s game looked outdated. And he clearly seemed not to be as fit as in his prime. Borg tried a couple of overheads in that match but couldn´t create the pace and angle, so Arrese ran down *every* single smash. It was really odd.

Here in Sweden we basically pretend his comeback never happened.

Pete Sampras went through a similar time late in his career. He hadn't won any tournaments for two years, and was not training as he had in the past. Then in 2002, at age 31 he won his final Slam, the U.S. Open (I believe against Agassi, again). However in Sampras' case, when he had had enough, he retired and stayed retired. He did play some exhibitions and was competitive against the top players, but he knew he couldn't keep it up on the regular tour any longer. He knew he was done.

This dude won 5(yes FIVE) Wimbledon's in a row. He never has to prove himself again.

I remember this comeback...sad to say b\c of my age. 😄. I recall his clothing line ran into financial trouble. If he didn't squander his money, he would be OK. With $70M all he had to do was sit on it and live off the interest. Same goes with Becker. Both are a cautionary tale to young superstars.

Borg's game was good for when the game was slow and accuracy was an issue because of wooden rackets. Once guys like Agassi, Chang appeared in late 80s and could hit way harder from the baseline and guys like Sampras and Ivanisevic appeared serving lights out, there was no room for a classic guy with weird mechanics.. I doubt even if he continued to play, he would have survived after 1985... McEnroe also declined after 1985

As a teenager my tennis club gave me free ticket to attend White City, Sydney to watch lawn tennis in 1980. This is a tournament just before Australian Open. In there I watched Vilas, I often thought a heavy duty version of Borg, played. Boy he was strong as a bull. I also watched Martina played in practice and centre court, and stood next to her sheltering from the rain in the practice court. She was a very tall woman. Tracy Austin was there too. Those were the names in Borg era. I also met Ken Rosewall as he presented trophy for my local club competition, he was a very encouraging gentleman.

It was a very different game for Borg in the 1990s compared to the 1970s. While he did retire too early, better to retire on top than to stay around for too long. I respect his use of wood and the headband in 1991.

Great video! Thanks for the effort to put this together !

Excellent video throughout - great catching up on that confusing period.

Great video again mate! Always choosing fire topics🔥

The ATP really shot themselves in the foot by rejecting Borg playing 7 tournaments in 1982 and forcing him to qualify for Grand Slams in 1983. Today, a player like Borg could have played as few tournaments as he wants and enter Grand Slams with a Wildcard invitation. Borg coming back slowly in 1982 could have brought back his rivalry with McEnroe and maybe he could have won even more Grand Slams.

So glad my laptop got its act together to remind me about your channel. Fascinating stuff. Thanks, and keep up the good work.

he still had 11 grand slams in 6 years. Most probably the best percentage. And at that time the clay and grass were drastically different.

Actually in 1993 he find some kind of form and played extremely competitive matches against top-20 players-Wayne Ferreira and recently gone Alexander Volkov.

Always happy to see new videos, I love to watch your videos and rewatch them all the time!

Go pick up a wooden racket and you'll be shocked at how much it changes the way you need to play. The sweet spot is about the size of the ball and the racket flexes so much on any mishits. It's really hard to use topspin since the frame is so close to the sweet spot.

Whats strange is that the ATP seemed to push him away in 82/83. I thought he just walked away but they would not let him play a limited schedule. I think the key statement was, he saw Jimmy doing well and thought, dam, I use to beat that guy regularly so , why not. I saw an interview with Borg last year and he was watching his son play and he seemed happy with his decisions. We can't imagine the amount of women that probably attacked him after every match. I find Borg and Mac to be fascinating people. We like to think that everything is so easy for these star athletes and its not so, they have to work hard and have problems too.

This is a very good content. Thank you 👍 🎾

This channel literally has some of the best editing visuals out there.

According to fellow Swedish team mate Borg did his comeback mainly to be back in the locker room again, to talk tennis. There was no veteran circuit around in 91.

Very impressive to force Volkov to a deciding tiebreak in 1993, the same year Volkov reached the semifinal in US Open. In 1990 he defeated world no.1 Stefan Edberg in US Open.

Something that is rarely mentioned about Bjorn; in his heyday he was, physically, as strong as a bull.

Borg retired becuse he was tired and burnout. He should played with a graphite racket in the Comeback in 1991. He should taking back his former coach Lennart Bergelin. Playing many exibition tournament and matches. Before the comeback. But the best was if he had really been motivated in 1982. Then he had winning many more Grand Slams.

Great video, I never knew about the Borg comeback.

Best sports documentary channel. And I don’t even play tennis. The narrative is incredibly well written. Not to mention the voice that delivers it! 😊Captivating!

god damn your videos are so good

What sets him apart: in most all photographs you see his eyes on the ball, a very rare focus indeed. What people do not remember: 1981-semifinals v Connors, was down 2 set & won next 3 sets while McEnroe won in 3 sets in his semifinal. So Connors wore him out & he was more exhausted. 1981-recall well his body language after loss; was TOTALLY DEFLATED ; time telling that the '81 Wimbledon was the last of Borg. He was my favourite; such a tragic early retirement--

borg relied so much on his speed,,,he slowed down due to inactivity and age and lost his speed which was really his big advantage,,,connors never took that much time off and kept his court speed pretty good

Loved Bjorn Borg and modeled my game after him. Loved his two handed backhand, topspin, and mental toughness. I think it bothered him that McEnroe had surpassed him in 1981. Borg had his share of difficulties post tennis career including the infamous comeback, but don't we all. Life isn't supposed to be easy. Thanks Bjorn for all you have given tennis.

Still my favourite tennis player, of all time.

I genuinely had no idea he had a comeback.

This is some god tier video editing

This was an informative video for someone like me who never saw Borg play in his prime. I remember as a teenager seeing Borg play during his comeback and how bad he looked. It's pretty much impossible to take 10 years off and comeback and play at a high level. Why did the ATP tell Borg he would have to qualify to play in tournaments? Did they not have wild cards back then?

Absolutely no shame in what he tried to do. He failed to win but it's no way a failure to get out there and try even if he wasn't as dedicated as the 1st time around.

These videos sneaking in ads is always hilarious to me

No mystery to his failure: he stayed away from the game for far too long. Period.

9:38 'the reason for Borg's successes was not an inherited god given tennis talent ...' you can't be serious! Look at the beauty of his groundstrokes from the baseline - especially his backhand, look at his successes already at such a young age (French open - 17 years old) etc. Do you really think, anyone can achieve anything in tennis just by excessive training? Again: You can't be serious!

this should inspire roger to make a comeback in 2030

Interesting take on the matter

I`ve never seen a player who could glide so elegantly and weightlessly around the court,it was as though he was made of elastic.

I love your content cult keep it up

He was also older and had not continued to play all the years prior. That needs to be emphasized.

Woah, he left the trophy ceremony? Imagine the fuse if that happened today.

4:07 spelling mistake in the Houston article : "stive" ---> strive.

Equipment change made it tough after the break ATP made huge mistake not letting Borg play with silly limitations.

The coolest player ever . I rooted against him when he played McEnroe but loved what he did for the game .

Borg was my favourite player. He should have accepted ATP decision to play 10 events in 1982. He could’ve just tanked the matches as he was prone to in his prime. The 81 ATP finals he lost 6-3 6-0 to Gene Mayer but beat McEnroe , Connors and Lendl in the same tournament. I think he could’ve have added to his 11 Slams

It makes no sense, to compare Borg's age at the time of his comeback with the age of players like Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. None of them stopped playing for 10 years. Borg simply waited too long for a serious comeback. A decade is like a century to a sportsman...too many things had changed since he retired; and I couldn't believe my eyes, when I saw him at Montecarlo in 1991, trying to struggle on with his old wooden racket. A bit sad, indeed, but to me Bjorn Borg is still a legend and one of the greatest tennis players ever.

o mesmo caso de atletas como, sei lá, Mike Tyson e outros... estavam por cima muito por conta da autoconfiança meio narcisita, e nunca souberam desempenhar por baixo. Mas foram grandes atletas

His technigue was not suited for modern rackets. After his comeback he changed his shots : for example his backhand

Guy in the stands at 4:11 got duplicated 😂

One most important fact didn't been mentioned. Borgs incredible speed and swiftness which he had in his youth. After 10 years of non training and with age that speed was lost, just like in all other sports and athletes. He looked to play the same put he was late on ball for quarter of second, short for half of meter, or few centimeters - enough to lose. His style was greatly dependent on that, so he had no chances.

I saw the thumbnail first and I thought it was Steffi Graff. 😅

Great video! Say what you want about the comeback but the fact that he brought back the wooden racket in -91 is such a goat thing to do!

Be interested in seeing Tracey Austin’s ‘94 return too

Wooden racquet?!?!? LMAO

I've always said it once Bjorn got beat by Mac he was done. Wins came pretty easy for Bjorn but once it came down to who had the bigger heart Bjorn folded like a deck of cards. I love Bjorn he was my idol and I looked like him and that was a good thing back in the day trust me. Bjorn was the man of mystery, the iceman. Bjorn literally changed the sport overnight he was a walking billboard, and he had a two-handed backhand, and he had the good looks.

I have two of these rackets. One is a huge racket used for advertisements in the 1980s.

perfect channel to watch with your food

Anything at the very highest cutting edge level is always evolving and improving. Hyper competitive with a lot at stake. Impossible to just show up and have success.

A suggestion for another tennis video would be how Lendl developed his game to get over McEnroe. I didn't start paying attention to tennis until the mid 80s and was a bit surprised to find out later that earlier in their careers Lendl was considered a bit of a light weight while McEnroe was the top guy.

This is the best tennis-related channel out there. Also, your next video should be on Sam Querrey fleeing Russia when he had COVID. Would love to hear more about what went down, and I’m sure many others would.

It was a disaster for two major reasons. 1. Borg was well past his athletic prime and not match tough. He was also stubborn and stupid about continuing to play with outdated and obsolete technology like his wooden racket. 2. The game and its players had changed drastically since the early 80s. Guys like Lendl, Becker, Agassi, Sampras and Courier made it much more physical and that is a style Borg as an old man couldn’t deal with anymore. Plus I suspect many young players wanted a chance to add Borg’s scalp to their collection by destroying the legend. In the end, Bjorn Borg has himself to blame if he was actually serious about making a comeback to competitive tennis. If he was just out there for some fun and didn’t care if the humiliation of getting massacred would sour his legacy and the myth of his legend, then that is his choice. But I personally think he was stupid in his decision making and should’ve stayed retired or played on the champions tour instead. His time for a comeback should’be happened in 1983, not 93.

the fact that he came back without any preparation or real coach/trainer, after years of partying, and had match point against the 17th ranked player in the world is kind of amazing!

Bjorn Borg records 41 straight matches won in Wimbledon (Roger Federer also won 5 straight titles before losing to Nadal in the final of 2008 but had one walk over and only reached 40 match wins in a row) Highest winning percentage in matches going to 5 sets - 81.8% (27-6) Career win/lose record all matches - 83.1% (639-130) Won 3 Grand Slams without losing a set (shared with Rafael Nadal, Richard Sears and Tony Trabert) 89.81% win/lose record in Grand Slams (141-16) Grand Slam Tournament won with less games lost - 32 games in French Open 1978 3 consecutive Channel Slams (French Open + Wimbledon) 1978-1980 92.73% win/lose record at Wimbledon (51-4) 88.9% match record in Grand Slam five set matches (24-3) Borg held the record for most consecutive match wins in Davis Cup (33) until 2016 when Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis reached 36 straight match wins in Davis Cup singles matches. Borg also held the record as the youngest Grand Slam champion after his win at the French Open 1974. Seven years later fellow Swede Mats Wilander broke that record winning his first French Open and 1986 Boris Becker won Wimbledon and broke Wilanders record. Bjorn Borg Titles 64 ATP Titles won 100 Titles won in total 1 Davis Cup 11 Grand Slams (16 finals) 5 Wimbledon titles 6 French Open titles

Borg never made a “ comeback “ ! He was just bored in his 30’s and wanted to travel the tour for the parties and groupies ! But he found being a drunk ,has been ,doesn’t attract the same reverence . The past is never where you left it !😢

For me and being an Argentine fan of Vilas, I consider that Borg was undoubtedly the best tennis player in history and together with Guillermo they were the inventors of the top spin and other effects, he was an advance

Alacaraz has the potential to do the exact same thing as Borg. Patterns and periods always repeat via someone or some situation. Borg was as revolutionary as Alacaraz is today. Everyone thinks that if you have x amount of fame and greatness, then you want 2x, and 3x and x squared amount. I think it's a fair assumption to say from history, this is not really a correct assumption. Once you have enough of x, then to balance the life you need to have y, z, and rho and will search for it until it's all there.

As a swede, I've always been dissapointed that Borg has been such a big sucess in Sweden and talked a lot about internationally and stuff, and all we got in Sweden was him being radio silent for 40 years and selling overpriced underwear, and now I guess the money is drying up or he wants his son to succed off his name when he is 18+ now and has been starting to have more public appearences. There is so much tennis and tennisplayers in sweden could learn or learnt from him (mental game etc), but he just decided to sit on his bum and not do anything about his succes to help others succeed in his footsteps, but here, have some Björn Borg underwear.

I usually don't comment on videos but I can tell how much effort you put into editing so I'm just doing this to push the vid to be more favored by the algorithm

One should point out that the tennis racket technology changed! Jimmy Connors with his Wilson T 200 and the new oversized rackets changed the game of tennis significantly! Borg was still using single throat wood rackets and when he attempt to use the new rackets his style of playing would not optimize the use of the new technology! Playing with the wood rackets in my opinion made watching playing tennis more interesting ! I have nostalgia from the tennis of the 1970 70’s 😢

Just before his 18th birthday he was the youngest winner of the Italian Championship, and two weeks later he was the youngest winner of the French Championship (a record lowered by Mats Wilander, 17, in 1982, and subsequently by Michael Chang, a younger 17 in 1989). Eighteen months later, at 19, he climaxed a Davis Cup-record winning streak of 19 singles by lifting Sweden to the 1975 Cup for the first time in a 3-2 final-round victory over Czechoslovakia. His Cup singles streak of 33 was intact at his retirement, still a record. Although Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall were a few months younger in 1953 when they won the Davis Cup for Australia, both were beaten during the final round. But Borg won both his singles in straight sets, over Jiri Hrebec and the clincher over Jan Kodes, after teaming with Ove Bengtson for the doubles win. Borg's Davis Cup debut at 16 in 1972, as one of the youngest ever in that competition, was phenomenal: A five-set win over seasoned pro Onny Parun of New Zealand. Borg was also the youngest winner of the oldest professional championship, the U.S. Pro, whose singles he took in 1974 at 18 over Tom Okker (and, subsequently, 1975 and 1976). Aaron Krickstein, 16, lowered that record in 1984.

7:06... The excerpt from the article: To Swedish radio, after his protege had lost, Professor Binocs said, " (he) is not upset, he feels sorry for all of you..." Of course, theres a photo just below... Gotta love the way these pages are composed, eh? He had his time and it obviously passed. Coming back at 35 with his patented undersized, wooden racquets, i remember him saying, " the game is much faster ". His initial comeback match was on clay, which is the slowest surface...Bjorn Borg and Abba basically held court the last half of the 70s. Much adored and loved even still, it does point to simpler times, where the borders of belief were somewhat removed from the present ones. Western Europe and Skandanavia have likely experienced less hardship amid the changes in relativity to most everywhere else. I can far easier appreciate this ill-fated comeback far better than a spectacle like when Bobby Riggs teamed up with Vitas Guerralitis ( prolly mispelled-sorry ) against the top womens pair-Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver...remember his mea culpa...? I thought Vitas had more range...! That is far more pathetic and cringe-worthy if we re gonna scrutinize someone being out of their league for no good reason.

5:58-6:03 that’s David Nalbandian 😂

I saw him play doubles in a tennis tournament in Newton, MA in about 1995. Him and his partner lost to two younger men whom were not ranked better than in the top 100.

For someone who stayed 10 years without practising, the Monte Carlo comeback was great. No practice, no exhibition matches and he still scored 5 games with outdated equipment. But the following year was indeed bad as he was practising, embracing new modern rackets and didn't win a single match.

Probably, Arrese 1991, with his new racquet , was also able to defeat 1981 Ivan Lendl. The spanish, player ,in 1992 ,won over Lendl , on clay court.

My sense is that even had Borg been better prepared and more disciplined in the course of his comeback, he would not have won many matches. His style of play belonged to another era, as did McEnroe's. Contrary to what many people argue, I think he made a reasonable decision to retire when he did, though perhaps another 2 or 3 years of play would have been fine too. Could he have stopped McEnroe's winning streak? Maybe, but unlikely. I think Mac would have continued winning fairly regularly, just as Lendl regularly defeated McEnroe from 85 onward, often overpowering him. Tennis slowly but surely became a highly rigorous, professional, power game.

Can’t believe he got to match point against a top 15 player in 1993 then gave up. He was obviously improving a lot

Why didn't he played the Australian Open in his time? Was it more difficult to travel thi far?

Borg's was a great player because of natural talent. He was, at times, the best player in the world because of dedication and proper preparation. It should be noted, however, that schoolyards are full of kids who are more than willing to dedicate themselves to a sport, sometimes for nothing more than a $50 trophy. Of course, there are also those with tremendous natural athletic talent who squander it away.

Even having lived through that era and seeing he win all five times I can't stop noticing how much it changed: the rackets were made of wood...I forgot that. Borg and Navratilova were the main reasons I considered stop watching Wimbledon...it became boring: we always knew Borg would be on the final and that the feminine final would be between Martina Navratilova and Chris Everett Lloyd. But then there was the advent (yes I am using this word) of Boris Becker, then tennis became cool again.

I love the little snails and strawberries symbols.

Borg left Tennis because he was burned out. His last big goal was to win the US Open, but try as he must, he could not pull it off, leading to more dismay and burn out. As for the come back I really believe it was a combination of things, but the biggest was the Sports Transition Period. All sport have them around every decade. Borg tried his comeback when the sport was changing with new better equipment break throughs and faster, stronger, athletes. But he will always be remembered for his dominance and swag in the mid and late 70's. John McEnroe also went through this transition when Agassi, Sampras, and many others hit the scene, Although Johnny Mac hung in there as long as he could.

people forget Bjorn Borg only played once of the Australian open, which could have had a huge effect on how many Grand Slam he could have ended he ended up win.

Curieux en 1994, contre connors dans un match de vétéran sur ciment il jouait pas trop mal,en attaquant du fond du court et avec un bon service aussi.Dans les deux derniers jeux du 3 ème set il s écroule.

It’s sad to see someone so great in his day look so ordinary on his comeback.

Retiring and leaving tennis behind meant age, fitness, and match sharpness all had to be overcome when he returned. It seems as though he received poor advice, or didn't seek a tough coach. I imagine if he had continued to play he would have remained competitive until 85/86. Lets remember he still had a remarkable career.

Apparently, it was so bad, I didn't notice him coming back.

If you want to be a serious athlete, then you have to compete in serious events on a consistent basis. Borg didn't do that, so his comeback was doomed from the start. You can't be out of the game for THAT length of time and expect anything good to happen.

I think it is a fair point that Borg had devoted his entire childhood and youth to playing tennis and being the best, so he was totally unprepared for being out of the limelight. The great matches, the wins and yes the attention and girls drooling over him - he liked it, it was all part of his identity. Alas, this did mean he was not very streetwise so to speak. He had little experience of 'real' life and that is why I think he made the outrageously naive decision to play again with the same look and even same raquet - his world had never changed before when he played, so why would it when he came back? What tends to happen with such megastars is they have so many fake friends and advisers wanting money, few if any dare say to them 'look, this is not a good idea'. It was also possible Borg would not have listened anyhow, to be fair. He was still an amazing player and athlete, so great we all tend to skip the 'comeback' when we think of him !

What people don’t realise is that within those 10 years the game had evolved and Bjorn just assumed by jumping onto the circuit he’d be able to compete, which was far from the truth, I can understand at 35 time wasn’t on his side, but what he should have done is got a proper team behind him, played in his challengers to build his confidence and fitness levels back up.

I heard once Wilander say that Borgs greatest strength was his ability to track down every I mean every ball graphite rackets hadn't yet come along and even top players couldn't hit through Borg on court to break him down enough to win games and sets Borgs unrivalled athleticism and steady l mean a 100 ground strokes without missing, every point type of steady was an impossible problem to crack in that 1972 to 1981era, thats what made him near impossible to beat but of course by the early 1990s all pros used the modern rackets and all had considerable power as a result.