Fastest to 8 Grand Slam Titles

Tennis fan · Fastest to 8 Grand Slam Titles

I noticed this on the ATP site. What an amazing statistic for Bjoan Borg!!! He won 8 of the first 20 GS events he participated.

Here is the top 5 ( in case the image below does not work)

Fastest to 8 Grand Slam Titles
(Fewest grand Slam Tournaments Played)

Bjoan Borg: 20
Roger Federer: 29
Pete Sampras: 30
Jimmy Connors: 35
Ivan Lendl: 41

x.doublea

Yes, it was amazing what Borg did. BTW, Sampras believes Federer can surpass him....

Tennis fan

He did in this category & can also surpass him in total number of GS during career.

PSALT

Borg could and should have won atleast 15 Slams, he retired early and when he did he was still a top player making Slam finals. He is the best player to ever play tennis. He won 6 straight RG's, and 5 straight WImby's. His Wimby's mean more than Federer's, he won them playing a similiar game to Federer on the faster grasscourts, playing some of the best grasscourters ever. I think we can agree people like Mcenroe were better grasscourters than the likes of Roddick and Hewitt.

leftys_rock

Can somebody enlighten me on the reasons for his retirement please? I have always know that he retired at 26, but I never knew why.

dav6789

x.doublea

Yes, after that year's US Open (I think he lost to McEnroe), he sort of disappeared from the scene. He was very upset with his loss at Wimbledon....

leftys_rock

Yes, I would think that you would be burned out had you won 6 straight RGs and 5 straight Wimbys. The thing about him being upset in losing the his crown at Wimby wasn't a very good reason for him to retire though. The signs of a great champion are getting over a tough loss and being able to achieve success even after the loss.

x.doublea

Here's an article on Bjorg...perhaps we can find the answer here:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tenni...0,10541,1499508,00.html?gusrc=rss

x.doublea

It appears he 'lost the spark' and was burned out:

Two weeks after the final, on 24 July 1980, Borg and Simionescu were married in Bucharest. He was tennis's King of Kings and his reign would soon be over. He was 24 years old and he was burning out, from too many air flights, meaningless exhibition matches, injuries, drugs taken for injuries. The following year he lost the 1981 Wimbledon final, to McEnroe, who would say: 'When we shook hands, Bj?rn looked oddly relieved.'

Borg couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. 'I didn't have that sparkling feeling,' he said.

Later that year, after the final of the US Open, which he also lost to McEnroe, Borg picked up his bag and walked off court before the awards ceremony took place and out of the stadium, straight to a waiting car, which drove him to the airport in his tennis gear. Soon afterwards he announced his retirement from tennis. His great challenger, curiously, would never quite attain the greatness his talent promised: the reason, McEnroe lamented, was that he remained 'in a kind of continued mourning for Borg'.

Tennis fan

What a powerful article!! What a player.

The paragraph below describes the BEST EVER Wimbledon Men's final. An amazing match!

The final

The 1980 Wimbledon men's final went in waves. McEnroe walked onto Centre Court with that disgruntled slouch of his, then began with exemplary shots, as if resuming some interrupted display of his prodigious gifts. Borg, by contrast, was playing stiffly, like a man with flu, his muscles not just tight but aching. McEnroe broke Borg and held for 3-0, Borg then scraped a service game, but McEnroe broke again and served out the first set, 6-1.

McEnroe gave the usual impression that he had a grudge against a few people in the crowd, he wasn't yet sure which ones, but he was playing serve-and-volley tennis of the highest calibre. His service action was absurd: he leaned forward from the waist until his torso was parallel to the ground. Or maybe he was just hiding behind the net, ready to pop up and surprise his opponent with sliced balls that swung way out of Borg's reach.

The second set continued like the first. Borg kept saving one break point after another and hanging on to his own serve by his fingertips, to inch ahead, only for McEnroe to draw level with imperious play. Borg was unable to sustain a rally of more than three shots, to work himself into a rhythm. If they were pugilists, the bout might have been stopped in that set.

Then, at 6-5, Borg broke McEnroe and the set was his. Owing to the caprice of tennis's scoring system, McEnroe had dominated the first two sets, yet by letting slip a couple of points at the vital moment found the match tied at one set all. Downcast, he began the third set with his lower lip quivering and spent the rest of it twitching with bewildered resentment. Borg took that one 6-3.

Borg was now improving calmly game by game, his serve harder, ground strokes accurate, his volleying competent. The final was, however, a match of poor quality. At no time during the first four sets did either player flourish at the same time. It was hugely inferior to the semi-final Borg had played against his friend and practice partner Vitas Gerulaitis in 1977, five sets of superlative tennis.

By the fourth set McEnroe had recovered himself, only to find Borg now beyond his reach. There's a particular exhilaration in sport that occurs when great athletes cast off the burden of hope and expectation on their shoulders, and perform freely, in time for glory. One thinks of Cathy Freeman opening up to win the 400 metres on home ground at the Sydney Olympics of 2000; of Ronaldo finding redemption from the wilderness in the 2002 World Cup. So it was with Bj?rn Borg in that fourth set: he played with uninhibited ease. At 4-4 he broke McEnroe. Serving for the championship at 5-4, he reached 40-15.

McEnroe was one shot from defeat. He might have been expected to curse and pout his way to the exit. Instead he simply, without apparent decision or effort, began abruptly to hit thrilling winners. Within moments a match that seemed to have been over was six games all in the fourth set.

The tie break that followed has lifted the 1980 final into myth. At this time and place, with every other point from 5-5 either a championship point to Borg or a set point to McEnroe, the two men exchanged shots of courage and beauty, until they were not so much competing as collaborating. Each had met his destiny in the other.

That tiebreak went on for almost 25 minutes. Eventually, at 18-16, it was over, and the winner was McEnroe. He had tied the match at two sets all. To have had seven championship points and not won a single one of them, and to find himself in a fifth, exhausting set, should have been a mortal blow for Borg. McEnroe, on the other hand, could barely restrain himself from crowing. He knew that Wimbledon was his: the king was dying. The great champion's reign was almost over. It was as inevitable as it was poignant.

'And then there follows,' as Tim Adams has written in On Being John McEnroe, 'a moment which must rank among the greatest in sport. It is the moment when Borg walks out to serve once more, two sets all, one set to play, as if nothing had happened.'

Instead of cracking, Borg simply played as he always played. That is, he refused to acknowledge what had gone before: his concentration focused until he saw only one thing, the ball that he was about to hit. A mirror image of the second set - though the quality of play was immeasurably higher - in the fifth Borg won his serve with regal authority, while McEnroe clung to his. He saved seven break points in all. But Borg was playing peerlessly. He had moved beyond a place where his opponent could find him. He won the final set 8-6.

PSALT

Commentators short memory's will always be their downfall. They are quick to forget past greats Laver, Borg, Sampras, and many others, in favor of a new player who will dominate for a time. Federer has been called the greatest ever for over a year, premature, eh? People like Patrick Mcenroe, Mary Carillo, and Cliff Drysdale among others seem intent on painting the picture that we are living in the years of the all-time great, artistic, graceful, mind blowingly talented, King Federer. Greatest grasscourter and hardcourter to ever live, wonderful on clay too. They seemingly have forgotten the pure talent of Borg, the mind boggling volleys of Mcenroe, the groundstrokes of Agassi in his prime, the sheer power and dominance of Sampras. Even if Federer doesn't get past 14 Slams they will crown him the all time great, a gift from God to tennis. Of course until a new guy that can win 3 Slams in a year, and can hit around the post comes around. Federer who? Oh that old has been, this new guy would take him easily. Commentators are jokes, I remember Andy Roddick being heralded as the future greatest player of all time after Sampras retired too. Is he? Don't make me laugh. Win a Slam after a great player retires and you are the greatest player ever. I wonder who will take that title after Federer retires.

beachjm

I agree with a lot of what PSALT said. They (inept commentators) are always trying to hail the next player as the best of all-time. I love watching Fed play, but I'm starting to wonder if this title proclaimed on him, is really accurate. Especially with Nadal looking to get even better in the future.
One other thing that a lot of people forget or don't know about Borg. I really don't believe McEnroe's level of play was the main reason or a huge one that forced Borg out of the game. The tour and the inept leaders of the sport screwed Borg big time, forcing him to qualify for events starting in '82 'cause he wanted to play a limited schedule. He would have had to even qualify for majors including the '82 FO (an event he won 4 times in a row)! Unbelievable! If they did that today, everyone would be in an uproar. And they'd have to enforce it a lot 'cause look how little some of the top players play today (can you say Williams sisters). So the sport hosed Borg and he already probably wasn't thrilled to play much longer. It still would have been nice if he played until 27-28 but a lot of great players like McEnroe, Wilander, etc. never won another major after 24-25 or so. I've always thought the early retirement issue with Borg has been overplayed among the media. Hey, he pretty much went out on top and at the time didn't have many regrets, so more power to him. Too many athletes stay way too long at the dance and are a shadow of themselves when they do decide to retire.

x.doublea

That's so true, many athletes are like that. I guess Borg might have not wanted to fall into that category. Like, Connors, Sampras, McEnroe, Laver, and even Agassi all fell into the shadow, but I guess Borg never did.

I never knew they forced Borg to qualify for tournaments! If I were Borg I would be pretty p*ssed off to be honest with you....

Tennis fan

x.doublea

PSALT

dav6789

I actually think if Borg did stay, McEnroe would have won more slams aswell. Those 2 had a great rivalry that was getting better. They brought the best out in each other. If that rivalry continued they would both have got better, and Lendl, Edberg, Becker, Wilander would not have got near them.

Tennis fan

x.doublea

I agree with all of what's being said...however, I was just stating what the 'general tennis population' thinks at the moment...it is really silly that they're putting Federer as one of 'The Greatest' already.