"Lost Wimbledon finals to Bjorn Borg from 1978-1980, but got their revenge two months later at Flushing Meadows."
That would be Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner and John McEnroe. Borg was never able to win the US Open, even after beating these players at Wimbledon. The change from grass to hard court did wonders for these three players, with the home crowd cheering 'em on.
Sadly, the United States Open at Forest Hills was held on grass until 1975. Then, the surface changed to hard-tru for the next three years. You'd have thought Bjorn Borg was home-free, given how hard-tru . But though he got to the semifinals in 1975, and finals the next year, Jimmy Connors handled him. Three sets. Then four. Bjorn Borg had to default in the round of sixteen against Dick Stockton in 1977 as his shoulder flared up. Borg's rival Connors, whose worst surface was clay, proved that he could play on it by reaching the finals for a third straight time on the slow stuff (And fourth straight finals overall since Jimmy had won in 1974). There, though, it was Guillermo Vilas who ended the American's run with a four-set victory.
It seemed though, that it was time for a change. The US Open changed venues for 1978. No longer held at the West Side Club in Forest Hills, the United States Major would be held at Flushing Meadows.
And Borg was making a bid for a Grand Slam that year. Would a change in venue bring it to him? The French Open saw Borg beat Vilas in three sets. Connors had no luck either in Wimbledon Finals as it was all the Swede, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
So Borg was playing amazing tennis, and halfway to the calendar Grand Slam! It should be noted the Australian Open was now considered a tad less than what it had been in the past. The tournament had been moved from January to December a few years earlier. In 1977, it was held twice (At the beginning and the end of the year). While players like Vilas (Who won it in 1978-79), Roscoe Tanner and Vitas Gerulaitis made the the trip Down Under, the event wasn't what it had been in the past. It had been a big deal when Rod Laver won it in 1969, along with the French, Wimbledon and US Open. Borg's great rival Jimmy Connors had won the Australian Open in January of 1974, then added Wimbledon and the US Open to his Grand Slam tally that year. Now though, it was held at the end of the year. Not like in the last week of December, first week in January, but rather, dead smack in December. When you want to be on holidays. Several other events on the men's tennis tour had taken over for the Australian Open. The prize money wasn't so good. And...You're not gonna attract players when you say you're a Grand Slam but don't offer any mixed doubles from 1970-1985 (No tournament at all was held in '86, for good measure)! Having said all that, it was still considered a Grand Slam, and Borg would go (To the "Poor man's Slam"), should he win the big third one...In United States.
It looked like he would. But Jimmy Connors had thrown out a warning after losing to Borg at Wimbledon. He was coming. He came to the finals to face Borg. In a complete reversal of Wimbledon, the final was all Connors, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. The finals of the US Open at this time was played at night, good for TV. Prime Time Television. But this was never to Borg's liking. He'd lost the finals here under the lights two years earlier. No trip Down Under in 1978.
But you would think: "Soon, very soon." Bjorn Borg was just 22 years old, you see, in 1978. And he was just beginning to hit his domination, his peak. Surely the day would come, right?
Well, Borg was also undeterred. He won the French again in 1979. Then he survived a two sets to one deficit against Roscoe Tanner in Wimbledon. The finals was an excellent match that the left-handed American seemed destined for an upset. Borg pulled out set four, 6-3, and the fifth, 6-4. A fourth straight Wimbledon title for the Swede.
But Tanner, who'd won the Australian Open in January of '77, was about to put an end to any thoughts of Borg going there in '79. There 1979 US Open quarterfinals was mostly in favour of Roscoe. Bjorn had to lookout for the serve belonging to the man from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee! Tanner was hitting some bombs of that serve. And, you guessed it, it was all on Prime Time. That made Roscoe Tanner's thundering serves even hard to pick up by Bjorn Borg. The real-life The Chattanooga Choo Choo was smokin' up and down those tracks! Tanner even broke the net at one point, because Roscoe was hitting 'em so hard!
So, Borg was again undeterred. He came back and was awesome in 1980. The new decade would be his, it seemed. But there was a new American kid on the block. Roscoe Tanner didn't win that 1979 US Open. Neither did the man who overcame him in the semis (It went the distance), Vitas Gerulaitis.
No. The 1979 US Open went to the new kid on the block named John McEnroe. John beat his countryman Vitas 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 in the finals. And he set out to prove that his win would be no fluke the next year.
McEnroe overcame Connors in the semis of the '79 US Open. But Jimmy Connors had beaten John at Wimbledon in 1977 when he was just 18. So, Mac waited. He'd lost in the first round at "The Big W" in 1978, and then the round of sixteen in '79. But 1980, you see, would be different.
Jimmy Connors fell to John in the semifinals. Now, only Bjorn Borg stood in John McEnroe's way of his first Wimbledon crown. Mac started fast. First set, 6-1.
Borg used his tremendous experience to win the next two sets, 7-5, and 6-3. It seemed over. While the fourth set went to a tie-breaker, everyone thought McEnroe didn't have it enough up here (I'm pointing to my forehead!) to send it to five. But everyone was wrong.
Johnny pulled it out 18-16. That tiebreaker was a classic. There aren't enough words in any language to describe it. It was pure magic. Borg did all he could to wrap it up in that finish to the fourth stanza: Seven match points! McEnroe saved 'em all. Borg himself saved four set points.
So you'd think McEnroe had the momentum. He got Borg to 0-30 on his serve. But then the Swede went into the zone: Of the next 25 points on his serve, Bjorn won 24 of 'em! How's that for weathering the storm? McEnroe stayed right with him, holding serve six times before Borg broke him while serving at 7-8.
John needn't have worried. He was 21 years old himself, having a good three years on Bjorn. And would you believe it? They pair were slated for a rematch in the finals of the US Open. But then again, McEnroe had plenty of reason to deny him the title in New York. McEnroe was going for two in a row!
However, Borg looked ready to finally pull it off for a third Grand Slam title of '80. So ready, that Bjorn served for the opening set. First at 5-4. Borg failed to close it out there, but broke again for 6-5. Borg couldn't consolidate the break, alas. John McEnroe won the tiebreaker (And his opponent didn't seem too happy when McEnroe hit an ace at 2-2 in the shootout) to go up a set at his National Championship. And McEnroe second stanza, too. Was Bjorn Borg badly off his game like he'd been at this stage two years ago? The third set was close, but the odds of him coming back didn't seem too good. Sure, Borg had come back from two sets down to beat Jonathan Kriek (Now, there was another player who won the Australian Open. First in 1981 and again the next year) in the semifinals, plus had erased a 1-2 sets disadvantage against Roscoe Tanner the round before, but what now?
Here's where Bjorn Borg regained his poise, though. The third set was his in a tiebreaker. The fourth went to him, 7-5. Hey!
Now, it looked like Borg would be playing in the Australian Open for the first time since January of 1974. And he'd be going for the Grand Slam. No one had done that in eleven years.
The momentum was Bjorn Borg's at this point. So much, that his serve was clicking when it mattered. McEnroe was winning points on it, sure. But Borg was still winning the games! Up 2-1 in the fifth set, he his opposition to 0-30. But then McEnroe just got enough of it to hit the net and sort of dribble over. The game wasn't over yet at 15-30, but Borg was a tad shaken. It was game to John McEnroe not long after. McEnroe wouldn't really let Borg have another crack at his serve. And from there, Johnny Mac broke the Swede for a 4-3 lead and served it out. Well, that trip to Australia in December would have to wait, again.
Only, as it turns out, this was the last time there'd be any talk of Borg (Or anyone else until 1983) in the US Open Finals going Down Under. In 1981, McEnroe stopped Borg in four sets at the last stage of Wimbledon and the US Open (Bjorn managed to win his sixth French in June, overcoming a kid named Ivan Lendl in the finals, though), and there was no reason to travel to Australia. Borg then shocked the tennis world by essentially stepping away from the game in 1982. Although he entered a few more ATP tournaments in '82, 1983 and one final one (Monte Carlo) in '84, nothing seemed to come of any comeback attempt. At least until 1991, when he tried a full-time comeback. Borg won not a single ATP match from '91 until 1993. The Swede then called it a day.
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