In 1980, two tennis players dominated the landscape. Bjorn Borg was the top-ranked player in the world, a taciturn Swede who had dominated tennis' most cherished venue - Wimbledon's Centre Court. He was riding a 34-match winning streak at Wimbledon, and at the age of 24 years old he had already won more singles titles and more Wimbledon titles than any who had gone before. During his remarkable run, Borg had beaten in the finals Ilie Nastase in 1976, Connors in '77 and '78 and Roscoe Tanner in '79. In the 34 matches prior to the 1980 final with McEnroe, he had lost only 20 sets, and had won 21 matches in straight sets. He was going for an unimaginable fifth straight title and an Open-era record of 10 slams.

     The challenger was John McEnroe, the anti-Borg: a volatile American, a left-handed serve-and-volleyer who re-wrote grass court tennis, and at the tender age of 21 just shy of his prime. Still too young and cocky to realize just how overmatched he was, he had just supplanted the great Jimmy Connors (whom he had beaten in the semi-finals), was now ranked #2 in the world, and was ready to challenge Borg for the #1 ranking.

 

Bjorn Borg, moments after he won the final point of his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title in 1980.

   The London tabloid, The Sun, had described him as "the most ill-tempered, petulant loudmouth that the game of tennis had ever known." Perhaps The Sun had never heard of Ilie Nastase or Jimmy Connors, or perhaps they just wanted Borg to win. Either way, the man dubbed "superbrat" by the British press entered the stadium to boos and jeers.

   Mac stunned Borg in the opening set, 6-1, in just 20 minutes. But Borg bounced back 7-5 and 6-3 in the next two sets. The fourth set was tied 4-4 when Borg broke McEnroe, went up 5-4, and led 40-15. But McEnroe fought off two match points with a daring backhand winner and then an equally daring drop shot. The crowd that had began by booing him broke into tepid applause as he completed the service break with a victorious yell.

     The set went to a tie-breaker ... and what a tie-breaker. The score climbed to 6-6, then to 7-7, then 8-8 ... finally, almost 15 minutes into the increasingly spectacular bout, the score was an improbable 12-11. McEnroe fought off a fifth match point, and as the players changed ends for the fourth time, the normally reserved British crowd remained standing the whole time. McEnroe went up 13-12, securing his third set point of the tie-break, and then executed a perfect serve-and-volley ... but a controversial line call cost him the set. Still, McEnroe fought on, going up 14-13, 15-14 and 16-15; but each time Borg denied him the crucial point. Finally, McEnroe went up 17-16, and then converted his 7th set point on an error by Borg to win 18-16.

     Borg lost the set on a muffed a drop volley off a wicked forehand return of serve. It was almost the only bad shot in the 22-minute, 34-point tiebreaker.

     Incredibly, Borg regrouped to play almost flawlessly in the fifth set. It wasn't that McEnroe choked, or lost the momentum from the tie-breaker - Borg simply shrugged off the disheartening fourth-set loss and maintained his strong level of play, and outlasted the challenger. He was absolutely dominant on his serve - perhaps the single best set of tennis on serve ever recorded - and won 28 of the last 29 service points. But McEnroe was almost as stingy, refusing to fold under pressure. Finally, with the score in Borg's favor 7-6, the defending champ broke the challenger and won 8-6. The whole match took 3 hours and 53 minutes. McEnroe, who had entered the stadium to boos, a villain, departed to cheers.
   McEnroe would get his revenge in the US Open that year, with a five-set victory, and then defeated Borg twice in 1981 - at the Wimbledon and US Open finals to clearly establish himself as #1.  After the US Open finals in 1981, Borg walked straight off the court without giving an interview and never won a major pro tournament again.