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FollowLike Father, Like Son?
Bjorn Borg was easily one of the greatest players to ever wield a racket. In an era where many pundits often only gaze at statistics and formulate their opinion without doing a deeper dive or their due diligence, he is sometimes overlooked in the grand scheme. In the case of Borg, at first glance, he is an 11-time major champion (6 Roland Garros, 5 Wimbledon) and 4-time US Open finalist. When comparing his resume to other all-time greats on these merits, he falls short to some. But that in no way takes away from his greatness.
It is well documented that Borg accomplished all his accolades and formally retired in his prime at the age of 26, in 1983. However, he only played one tournament in 1982, so, in essence, saw no action after his 25th birthday.
Despite a comeback nearly a decade later, well into his 30’s, what Borg accomplished between the ages of 15 and 25, was quite staggering. Let’s put that into perspective – Borg officially retired at the same current age as Alexander Zverev, younger than players such as Daniil Medvedev, Cam Norrie, Karen Khachanov, and just a handful of months older than Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, and Frances Tiafoe.
A question for the ages has always been, how many titles would he have racked up had he stayed in the game through his prime and beyond? We will never know. But given that the Swede won 3 slam titles and reached the finals of 2 others in 1980-81, it stands to reason he very well may have added to his cache of titles.
Given the greatness of Bjorn Borg, when the name of Leo Borg came onto the radar not too long ago, antennas went up. The younger Borg had a stellar junior career and made his ATP debut in 2021. But since turning pro has mainly made his way around the ITF.
Tuesday, Leo Borg won his first-ever ATP tour match in his home country of Sweden at the age of 20. And though he lost in the next round to Federico Coria, his live ranking is world number 389, a far distance from where his father was a fixture at world no. 1 for 109 weeks in his career. But he is following in his father’s footsteps, and that is admirable, especially given the greatness of his dad.
Where the career of Leo Borg will take him is unknown, but in the last year, his ranking has moved from world number 787, up nearly 400 positions. That has my attention.