Borg Lendl Masters Tennis Final 1981

A match of long baseline rallies. Bjorn Borg beats Lendl in straight sets to win the Masters.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Tennis
• New
• York
• 1981
• Masters
• Ivan
• Lendl
• Bjorn
• Borg

[kable1808]

i like Bjorn's backhands

[BDBK15]

@paradorn7

I am sure your bachand will never be as good as Borgs.

[sarasmilepiano]

@jochentier Players are not being developed from an early age to play this style. Add to that it is harder to be successful at net nowadays with the racket technology advancements/

[sarasmilepiano]

@chapaev36 Don't forget the strings- they have come a long way, too.

[sarasmilepiano]

@sarasmilepiano the GOAT handle tends to lend itself to speculatory conjectures. I do believe, however, that players do improve over time through better training, fitness knowledge, so the greatest player of all time might yet to be determined...

[sarasmilepiano]

@fromanotherstar You would think so but many, including the overzealous media-hype-types, insist on placing the GOAT label on someone and it usually goes to the person with the most GS. Personally I think this is a grossly, oversimplified measure of determining the greatest player. A head-to-head record has much more merit (especially since singles involves mano-to-mano combat), but since this is impossible among players, unless they have an unusually long career

[fromanotherstar]

@sarasmilepiano oh i think that is obvious to everyone. I never believed in a GOAT anyway because the variables change. Impossible to compare eras. But I do know that Borg and Lendl would be in any debate, they were both amazing

[sarasmilepiano]

@fromanotherstar Roger's GOAT can be legitimately disputed because of this very fact: lack of serious competition. Where Lendl had to deal with greats from two generations, Federer really only had to contend with one, namely Rafa, and now Novak.

[sarasmilepiano]

@theatlantean1 No doubt. Ivan was actually in 8 finals in a row and is tied with Pete with 8 US Open finals. Technically very sound on the ground, Ivan is extremely under-rated. Amazingly consistent, perhaps his most impressive record is his 9 consecutive world-tour finals (Masters), where he won 5 of them.

[mikeblair333]

Borg was such a master of the game, but dear god was he boring to watch. You could leave the stadium to go get a drink, then come back and they would still be hitting the same rally

[chapaev36]

@ahmedjeh That's your point of view, but it's misinformed. Contemporary tennis is homogenous. Most players play essentially the same style. What you see in this video is one of many styles of tennis played in the 70s and 80s. You had the grinders like Borg. The early breed of the power baseliner of Lendl. The finesse serve and volleyer McEnroe. The power serve and volleyer Noah. The flat-hitting counterpuncher Connors. Today, almost everyone is like Lendl. The other styles are gone.