Björn Borg vs Jimmy Connors Masters SF 1981 (2 of 2)

Björn Borg enters his, arguably, 6th straight year as World No. 1 at the still unmatched and record-low age of 24 years when he -- in January 1981 -- for the second successive year dominates and destroys prime Connors and McEnroe (i. e. arguably some of the finest indoor carpet players in history) in the same tournament: The year-end championships at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA -- called G P Masters at the time. Here in the SF Borg draws and quarters a peak-playing Jimbo to the tune of 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. Please excuse the terrible image-quality -- you can buy this match on the net in finer quality -- at least here you get a taste of their sublime greatness. Borg is truly stunning when he as clay-court GOAT dominates the finest fast-courters of his age in their home-country and on their favorite surface. Please note the 36-stroke rally at the end of the match, which ends with Borg hammering a FH-passingshot past a helplessly flailing Connors that almost lands smack on the baseline to boot. It is kind of a mirror to the match-point at the end of the Masters-final 1988 between Becker and Lendl that was a 37-stroke rally ending on a net-jumping let-ball. The most impressive aspect of this that the Borg-Jimbo-rally here takes only 49-seconds to complete which a lot faster than the Becker-Lendl-rally took to finish. Who would believe that Borg with a wooden teaspoon in his hand and Jimbo with his old, tiny metal-racquet would hit with more power and pace than Becker and Lendl did years later with graphite-weapons in their hands?! Also peak Borg and Jimbo moves faster around the court than Ivan and Boris ever did...

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Bjorn Borg
• Jimmy Connors
• Tennis
• Madison Square Garden

[BORGCONNORS]

Great match!



[casheasy]

Great match. Thanks for putting this on here!

[bjornsiborgsi]

bjorn borg was a winning machine at this time. he went on to beat a young lendl in the finals. no one could touch him. he could run down ball forever. i never saw him sweat. his heart rate was 36 beats/minute.

[timthemartin]

Are you going to upload 1 of 2 ? Thanks for 2 of 2 by the way - amazed at the intensity.

[ZebZachary]

i really wish Bjorn would have just sat out from tennis for 6 months....maybe even a year, perhaps even a little longer, and then came back. i suppose it just wasn't in his heart anymore. perhaps he became a pro too early, and just got burned out.

what a phenomenal tennis talent.