John McEnroe wished his rivalry with Sweden’s Bjorn Borg could have been extended during their competitive careers.
The former world No.1 faced off against Borg 14 times between 1978-1981 with their head-to-head level at 7-7. Together they contested in four grand slam finals with McEnroe triumphing in three of those. At the age of 26 Bjog stunned the world in 1983 when he announced his retirement from the sport. The Swede did stage a few comeback attempts, but all of those proved unsuccessful.
“I always wished we had played more. I know he made me a better player and I hope I made him better at some stage.” McEnroe said about Bjorg.
“It would have been fantastic. I tried to talk him out of stopping many, many moons ago. Even if I had lost my No. 1 ranking, I would have preferred he kept playing.”
Unlike his former rival, McEnroe kept regularly playing on the tour until the age of 33. He played his last match at the 1994 Rotterdam Open. During his career, he won 77 ATP titles of which seven occurred in a grand slam event.
“There was a saying by an old basketball player which used to be true, I guess it’s not with Roger, he said, ‘The older I get, the better I used to be.’ That was definitely holding true for me.” He reflected about the end of his career.
“I was going down the wrong way. If I thought that I could have won — I kept going and hoping and praying I could win another major and it didn’t happen. So that’s the way it went.”
McEnroe and Borg remain influential figures in the world of tennis, but in a different format. McEnroe works as a sports commentator and briefly mentored Milos Raonic in 2016. Borg never went into coaching, but managed to establish a highly successful clothing brand in 1984.
This weekend the two are the Laver Cup captains, with McEnroe leading team world and Bjorg in charge of team Europe. The first day saw Europe take a 3-1 lead at the packed O2 Arena in Prague.
“I think the event is first class. I think anyone that’s been here sees that. It’s great when there is so much energy, guys rooting for each other.” McEnroe explained.
“I think it has the potential and probably — I’m hopeful, just as a tennis fan and an ex-tennis player and now alleged coach, that it’s going to be a great event in the future.”
The second day of the Laver Cup will see Federer and Rafael Nadal team up in the doubles match.
