Tennis World english 38 Tennis World English 38 | Page 26

The Story
Borg – McEnroe, 1980

Awakening
by Remo Borgatti
The
first
image
I
saw
made
me
realise
that
I
was
dreaming.
It
was
totally
incomprehensible
how
I
could
fall
asleep
in
the
middle
of
the
most
important
match
I
ever
saw,
but
it
was
so.
To
make
things
worse,
there
was
no
way
to
wake
up.
Life
is
quite
strange
at
times.
Indeed,
often.
Imprisoned
as
I
was
in
that
weird
dream,
all
I
could
do
was
give
up
and
wait
patiently
to
get
back
to
reality.
Dreams,
you'll
know
as
well
as
I,
are
often
a
confusing
and
disordered
jumble
of
images
that
follow
one
another
without
any
apparent
logic.
Yet,
what
I
was
seeing
was
too
much
even
for
a
dream!
Bjorn
Borg
was
arguing
with
the
chair
umpire.
Crazy!
As
I
said,
I
had
fallen
asleep
suddenly
after
the
thirty-fourth
and
last
point
of
that
endless
tiebreak.
It
was
just
too
exciting.
Borg
had
seven
chances
to
win
the
tournament
for
the
fifth
consecutive
time,
but
McEnroe
saved
them
all.
Some
of
the
match
points
were
simply
incredible.
The
first,
for
example,
was
saved
with
a
crazy
backhand
passing
shot.
The
Swede,
who
was
so
good
at
anticipating
every
ball
at
the
net,
had
no
idea
where
the
shot
was
going.

In
essence,
the
world
was
turned
upside
down.
On
this
occasion,
defense
carried
the
day.
But
just
a
point
later,
the
American
hit
a
winning
volley
from
the
sevice
line.
Incredible!
Even
more
exciting
was
that
it
had
happened

before,
at
5-4
and
40-15
for
Borg.
Then
came
the
decisive
game,
which
pushed
the
set
to
a
tie-break.
At
5-6
in
the
tie-break,
Borg
moved
to
his
right
on
McEnroe’s
serve,
and
hit
a
great
return.
It
looked
like
the
ball
would
be
unreturnable,
but
Johnny
Mac’s
Wilson
somehow
managed
to
put
it
back
into
play
for
the
winner.

Ahead
7-6,
Borg
rushed
the
net
on
a
good
approach,
only
to
be
turned
back
by
the
lefthanded
magic
of
his
opponent.
At
that
moment,
I
thought
that
Borg’s
spirit
was
broken,
and
that
the
American
would
end
it.

But
I
was
wrong.
The
tie-break’s
drama
was
only
beginning
to
unfold.
Bjorn
earned
his
fifth
Championship
Point
at
10-9,
but
hit
a
wayward
forehand.
His
sixth
oppotunity,
at
11
-10,
also
failed
to
end
the
match.
Borg
attacked
the
net,
but
McEnroe
drove
him
back
to
the
baseline.
In
doing
so,
the
Swede
left
the
entire
court
open
for
Johnny
Mac.
He
let
rip
with
a
backhand,
which
kissed
the
net
and
fell
limply
to
the
other
side.

Unfazed,
Borg
earned
a
seventh
chance
to
make
history,
only
to
have
his
dreams
dashed