Borg Shows Why He Was The Champ

Tennis legend Bjorn Borg was in an unforgiving mood when I caught up with him yesterday, six years after we played each other in a one set tennis match at the Queens Club in London. I had taken practice with American Pete Fleming who advised me to go for winners. "Just getting it over the net will not be enough," said John McEnroe's successful doubles partner. "Go for the winners. You'll lose more points than you'll win, but just how good will it be to say you passed Bjorn Borg?" This is precisely what I did, managing three straight, successive forehand winners past the diving Swede, who was one game to love up. At 40-love the five times Wimbledon champion lobbed me and, although I thought the ball was out, I made the grave mistake of being too honest by admitting to my illustrious opponent that I could not be positive. I was hoping the Ice King would be beneficial, but even against a lump like me he was not prepared to give a point. "We'll have to take it again," he said, as he walked back to the base line to receive my serve. Needless to say, he went on to win the next four points and, indeed, the next four games as well to blow me away 6-0.  I have spent many a while chastising myself for not just insisting that the ball was out, which would have meant that I had taken a game of one of the greatest tennis players ever to have graced the game. "It's too late now," said a smiling Bjorn, when I told him this at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where he was launching the HSBC Champions of Wimbledon which asks the public for their vote on who were the greatest All England Club champions.  "The record books just say I won 6-0." Of course, he is right, and just maybe I can feel a one hundredth of one percent of what it was like for Messrs Connors, McEnroe, Vilas, Tanner, and every other unfortunate to face the Swede in his pomp.