By Veronica An
Swedish tennis start Bjorn Borg shocked fans when he announced that he would not compete in the 1983 Grand Slam. Twenty-six-year-old Borg said he was not motivated to regain his no. 1 ranking. This move marked the end of his career. Borg was considered the No. 1 player in the world for four consecutive years, starting in 1977. Beginning in 1974, Borg won 11 Grand Slam singles titles (six at the French Open and five consecutive at Wimbledon) and was the first man in the Open Era of tennis to hold this record. He was known as a powerful player who stayed at baseline and combined powerful groundstrokes with strong backhands. Borg was rumored to have a rating heart rate of 35 but that was later debunked. Still, he was known for being calm under pressure and for his intense physical conditioning. Despite his 11 Grand Slam titles, Borg never won the US Open. In 2017, Borg returned to tennis as at the captain of Team Europe which won the the Laver Cup in Prague, Czech Republic. He also coached Team Europe to victory in the 2008 Laver Cup which was held in Chicago, Illinois. Borg retired from tennis with a 89.81 win-loss percentage and was one of the first players to win more than one million dollars in price money in a single year (1979).