World Tennis Doesn't Want Federer Go the Borg Way

The emotional breakdown of Roger Federer at this year’s Australian Open reminded many of a dejected Bjorn Borg leaving Flushing Meadows even before prize distribution ceremony after losing the 1981 US Open final to his arch rival, John McEnroe. Borg never appeared in a Grand Slam tournament after that. Watching a psychologically drained Federer in tears the other day, one wonders if the world will ever see the Federer in full flow on a Tennis court.

I find many interesting parallels between these two all time greats of World Tennis. Borg the Swede and Roger the Swiss. Both right handed although Borg made the double handed backhand famous. Borg was at the height of his powers before he won the grueling five setter against the maverick Mac at Wimbledon in 1980. Federer on the other hand was on the back of unprecedented 237 weeks as the no.1 player in the world notwithstanding successive failures at French Open in 2008. But both had their self belief shaken in the respective year’s Wimbledon finals. Incidentally both were rocked by Left Handers (John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal).

But there’s another interesting comparison. Borg, a hard core base liner, surprised many pundits as he won five successive Wimbledon Titles following on his French Open victories. McEnroe, a natural Serve and Volley player, ended his regime. Federer, on the other hand is the best Grass Court player the world has ever seen. Yet he was outclassed and outlasted by Nadal, a Clay court specialist, who has adapted extremely well to other surfaces.
After the epic match at Wimbledon 1980, Borg had suffered three successive grand slam final losses (US open 1980, Wimbledon 1981 and US open 1981) at the hands of McEnroe, five years junior to him. With his confidence severely dented, Borg retired at the age of 26, and the world was shocked. His life after retirement was full of unfortunate incidences including divorce and financial loss. Borg did try to stage a comeback but could not withstand the new age Tennis. His nemesis, McEnroe still haunts him as he recently lost an exhibition match too.

Federer too has now lost three consecutive Grand slam finals to Rafael Nadal (French Open and Wimbledon 2008 and Aus Open few days ago). He too has shown signs of psychological disintegration. He now seems to be living in denial. Not only Nadal, the likes of Andy Murray and Djokovic are also fancying their chances against him. As I had said earlier, Federer needs to accept the fact that the others have caught up to him. If he does not realize this fact quickly, he risks Borg like fate. Many ardent Federer fans like me certainly want him to be on the court fighting his way back to glory rather than resigning in disgust.