Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors were names we knew from the countless tournaments they played and won. For instance, when McEnroe defeated Borg in a five-setter, I didn’t know that it was the first time Borg had lost a five-setter in 14 times. Time and again, he found the resolve to come back from a deficit and plot a Houdini-like escape.
So, when he lost
that game, something broke within him as well. I have not seen an author, apart
from Gideon Haigh, write about his subjects without talking to them. He relied
on books on them for his research. He acknowledges the help he got from these
books and lists all of them out.
When he talks of
Bjorn Borg as a Viking god, you might think that this is another one of those
books that speaks highly of its subjects. As you keep reading, you also find
out that he explores the vulnerabilities of these players without being rude or
actually prying on them.
He talks in
detail about Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Illie Nastase, Vitas
Gerulaitis and Ivan Lendl. He talks about their penchant for a life after
tennis. Studio 54 figures prominently in those passages. He writes about a few
friendships amongst themselves that went sour as one upstaged the other. For
instance, he talks of the reverence that McEnroe held for Borg and how the
letter’s retirement caused him to go on a form slump.
In an era that
was adjusting to the switch from amateur to professional, it was Illie Nastase
that was the first poster boy. Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg took it to the
extremes that we know today by letting themselves understand what a
professional era entails. He talks of an instance of Borg milking the
endorsement deal by wearing a headband that had tuBORG ( a Swedish brand of
beer) on it. While they played the tournaments, they also went around
continents playing exhibition matches, where there was nothing at stake. It
only helped them make a lot of money.
One of the best
things about the book is that it explores the amateur era and how the game
fought with the establishment to make itself a game to be pursued by common
people as well. How Tignor intersperses it with the players and their conflicts
is also good. Mentions of Hopman and how he coached the upcoming players of
that time in USA was a good read. How USA wanted to do an Australia in Tennis
was a fascinating read.
It was not just
a coaching model that they went about changing. They changed the arena, timings
and everything that people might want to make it a viewer friendly sport.
He starts with
Wimbledon and ends with US Open. It’s a generation he wrote about. I hope he
plans to continue with the next couple of generations at least
Comments
Post a Comment