Of present-day tennis, value of psychologists, equation with son & more: A morning with Bjorn Borg
Express News Service
CHENNAI: The air in one of the conference rooms of a plush hotel in Chennai was filled with constant chatter. It was various kinds; undecipherable sounds, humdrum, laughter, conversations of one group overlapping with another. Suddenly, the noise stopped. The laughter had evaporated. Bjorn Borg had just walked in and it looked like the people inside the room stopped themselves in mid sentence to pay their respects to pure tennis royalty.The 11-time Major champion, who’s in the city as chief guest of the Chennai Open (his son, Leo, has received a wild card to feature in the event), was his usual charismatic self. Upon taking the stage with ‘my good friend Vijay Amritraj (he’s the president of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association who’s organising the Chennai Challenger)’, Borg relived the tennis they played when they were competing on Tour, his stint as captain of Team Europe in the Laver Cup, the dynamics with Leo, and the hope of a tennis renaissance in Sweden. Excerpts…
On your playing days and whether you would have had the same kind of success if you were a player today
It was a great time. Different players, different personalities. People from all over the world could relate to different players. There were a lot of good players. These days, the competition is tough, there are more players. More countries are playing today than in the past. If I had to do everything all over again, I would definitely do it. But, you have to adapt to the tennis that is being played these days; it is different to what we played. I mean, the guys hit the ball harder. But still, the way we played, the way we supported tennis, the way we wanted to win. I think that we would adapt to the tennis that is being played now. No problems.
On the importance of a sports psychologist in a sport like tennis (Borg retired at 26)
I retired early from tennis, when I was 26 years old. At that time, when I was travelling… at the airports, restaurants, hotels, I would never be by myself. If I stayed at a hotel, there would be hundreds of people in the lobby. I could not do anything. I felt that I was stuck in a way that I really did not have a life besides tennis. I mean, I love tennis. I could not have a private life; that is why I stepped away from tennis. Today, tennis has more security in that kind of way. We did not have that. People were after us all the time. Today, the players are more protected. That is important for the sport. Psychologically, it is mentally difficult to play tennis. You are by yourself on court and you have to make decisions. Even when you have a team travelling with you, it is you who have to hit the ball. That is very difficult. For that, you have to learn. It (having a chat with a psychologist) is important, but he is not going to tell you what you got to do at 30 all, 30-40 break point. That is your own decision.
On mentoring his son
I am very happy to see him play, but not all the time. He has his team, he is doing things with his coach. I think that he does not want to see us all the time (laughs). I love to see him. I mean, it is worse to watch your son or daughter from the stands, because you get even more nervous. It is better when you play yourself, you have no control when sitting in the stands. He is very motivated. He is working really hard on and off the court. We have a really good relationship. He knows what to do and what not to do. There is a long way to go.
On captaining Team Europe
Very proud. It is going to be my last year [as captain]. It has been six great years. For me, to be with today’s players… because I have to keep a good relationship with all these European players. To be around them, it has been a great experience. What they like, what they dislike regarding tennis. Tell stories… it has been very memorable and fun. These guys are very interesting… they are the greatest players of this time (this era)… we played at our time. To be with the players, it has been fantastic. To spend around a week with them every year, it is unbelievable and fantastic. I wished we had the same (a similar tournament). It would have been fantastic, but we did not have that possibility. I am a little bit sad about that. In our time, it would have been a huge thing for us. People would have loved to see us. I hope that the Laver Cup continues for many more years. I am sure it will. The players are very positive too to compete and play.
On tennis in Sweden
Vijay and I talk about a lot of things. For us, the most important thing is to promote tennis. We have tennis in our blood. We want our countries to be successful. That is our ambition. It is difficult, there is a long way. There are a lot of hurdles to go through. The work Vijay has been doing in India has been fantastic. I am trying to push tennis in Sweden; we are a small country. If you look at the [number of] players we had many years ago, it was unbelievable. Today, we have one player in the top-100 [in singles]. India does not have any. We have to look at the juniors. It costs money to sponsor trips, go around the world and play. They have to do that. That is very important. Tennis is a very expensive sport, let us face it. It costs a lot of money to travel and play tournaments. We are on the right track. I am sure that Vijay is pushing at the same time too. In the future, hopefully, both countries succeed. We live for tennis, it has been part of our lives. Till we die, it is going to be an important issue for both of us.
Photo credit: Ashwin Prasath
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