Wimbledon Re-Lived 1980: Borg vs. McEnroe

The Tennis Podcast

David Law

Sports & Recreation, Wimbledon, Sports, Tennis

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 1980 Wimbledon men’s final between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe is one of the most famous tennis matches of all time, and it lived up to expectations as we re-watched it ahead of our second Wimbledon Re-Lived show.

How was McEnroe viewed by British tennis fans at the time? How did his behaviour change when he played Borg? And in what way does this match carry a cultural influence which transcends tennis?

The apex of the match was the epic fourth set tiebreak, won by McEnroe 18-16 as the level of tennis reached dizzying heights and the momentum swung back-and-forth. What was it like to play? Did McEnroe feel afterwards like he would go on to win the match? And how on earth did Borg recover for the deciding set? We hear from both men.

Finally, Mary Carillo explains why it’s the best match she’s ever watched, reveals the extraordinary scene she witnessed as she flew home on the same plane as the McEnroe family, and sets up a discussion about the reasons why the Borg-McEnroe rivalry continues to shine such a bright light across the sport, despite its brevity.

The Tennis Podcast is presented by Catherine Whitaker and David Law, and features Matt Roberts. It is produced weekly year-round, and daily during the Grand Slam tournaments. It is crowdfunded by listeners each December.

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We will be doing daily shows throughout the original Wimbledon dates, looking back on some of the tournament’s best matches and most important stories. Bjorn Borg vs. John McEnroe can be watched in full here, while tomorrow’s match, the 1985 men’s final between Boris Becker and Kevin Curren, is available on YouTube.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, I'm John McEnore, I'm Bjorn Borg. And you're listening to the tennis podcast.
0:15.0	Hello folks and welcome once again to Wembleden Relived, day two, another trip down memory lane.
0:22.0	We've got 12 more of them to come. I'm very pleased to say that we have no disastrous,
0:28.0	disappointing, depressing current tennis news to bring you the start of today's podcast.
0:34.0	So we can crack right on with our journey to the glorious past, David.
0:39.0	Yeah, we can. I mean, just a mildly entertaining argument between generations with Boris Becker and Nick Kiros,
0:46.0	but we'll leave you to go and look that up. This is all about two of the greatest players we've ever had.
0:54.0	And one of the greatest rivalries certainly we've ever had. And frankly, the last couple of hours that we've just spent
1:02.0	rewatching the end of the four set, the tie break, and then the fifth set was just a joy, wasn't it?
1:09.0	Yeah, if you haven't gathered from David's clues there, we're going to be reliving the very, very famous Bjorn Borg,
1:17.0	John McEnroe, Wembleden Men's Final of 1980, of course, the probably the most famous tie break of all time.
1:26.0	And one of the most famous matches overall, and probably the highlight of one of the sports greatest ever rivalries.
1:34.0	You've managed to bring down the tone of all that though by mentioning Boris Becker and Nick Kiros' Twitter spat,
1:40.0	which I was deliberately trying to swerve, Matt.
1:43.0	Yes, our friend, Wully, said it's like a really shit band giving a really long encore at the moment with all the fallout from the Adria Tour.
1:53.0	It's just like when is this going to end, one after the other?
1:57.0	And a high-end fashion retail outlet for Fetch. Fetch had been dragged into the fray unexpectedly, which is, I mean, even in a year of unexpected events,
2:10.0	I think that really does take the biscuit.
2:15.0	Yes.
2:16.0	So that is current tennis players covering themselves in whatever the opposite of glory is.
2:22.0	Speaking of Wully, by the way, she is the lady responsible for our or my, my, I should say now, previously David's,
2:36.0	a fact about the past, what happened when everybody ready for the best part of the show?
	...

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