Bjorn Borg's retirement

[Ronaldo]

Never realized Borg faced qualifying for every tourney in 1982 due to his lack of play the prior year. "Borg was an unusual champion in that he never followed the entire world-wide tour. He insisted on taking a four-month vacation, which embroiled him in a dispute with the men's tennis council in 1982. Borg was told he would have to enter the qualifying round for every major event that year because he refused to commit himself to playing the required number of tournaments. As a result, he took the year off and then announced his retirement in 1983, when he was only twenty-seven."

[Brian Purdie]

Back then it was the "Grand Prix" series, instead of the Masters Cup series today. He didn't want to sign because he knew he could have more fun outside the court. Many say Vitas G. introduced him to the lifestyle. His drug use brought out his psychiatric instabilty or simply fried his brain.

Mac's book touches a bit on the retirement, but a `91 Sports Ill. article along with a book from former business partner Lars Skarke gives a great understanding to Borg's mental illness. The most wretched parts are about Borg's "Cave" in Stockholm during the late 80's. I can't describe it in any way TW Boards would approve.

[Kevin Patrick]

I still can't believe what hard *****es the tennis bigwigs were in '82. Borg wanted to play Wimbledon in '82, but they said he had to qualify? Can you imagine any former champ(look at Navratilova this year) not getting a wildcard if they wanted it, let alone a 5 time champ that just took a few months off.
Many gloss over this fact & say Borg couldn't stand losing to McEnroe & retired. Sadly, tennis forced him out, who knows how the rest of '82 onward would have been like if they allowed him to play.