Why is Borg's serve so underrated?

[sandy mayer]

People don't give this shot the credit it deserves. People talk as if he didn't have a weapon and that he only won Wimbledon because he had weak opposition (utter nonsense) and that a player with his game should never win Wimbledon. But Borg had a truly magnificent serve, and it's no wonder he was so good on grass with a serve like that.

In his era I think only Tanner and Mac had better serves, and not by a big margin. If Borg hadn't improved his serve in 76 I think he would have finished with 0 Wimbledons.

[Moose Malloy]

I don't think his serve is underrated at all, most tennis writers/former players regard it pretty highly.

if by 'people' you mean the average poster here, most of whom weren't alive when Borg played, I suppose you may be right about it being underrated.

I think Borg lost one point on serve in the 5th set of his 1980 Wimbledon final vs McEnroe. There haven't been many better serving displays in the history of the sport, under that kind of pressure.

[krosero]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

I don't think his serve is underrated at all, most tennis writers/former players regard it pretty highly.

if by 'people' you mean the average poster here, most of whom weren't alive when Borg played, I suppose you may be right about it being underrated.

I think Borg lost one point on serve in the 5th set of his 1980 Wimbledon final vs McEnroe. There haven't been many better serving displays in the history of the sport, under that kind of pressure.

I once read the New York Times article reporting on his quarterfinal win over Tanner in the 1980 U.S. Open. Apparently he had the same streak there as he did at Wimbledon, 19 straight points won on serve in the fifth set. The only difference was that Tanner lost the next point and the match was over, I think by the score of 6-3. At Wimbledon, which went to 8-6, Borg ran off 19 straight points (after losing two in his first service game of the set) and then ran off about a dozen more, not losing another point on serve.

[The Gorilla]

mac didn't have a better serve, he just used to cheat, like nadal by taking a ridiculous length of time to serve.