sandy mayer
Professional
There's no question Borg moved fantastically on a tennis court and was fitter than all his peers. But tennis is a unique athletic discipline. I doubt even Usain Bolt would move as well on a tennis court to balls as Nadal, Federer, Hewitt etc. But obviously the tennis pros on a 100m sprint would get killed.
People tend to talk about Borg as if he was a great track athlete before even getting on to the track. But here's some evidence which would say otherwise:
Here's a superstars link which gives Borg's times in the 100m and 600m steeplechase in 1976:http://www.thesuperstars.org/athletes/borg.html
Superstars was a multi event competition between sportsmen of different disciplines.
In the 100m Borg ran 12.3. He won his heat and it's possible he slowed down when he knew he'd won, but I'm really surprised at how ordinary a time it was. I suspect he could have got under 12 seconds but I would have thought with his reputation for speed he would have ran under 11. If you look around the superstars website you'll see there were plenty of people who ran much faster than 12.3 e.g. the English soccer player Malcolm Macdonald ran the 100m in 10.9.
In the 600m steeplechase Borg won his heat, but comparing his time to other sportsmen in other races it wasn't exceptional e.g. the English soccer player Kevin Keegan ran about 12 seconds faster. This is the race in which Borg beat an Olympic 110m hurdler. I'd always been told Borg won over 400m hurdles, and this has contributed to the mystique over Borg's athleticism. The difference between 600m steeplechase and 110m hurdles is even bigger than 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, so Borg beating the 110 m hurdler over his event is not that big a deal. In fact the 110m hurdle runner wasn't considered to have an advantage over other sportsmen in the 600m steeplechase which is why he was allowed to compete in this event. The way superstars worked, sportsmen were barred from the event they were considered to have an unfair advantage in. e.g. Borg was not allowed to compete in the tennis event against soccer players, runners, cyclists etc. The sportsman considered to have an unfair advantage in the 600m steeplechase and barred was in fact an 800m runner.
Has the mystique around Borg led to exaggeration? I'm talking here about athleticism not tennis achievements. No one can question Borg's tennis achievements, and position as one of the true greats of tennis history.
People tend to talk about Borg as if he was a great track athlete before even getting on to the track. But here's some evidence which would say otherwise:
Here's a superstars link which gives Borg's times in the 100m and 600m steeplechase in 1976:http://www.thesuperstars.org/athletes/borg.html
Superstars was a multi event competition between sportsmen of different disciplines.
In the 100m Borg ran 12.3. He won his heat and it's possible he slowed down when he knew he'd won, but I'm really surprised at how ordinary a time it was. I suspect he could have got under 12 seconds but I would have thought with his reputation for speed he would have ran under 11. If you look around the superstars website you'll see there were plenty of people who ran much faster than 12.3 e.g. the English soccer player Malcolm Macdonald ran the 100m in 10.9.
In the 600m steeplechase Borg won his heat, but comparing his time to other sportsmen in other races it wasn't exceptional e.g. the English soccer player Kevin Keegan ran about 12 seconds faster. This is the race in which Borg beat an Olympic 110m hurdler. I'd always been told Borg won over 400m hurdles, and this has contributed to the mystique over Borg's athleticism. The difference between 600m steeplechase and 110m hurdles is even bigger than 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, so Borg beating the 110 m hurdler over his event is not that big a deal. In fact the 110m hurdle runner wasn't considered to have an advantage over other sportsmen in the 600m steeplechase which is why he was allowed to compete in this event. The way superstars worked, sportsmen were barred from the event they were considered to have an unfair advantage in. e.g. Borg was not allowed to compete in the tennis event against soccer players, runners, cyclists etc. The sportsman considered to have an unfair advantage in the 600m steeplechase and barred was in fact an 800m runner.
Has the mystique around Borg led to exaggeration? I'm talking here about athleticism not tennis achievements. No one can question Borg's tennis achievements, and position as one of the true greats of tennis history.
