Why Borg played less in 1981

[Phenomenal]

What happened to Borg in 1981? Was he injured, lost motivation or burned out already? or all of that. I read that he lost motivation. Was he only playing slams?
in 1979 he has 90 official matches. 76 in 1980 only 41 in 1981.

How much it affected him playing less, in slams to you? He got pushed to 5 from young Lendl at RG lost finals etc. His desire gone? Was he already deciding quiting? or only playing slams.

Years later talking about his loss in 1981:
"And when I lost what shocked me was I wasn't even upset. That was not me: losing a Wimbledon final and not upset. I hate to lose.

I saw this interview thanks to the @Chanwan and his thread. https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/nice-old-borg-interview.602995/
While many posters says it, it's interesting that once Borg only kept his FO, Wimbledon and Davis cup trophies. It really shows that how big Davis cup was.

 

[PDJ]

I have a vague memory of reading that Borg refused to play the minimum schedule.

 

[nolefam_2024]

I have a vague memory of reading that Borg refused to play the minimum schedule.

And then the slams didn't allow him to play. They said to play qualifiers and he refused. I read the same. If the ranking drops due to injuries then there is pr nowadays. Not sure if loss of desire counts as such..

1982/83/84 have been some historical tennis years with McEnroe wilander Lendl and Connors leaving the footprint on tennis landscape. In the end it all worked out.

 

[buscemi]

He had a shoulder strain that he suffered in April. According to this piece, "Borg said he was slowing down, playing less to rest his injured wing."

 

[Mustard]

A combination of burnout, a shoulder injury and arguing with the tennis authorities about how many tournaments he should be playing.

 

[WCT]

I have a vague memory of reading that Borg refused to play the minimum schedule.

that was 1982.

 

[Galvermegs]

A combination of burnout, a shoulder injury and arguing with the tennis authorities about how many tournaments he should be playing.

The tennis authorities made a big mistake... and allowed connors a renaissance it could be argued

 

[Scott_tennis]

He also participated in quite a few exhibitions and special events in 1981, not included in your figure of 41 (from ATP?).

If you include exhibitions and special events, he appeared in 64 matches in 1981, at 20 events:

Masters - 5 matches
Bologna - 2
Toronto - 4
Sydney - 2
Melbourne - 1
Perth - 1
Djakarta - 1
Kuala Lumpur - 1
Hong Kong - 1
Brussels - 2
Milan - 5
Monte Carlo - 1
French - 7
Wimbledon - 7
Stuttgart - 5
US Open - 7
Geneva - 5
Edmonton - 3
Naples - 2
Tokyo - 2

 

[big ted]

Years later talking about his loss in 1981:
"And when I lost what shocked me was I wasn't even upset. That was not me: losing a Wimbledon final and not upset. I hate to lose.

he retired at the right time and if he did continue he wasnt going to win much more.

 

[paolo2143]

he retired at the right time and if he did continue he wasnt going to win much more.

If he had retained his motivation he would have won plenty more titles between 82 and 84.

However , as he had lost his desire to play he probably did right thing

 

[grandefrankie]

Poor Bjorn. Such a sweet and handsome and kind man, and an incredibly talented player. His career was ended early by the ATP rigid rules and not giving him some special compensation to deal with temporary burnout. The tour and ATP should be ashamed.

 

[Angrybirdstar]

Poor Bjorn. Such a sweet and handsome and kind man, and an incredibly talented player. His career was ended early by the ATP rigid rules and not giving him some special compensation to deal with temporary burnout. The tour and ATP should be ashamed.

one thing i've wondered about recently is if Borg and Nadal would have mimicked their counterparts' careers if they were swapped in time because of the differing tour structures, in addition to all the skillset similarities. as in, Borg burnt out younger with how hard he chased the bag in exhos and such and then didn't have the freedom to cut back in the way he wanted, so while he didn't hit the rock bottom of 2015/2016 Nadal, he also didn't get to experience something like Nadal's subsequent revival; meanwhile Nadal would have scheduled similarly to Borg and paid the price in a shorter career

 

[grandefrankie]

one thing i've wondered about recently is if Borg and Nadal would have mimicked their counterparts' careers if they were swapped in time because of the differing tour structures, in addition to all the skillset similarities. as in, Borg burnt out younger with how hard he chased the bag in exhos and such, so while he didn't hit the rock bottom of 2015/2016 Nadal, he also didn't get to experience something like Nadal's subsequent revival; meanwhile Nadal would have scheduled similarly to Borg and paid the price in a shorter career

yes and knowing Nadal's personality he 100% stupidly enters and partakes in all those exos and side tours that were available back then. He is very selfless, loves that sort of thing, and loves promoting the game tirelessly, largely through extra physical exertion. Similar to Borg. So I agree with your hypothetical taking place. Although Nadal never dominates Wimbledon the way Borg did on that old grass.