Would Borg have been motivated to play on if he had Fedal to catch up to?

[EloQuent]

Borg retired at 26, and won his 11th and final slam at only 25. At the time there was no real slam race, Borg was the first in the open era to win double digits, and had no way of knowing that he'd be surpassed by Sampras, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.

I see a lot of people saying that competition spurs players on and gives them reason to play on, records to beat and maintain. So the question is, if Borg had competitors with double digit slams would he have been motivated to win more?

As far as I can tell he's the only test case of this thesis, since most other ATG played until they'd physically declined.

Discuss.

 

[Thomas195]

Well, drug issue is still there

 

[hoodjem]

Borg retired at 26, and won his 11th and final slam at only 25. At the time there was no real slam race, Borg was the first in the open era to win double digits, and had no way of knowing that he'd be surpassed by Sampras, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.

I see a lot of people saying that competition spurs players on and gives them reason to play on, records to beat and maintain. So the question is, if Borg had competitors with double digit slams would he have been motivated to win more?

As far as I can tell he's the only test case of this thesis, since most other ATG played until they'd physically declined.

Discuss.

I don’t see it happening.

Borg retired for his own rather personal reasons, plus being asked to play qualifying tournaments.

He didn’t care that he had 11 slams and was tied with Laver, but one behind Emerson. That did not motivate him.

As you say, there was no real slam race back then. (The current emphasis on total slam count really starts with Sampras reaching and exceeding Emerson.)

Because Borg did not keep playing to catch Emerson at 12, I cannot see his continuing to play to catch anyone at 14, 17, or 20.

(I have seen discussion that if—big if—Borg had won the USO, then he would have had three legs of the Grand Slam, and thus would have gone to Australia. But that is a different matter. People have known and thought about the Grand Slam since Jack Crawford in 1933, not total slam counts.)

 

[Gary Duane]

Borg retired at 26, and won his 11th and final slam at only 25. At the time there was no real slam race, Borg was the first in the open era to win double digits, and had no way of knowing that he'd be surpassed by Sampras, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.

I see a lot of people saying that competition spurs players on and gives them reason to play on, records to beat and maintain. So the question is, if Borg had competitors with double digit slams would he have been motivated to win more?

As far as I can tell he's the only test case of this thesis, since most other ATG played until they'd physically declined.

Discuss.

Your looking in the wrong direction.

Young players in that era were under intense pressure and had no social life. Borg was essentially burnt out because he had no life to live outside of tennis. If you want to go back in time and change history, give him a team like players have today!!!

 

[jga111]

Borg no.

Sampras? Oh yes.

 

[DMP]

Your looking in the wrong direction.

Young players in that era were under intense pressure and had no social life. Borg was essentially burnt out because he had no life to live outside of tennis. If you want to go back in time and change history, give him a team like players have today!!!

This.

You cannot consider the slam total in isolation. It was a completely different environment, and incredibly volatile, with power struggles among the tennis hierarchy, money tournaments springing up, and dying.

Borg and all the other players were trying to navigate, with tiny teams of support, through this and basically work out what they thought was important. Utterly different from the placid (boring?) world we find tennis in now.

So it is easy for players from 1990 onwards to set the slam total as a target, especially since money (both prize and sponsorship) nowadays correlates with slam victories.

Back then it was not so clear, or even true. I would say the strongest motivation then was to make as much as money as possible, because no-one knew if it would last. So Borg left when basically he had made enough money to be able to choose to try to play on his own terms.

When the authorities refused to play ball he gave them two fingers and left.

 

[muddlehead]

We have so many good, historical threads on this site detailing why Borg (and others of his era) with 11 majors, tied w/Laver, and one behind Emmo's 12 when he hung 'em up could not have cared less about Slam count. It's a part of tennis history all fans should know. Now, obviously and justifiably, only thing that matters is Slam count. Quite a change over 40 years.

 

[hoodjem]

So it is easy for players from 1990 onwards to set the slam total as a target, especially since money (both prize and sponsorship) nowadays correlates with slam victories.

Back then it was not so clear, or even true. I would say the strongest motivation then was to make as much as money as possible, because no-one knew if it would last. So Borg left when basically he had made enough money to be able to choose to try to play on his own terms.

Good point.

How many were quite willing to skip the AO when there was more money to be had elsewhere?

 

[boredone3456]

If players of Borgs generation cared about the major count only they wouldn't have made choices to skip the AO or the French for a while in the 70's. I don't think Borg gave a toss about how many majors he won. If he did he probably would have played on until he reached 13, which was within his tennis ability to do. He retired when he did because he was totally burnt out. If he had the resources and a team like Federer has today maybe he woulnd't have blown his personal tennis fuses as early as he did and indeed played on. But at the end of the day he was done and walked away.

 

[kevaninho]

Absolutely true. He was probably bored of winning RG and W each year, and nothing else really to chase.
Don't think he really cared about racking up numbers.
Sure would've been interesting if he had.