The first grass-court clash between these archrivals—operating artfully at opposite extremes of the emotional and style spectrum—earns a lasting place as one of the most dramatic major finals of the Open era.
Borg and McEnroe only met 14 times, but the magic they made propelled tennis into pop-culture prominence, much like the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier trilogy revitalized boxing. Their rivalry transcended tennis, and the climax of this final took the sport to transcendent heights.
“Borg-McEnroe is one of the all-time rivalries,” Wimbledon winner Pat Cash said. “It was like the heavenly angel vs. the anti-Christ.”
The hell-raiser from Queens, who was booed by some as he stepped on Centre Court, was on his best behavior against the ethereal champion nicknamed the “Angelic Assasin.”
“I never acted like a jerk when I played Borg,” McEnroe said. “I respected him too much; I respected the occasion.”
McEnroe breezed through the opening set as Borg struggled to tame his volley. On the verge of a two-set lead, the 21-year-old American looked across the net and saw a vulnerable four-time champion.
“I was amazed at how easily I was winning,” McEnroe has since said. “To tell the truth, I think I actually let up a little bit—which was my first mistake. I won the first set and I was very close to taking a two-sets to love lead, at which point I could have just kicked his behind—which is what I expected I was going to do. But my plan went off the rails.”
Borg never blinked. Dipping topspin passes that danced at McEnroe’s shoelaces, Borg broke to seize the second set and surged to a 3-0 lead in the third. He served for the title at 5-4 in the fourth set, only to see McEnroe fight off two championship points and break back for 5-5. The tension escalated into a titanic tiebreaker—ending 18-16 to McEnroe—which you can watch on the video above.
Borg summed up the emotional extremes he endured—the agony of failing to convert five more match points in classic tiebreaker, and the ecstasy of winning the fifth set, 8-6, to claim his fifth Wimbledon crown—simply: “To lose the fourth set, that was my worst moment, and one set later was my best moment as a tennis player.”
This match did not change the way tennis was played, but it did change the way the game was perceived. In America, it spiked the buzz of domestic stars Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King, and Chris Evert, helping smash the stereotype of tennis as strictly a country club pursuit.
The truth is, no serve-and-volleyer—before or since—played quite like McEnroe, the ultimate touch artist (a nick here, a slice there, and next thing you know you’ve bled to death, was Arthur Ashe’s summary of Mac’s slick stick work). McEnroe had the hands of a man who could spoon an egg over net and onto grass without cracking its shell. The left-hander created angles so acute that only the ball kid kneeling next to net was in any position to reach them.
Borg and McEnroe were two of the best pure athletes of their era and two of the most distinctive stylists of the time. While their rivalry was not the grudge match of Connors vs. McEnroe—asked in 1979 if Mac was good enough to someday reach No. 1, Jimmy snarled: “Not as long as I'm playing. Maybe he will be when I retire"—Borg vs. McEnroe was a grace match.
No. 5: Evert d. Goolagong, 1976
No. 4: Ivanisevic d. Rafter, 2001
No. 3: Williams d. Davenport, 2005
No. 2: Borg d. McEnroe, 1980
No. 1: Nadal d. Federer, 2008
