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Bjorn Borg vs. Rafael Nadal; a comparison of their professional life

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Bjorn Borg vs. Rafael Nadal; a comparison of their professional life

Let us put the 2010 Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal and Swedish Bjorn Borg side-by-side. At a glance, both these players seem to have nothing similar in terms of their physical appearances. Bjorn Borg, the renowned clay court master from the 70’s had long hair, dark blue eyes along with a chilly cool appearance.

In comparison, Spaniard Rafael Nadal; the recent clay court master is gifted with a dark complexion, swelling muscles and a heart breaking smile combined with a fighter-like appearance on the tennis court.

On the other hand, the dissimilarities are not complicated to measure. Nadal is slightly taller by two inches and is a left-handed player. Borg on the other hand is a right-handed player.

However, both the players have a stiff style in their game that is essentially based on a misleading serve along with a powerful two-handed back hand. In a nut-shell, both players have led very different professional lives.

Borg, from 1973 to 1981, contested in a total of 8 French Open tournaments, succeeding in six finals with four titles in a row. He missed the competition back in 1977 due to personal reasons. The Swedish tennis ace’s success rating at Roland Garros stood at around 96.08 percent of his matches. Borg was aged twenty-five when he contested in his last French Open Championship.  

As of July 10th 2010, Rafael has contested in a total of six French Open tournaments title in a row between 2005 and 2010. His success ratings at the Stade Roland Garros stand out at a whopping percentage of 97.44 %. Nadal just turned twenty-four during the finals of the French Open Championship this year.

Borg succeeded in a total of five championships in a row at grass from 1976 to 1980, falling down in his last game at the All England Club back in 1981 while playing against John McEnroe. The Swedish tennis ace contested at Wimbledon from 1973 to 1981, succeeding in five out of the nine tournaments with a success percentage of 92.73%. Borg triumphed in a series of Wimbledon /French Open Championships from 1978 1980 for a total of three years in a row.

Nadal has contested in six grass court Grand Slam tournaments from 2003 to 2010, skipping 2004 as well as the 2009 championships. He gained two titles back in 2008 as well as 2010, with a success percentage of 87.87 (29-4). The man earned the French Open / Wimbledon titles but not in a row.

It took Nadal five attempts before he gained his first Wimbledon trophy. Borg succeeded in his first tournament at the All England Club.

There is a difference of thirty years in the ages of both these tennis stars. However, both were born during the first week of June; Borg in 1956 and Nadal in 1986.

Borg relished his very first victory on clay, succeeding in the French Open final at a small age of 18. Nadal on the other hand also triumphed in his first major in Paris back in 2005 at just nineteen years of age.

As similar as their professional careers appear on grass and on clay, there is one field where Nadal cannot match Borg and that is in Borg’s failure to grab a title in New York at the United States Open tournament

As far as their records in the Australian Open championship is concerned, Borg played in the tournament during the times when it was contested on grass.

When Borg couldn’t succeed in New York, he never cared to actually contest in Australia as his interest was in succeeding a calendar season slam, not in gaining exclusive slam trophies.

As a result, Borg just participated in the 1974 championship and was knocked down in round four. After that, he never contested again.   

On the other hand, Nadal has succeeded at the Australian Open championship, proving that he can succeed on hard courts. He actually did well by hammering down his real contender, Roger Federer, back in 2009 in the finals in another five set match.

With both Wimbledon and French Open titles in his possession, Nadal will be hoping to make it a clean sweep by grabbing the trophy in New York.  

Quite opposite to Borg, Rafael will enter the Big Apple with a high level of courage, something Borg could never gather in a place where the game of tennis was contested under lights with screaming fans and New Yorkers backing their country boys.

As far as their flair and perfection of the game is concerned, there is certainly no doubt about the fact that both have provided some of the most exciting moments of tennis to their fans and thus contributed in making the game all the more thrilling.

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