Kings of Wimbledon: Borg Onwards

Wimbledon is about tradition, guts, and glory...and strawberries and cream! It's also about the unpredictable English weather. It's also about great champions who have weathered all odds to be crowned king after two weeks of spilling their guts out on the lawns of Wimbledon.

This show is dedicated to all the men singles champions starting with Bjorn Borg and ending with Federer. A tribute to the grass warriors!

Ice Borg!

The Ice Man Cometh! Borg was ice personified on the tennis court. He never lost his cool, and it was this Teutonic demeanor that probably contributed to his early retirement. Imagine never losing your cool or breaking a racket!

Borg won Wimbledon five times in succession from 1976 to 1980. His stranglehold over Wimbledon was broken by the brat McEnroe in 1981, and Borg retired from professional tennis in 1981 after failing to break the U.S. Open hoodoo once more.

Borg was also the winner of six French Open titles from 1976 to 1981. He never played the Australian Open.

Definitely one of the greatest! How many more would he have won had he played the Australian Open is a matter for conjecture!

Mac The Mouth!

John McEnroe was an artist on the tennis court. He won Wimbledon thrice - in 1981, 1983, and 1984. Most tennis connoisseurs concur that he would have won a few more but for the switch from wooden rackets to more composite ones. He never won a Grand Slam tournament after the change. But he still retained his artistry. Sadly, his skills were no match against the power of his younger, stronger, fitter opponents.

Also, his genius often went unappreciated because his fiery temper overshadowed it. He now shines in the commentary box!

http://www.itftennis.com/technical/equipment/rackets/history.asp

Ornery Connors!

Jimmy Connors, against all odds, won Wimbledon in 1982; one of the oldest players to win Wimbledon. He had, of course, also won in 1974.

Connors was also not shy of mouthing off at the umpires. His never-say-die spirit served him well and he continued playing professional tennis till the ripe old age of 41.

He was a champion among champions. He was also the one-time paramour of Chris Evert - the first couple of the tennis world! Connors is one of the few mens players of the open era to have won on all three surfaces, clay, hard court, and grass - his victory at the U.S. Open in 1976 was on clay. He never won the French Open.

Jimbo, of course, reserved his best for the U.S. Open, winning it five times and reaching the semis in 1991 at the geriatric age of 39.

Boom Boom Becker!

If 1984 was McEnroe's golden year, 1985 saw the advent of one of the most exciting players of the 80s with 17-year-old Boris Becker taking Wimbledon by storm. Most thought the victory an aberration, a mere flash-in-the-pan, but Becker was to prove them wrong by defending his title the next year in 1986.

Boris signaled the change of the old guard such as Connors and McEnroe. He was brash, he was confident, he was with it! McEnroe hated his guts and made no bones about it. Ironically, a similar treatment awaited Becker in the future at the hands of Pete Sampras. Becker, incidentally, reached the final 7 times, a conversion rate of 3/7.

Cashing In!

Pat Cash won his only Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 1987. This hugely talented Australian never regained the heights of '87 due to multiple injuries that kept him out of the sport. The 1987 Wimbledon remains his crowning achievement of his tennis career.

Mr. Nice Guy!

If Becker was brash, Edberg was your Mr. Nice Guy, the regular guy next door! He was cool personified. He was one of the poster boys for the golden generation of Swede tennis, the phalanx of players who followed Borg onto the tennis court, and made Sweden a powerhouse to be reckoned with.

Edberg forged a rivalry with Becker, that had Edberg win Wimbledon in 1988 and 1990 with Becker taking the honors in 1989. They played each other in the final all three years. Edberg was also the first ever player to achieve the "Junior Grand Slam" in 1983.

A Stich In Time!

Michael Stich could almost have been the also man were it not for his stupendous run at Wimbledon in 1991, which culminated in him annexing the title from the likes of Becker and Edberg. He beat Edberg in the semifinals, and Becker in the final. This was his only Grand Slam title.

Though Becker and Stich were compatriots, there was no love lost between the two! Stich retired in 1997 after losing to Cedric Pioline in the semis at Wimbledon.

Agassi Returns!

Wimbledon 1992 was where it all began for Andre Agassi. Among all the Grand Slam titles, Wimbledon was supposed to be the one championship least suited to his game. But the fates decided otherwise! After losing three Grand Slam finals, two at the French Open and one at the U.S. Open, it was debatable if Agassi would ever achieve the heights of his more celebrated U.S. counterparts, Chang, Courier, and Sampras.

But Agassi overcame all odds, doubts, two Wimbledon champions, Becker and McEnroe, and finally "Mad Goran" Ivanisevic in an epic five-setter to make his presence known in the pantheon of Wimbledon champions. It took 10 years for another base-liner to win at Wimbledon again!

Pistol Pete!

1993 began the era of Sampras' dominance at Wimbledon. Sampras would go on to win seven Wimbledon titles from 1993 to 2000, only being interrupted by the freak Krajicek in 1996.

Sampras won 14 Grand Slam titles in all, and before the advent of Federer was considered the best player since Rod Laver in the Open Era.

It is still a matter for debate as to who was the better player in his prime. Arguably, Sampras had better rivals to contend with and they were all at the peak of their powers when he played them. Federer just has Nadal, who is still improving! Pete never won the French Open though! Just as Federer did not have to beat Nadal to win the French Open!

Krajiceked!

Krajiceked! That's how Sampras would have described it on being ambushed by Richard Krajicek in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon '96. Krajicek went on to become the only Dutch player to win Wimbledon.

Interestingly, Krajicek holds a 6-4 record against Sampras, proving that his 1996 quarterfinal win was no flash-in-the-pan. He never won another Grand Slam title though.

Prior to winning Wimbledon that year, Krajicek was more renowned for his controversial comment on women's tennis "Eighty percent of the top 100 women are fat pigs who don't deserve equal pay."

Mad Goran!

The ever dangerous Goran Ivanisevic came into the 2001 championship on a wild-card after being dogged by a shoulder injury for the most part of the past three years. But this time the Gods lit a shiny patch for this mercurial player.

Goran had reached the final three times, each time falling short, once against Agassi and twice against Sampras. He went on to beat Patrick Rafter in the final, in the process becoming the lowest-ranked player to win Wimbledon and the only man to win a men's Grand Slam title on a wild-card. His saga had a fairy-tale ending.

Hew It!

Hewitt became the next base-liner after Andre Agassi to win Wimbledon in 2002. The years 2000, 2001, and 2002 mark the heyday of Hewitt's career. This scrappy Aussie was world No. 1 for 2 successive years in 2001 and 2002. He was also at one time engaged to Kim Clijsters.

Fedexed!

2003 marked the beginning of Federer's reign at Wimbledon. Federer annexed or rather Fedexed Wimbledon for five consecutive years from 2003 to 2007, the only man since Borg to win five back-to-back titles in the Open Era.

His reign was interrupted by an ascendant Nadal in 2008, only to regain the title in 2009 with Nadal unable to defend his title owing to acute tendinitis in his knees. He remains the favorite for this year's edition of Wimbledon too!

The Spanish Bull!

The Spanish bull had lost the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals to Federer, and it seemed as though an unspoken pact had been reached between the two, such that Nadal would dominate on clay and at the French Open and Federer would reign supreme on grass and at Wimbledon.

But Nadal had other thoughts this time around. Nadal won the Wimbledon championship in fading light on a late Sunday evening to win his first ever Grand Slam title outside of the French Open! It signaled the turn of the tide! Another high point in the Federer-Nadal rivalry!

Other Winners - Pre Borg

Other winners at Wimbledon since the Open era include:

Rod Laver 1968 - 1969
John Newcombe 1970 - 1971
Stan Smith 1972
Jan Kodes 1973
Connors 1974,1982
Arthur Ashe 1975