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Although John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg's rivalry is something that fans would have loved to see a lot more of, the 14 matches that the two greats played against each other were nothing less than a treat. There was little to separate them, with both ending up with seven wins each.
Speaking on the Golf Channel's David Feherty podcast a few years ago, McEnroe shared a funny incident that happened to him while playing in the Davis Cup once. When the American icon, whose grandfather migrated to the US from Ireland, was asked about his Irish roots, he stated that while they didn't have many relatives from Ireland, his parents asked him to meet his aunt when he was playing the Davis Cup against Ireland.
"I didn't have a lot of relatives or at least so I was told by my parents. But they were certainly very proud of the fact that they were from the Irish-American heritage," John McEnroe said, adding, "I played Davis Cup against Ireland one time and my parents said, "Look, you have this one aunt and it's really important that you meet her because she's a relative of yours and you've got to go back to your roots." So I said, "Okay, I'll do this."
The seven-time Grand Slam champion revealed that the first thing she told him was that she liked Borg more than him and then went on to offer an offended John McEnroe a beer.
"The first thing she said to me was, "I like Borg more than I like you." I go, "This is how our relatives from Ireland are going to treat us?" Then she said, "Come on Johnnie, have a beer," which I'll be okay to do, but beer no. 27 is a little tough when you're playing a match the next day," he stated.
US Open Tournament Director compares Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's rivalry with that of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe
Carlos Alcaraz won his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open. Before the final against Casper Ruud, the Spaniard played three consecutive five-set matches. While all three matches were outstanding, the most talked about was his quarterfinal clash against Jannik Sinner, which Alcaraz won 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-3.
The quality of tennis was so high that it compelled US Open Tournament Director Stacey Allaster to rank it above the rivalries between Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe and Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi. On an episode of the Courtside: The US Open Podcast recently, Allaster stated that the two youngsters took tennis to a "whole new level."
"We watched McEnroe and Borg and how great they were. Sampras and Agassi and how great that level of tennis is. This was at a whole new level," Allaster said.
