Confidence? Attachment? Bonding? Interesting theory...but does that explain why Bjorn Borg would show up in a entirely different age or even a different dimension. Tennis had fundamentally changed in the years that he retired up to the point of his comical comeback. Confidence? That doesn't explain it. But love for his racquet might. Love. Adoration. Love for tennis...the sport of tennis. That game that gave him his identity. His claim to fame. To make a comeback in a different age where the racquets had definitively changed with his outdated equipment where he was out gunned from the get go...it's a mystery. A riddle wrapped in an enigma.
I know how he felt. I felt the same way. Borg retired in 1983. I'd pretty much had it with the sport as well. The change in equipment absolutely fried me mentally. I couldn't change to the new stuff after growing up with the game I revered and adored playing with wooden racquets. I experimented with the different materials. Though I always returned to wood. I quit the game too. Turned my back on the one I loved. Would love to hear it from the horse's mouth. I always hoped that I would run into Bjorn here in Sweden so I could ask him about this.
Changing to oversized was an automatic escalation in competitive tennis. He knew that better than anyone. He knew he couldn't compete with a wooden racquet in the age of oversized graphite. That is elementary. A child would figure that out. Every idiot playing tennis in that era of the game immediately knew that.
I think Borg was making a point. He couldn't seriously believe he could compete with the old wooden racquets. Roger should have switched years earlier. His overall record would have reflected this in a major way. Just look at his head to head against his major rivals after he switched. Nadal in particular. He owned Nadal after the switch. Absolutely owned him. Size matters...big time.
I know how he felt. I felt the same way. Borg retired in 1983. I'd pretty much had it with the sport as well. The change in equipment absolutely fried me mentally. I couldn't change to the new stuff after growing up with the game I revered and adored playing with wooden racquets. I experimented with the different materials. Though I always returned to wood. I quit the game too. Turned my back on the one I loved. Would love to hear it from the horse's mouth. I always hoped that I would run into Bjorn here in Sweden so I could ask him about this.
Changing to oversized was an automatic escalation in competitive tennis. He knew that better than anyone. He knew he couldn't compete with a wooden racquet in the age of oversized graphite. That is elementary. A child would figure that out. Every idiot playing tennis in that era of the game immediately knew that.
I think Borg was making a point. He couldn't seriously believe he could compete with the old wooden racquets. Roger should have switched years earlier. His overall record would have reflected this in a major way. Just look at his head to head against his major rivals after he switched. Nadal in particular. He owned Nadal after the switch. Absolutely owned him. Size matters...big time.
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