Bjorn Borg: I quit because I wanted another life away from tennis

Bjorn Borg walked away from the sport, tired of the attention he got and the need to lead a normal life. “Whatever I did, there were 100s of people around. In the beginning, you love that but after a while, you want to have a private life and I didn’t have it. That’s why I stepped away. I wanted to have another life away from tennis. Today, the players have more security. If I had security like today, I probably would have played many more years,” said the 66-year-old Borg, who is in the city for the Bengaluru Open. Borg and Indian stalwart Vijay Amritraj held court on Tuesday, reliving their friendship spanning five decades. Belonging to an era sans social media, during which they banked more on connecting with one another when geographically possible, Borg spoke about the effort. “The first time I met him (Amritraj) was at the 1973 Wimbledon. We always had a good relationship and respected each other on and off the court. No one really wanted to play him because he was tough to play against,” said Borg.

Going forward, he hoped the duo could collaborate. “Maybe we can do something together for tennis in India and Sweden because we are struggling a bit in Sweden.” For almost two decades tennis was dominated by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, before the younger generation started asserting itself. Borg stated, “No one is bigger than tennis, so the media must promote new generation.”