John McEnroe's biggest rival Bjorn Borg makes feelings clear about their 'love-hate' relationship

Bjorn Borg opened up about his love-hate relationship with his biggest on-court rival, John McEnroe. Both of them had illustrious careers during their era.

Borg retired from tennis at the age of 26. He initially stepped away from the sport in 1981 and then made a formal announcement of his retirement in January 1983. On the other hand, McEnroe retired from the sport in 1992; however, his final singles match on the ATP Tour was in 1994.

In their careers, the duo contested against each other in 14 official singles matches between 1978 and 1981, with an equal record of 7-7. Their rivalry was one of the most talked-about in the tennis community.

Once again, years after their retirement, Borg was asked about his rivalry with McEnroe in an interview with Marca. Opening up about their love-hate relationship, he said:

"It was a love-hate relationship. Nowadays we are friends and we keep in touch. When we meet we never talk about tennis. I mean we've never talked about our games. We had a great rivalry, but I know that he was very sad when I left him. John would have liked our rivalry to be longer over time."

In addition, Bjorn Borg was also asked if they ever went to dinner together while they were playing. He replied:

"Sometimes, but never the two of them alone. He was always accompanied by more players. When you fight to be the best in the world it is difficult to sit in front of your great adversary. But I can say that there was always good chemistry between the two."

When Bjorn Borg opened up about his rivalry with John McEnroe

Bjorn Borg sat for a conversation with Vijay Amritraj in 2023 at The Leela Palace. He made his feelings known about his rivalry with John McEnroe, revealing how they became closer after the 1980 Wimbledon final. Opening up about how he got to see a different side of him, he said:

“We became very close after the 1980 Wimbledon final. Before that, as everyone knows, he was a bit crazy on the court and expressed his feelings more. But in that particular match, he didn’t say a word. He got so much respect from people all over because that was a different side of him. It was not only great for us, but for tennis. We did something really big for the sport."

Bjorn Borg concluded his career with 66 titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles. On the other hand, John McEnroe claimed 155 titles in his career, including seven Grand Slam titles.