Five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg put his trophies up for auction in 2006; however, fellow SW19 champ John McEnroe didn’t take kindly to the shock decision
Bjorn Borg was berated over the phone by John McEnroe after putting his five Wimbledon trophies up for auction in 2006. The Swedish icon was victorious five times in SW19, but chose to part with the trophies for ‘financial security’ before he was persuaded otherwise.
Teenage sensation Borg set the tennis world alight during his pomp, and his rivalry with American duo McEnroe and Jimmy Connors defined a generation. Throughout a glittering career, he won 11 Grand Slam titles, was named French Open champion four times in a row from 1978 until 1981 and prevailed at Wimbledon five consecutive times from 1976 until 1980.
In 2006, Borg made the decision to sell the five small replica trophies he won on Centre Court via auctioneers Bonhams. During the 11 years since he retired at the youthful age of 26 in 1983, Borg had run into financial difficulties, with his company going bankrupt and the Swede being forced to sell his home. The lots were expected to fetch between £200,000 and £300,000.
However, selling his Wimbledon trophies and some signed rackets to go with them rubbed long-time rival McEnroe up the wrong way, and he sternly talked some sense into Borg down the phone.
“It’s not easy to part with the trophies,” Borg released in a statement at the time. “However, I do need to have some long-term financial security for those close to me.
“I now believe that the time is right for the trophies and rackets to pass either to a tennis collector or to a suitable institution.”
McEnroe’s call came soon after, as Borg touched on the six-word interaction, as quoted in Sue Barker’s Wimbledon: A personal history: “He [McErone] said: ‘What the hell are you doing?’
“It was a stupid thing for me to do anyway, but the thing was, everything is up here anyway [he pointed to his head]. What I have achieved in tennis, what I won, I have all the memories up here, and that’s what counts, here in my heart and here in my head,” Borg said.
“Trophies are important too, but not as much as the memories of what you’ve been through in life. But it was a stupid decision.
“John was the first to tell me! So I bought them back, and it cost me more money to buy them back. Now the trophies are in a safe place.”
The pair exchanged fierce blows on the tennis court throughout their years as bitter rivals, but, as McEnroe’s act showed, they remained incredibly close friends.
“I think he is the only one of my rivals that I actually got along with. Everyone else, I was fighting all the time,” the American stated when appearing on the Scandinavian TV show Skavlan in 2016.
“I think, believe it or not, our personalities are pretty similar. We have the same sense of humour. I think we think about things in a similar way, whether it’s something serious or something that’s not so serious.
“In the 12 and Unders, he behaved worse than I did. I don’t think many people would believe that, but apparently, his father suspended him or wouldn’t let him play tennis for 6 months!”