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In 1980, mcenroe reached the mens singles final at wimbledon for the first time, where he faced björn borg, who was gunning for his fifth consecutive wimbledon title.Although mcenroe was booed by the crowd as he entered centre court following heated exchanges with officials during his semi-final match, this encounter was arguably the greatest wimbledon final ever. In a long fourth-set tiebreaker that is often simply called "that tie-breaker," which lasted 20 minutes, mcenroe saved five match points and eventually won it 18-16. Mcenroe, however, could not break borgs serve in the fifth set, which the swede won 8-6.Revenge for mcenroe came quickly. The pair met again in the final of the 1980 us open, and this time it was mcenroe who emerged the victor in another epic encounter. During the 1981 wimbledon campaign their behaviour was in sharp contrast as borg was painted by the tabloid press as an unflappable "ice man" and mcenroes controversy and merciless criticism from the british press resulted with a nickname of “superbrat".Despite this mcenroe again made the wimbledon mens singles final against borg. And this time, mcenroe defeated borg in four sets to end the swedes run of 41 consecutive match victories at the all england club.Borg and mcenroe had their final confrontation in the final of the 1981 us open, which mcenroe won.This superb presentation is an officially licensed product and contains two balls personally signed by bjorn and john. Above is photos of them in action and and the entire presentation is box framed in a tasteful brush silver surround with cut aperture double mounts and a plaque detailing the players career. It is a limited edition of 250 and measures in at a large and impressive 82cm by 59cm (approx).Each are individually numbered and available in the uk exclusively through spirit of sport. A wonderful and rare item of memorabilia to celebrate the careers of two tennis legends, bjorn borg and john mcenroe. |
