BJORN AGAIN
Borg Jnr ready to make name for himself as icon dad tags along
THE small band of British coaches who voyage to tennis’s more remote outposts with their young charges needed to catch their breath recently. Among fellow travellers on the junior circuit has been one of the game’s icons, Bjorn Borg.
He was there this month in Brazil and the Dominican Republic, watching son Leo, 17, take on some of GB’s best prospects. The Swedish legend was also around late last year at a tournament in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
Having fallen in and out of love with tennis during a sometimes turbulent life, Borg, now 64, is being seen more on the fringes of the sport he once dominated.
Leo is beginning in earnest his professional career, which takes two major steps this coming fortnight. This week he has been given a wild card into a Challenger level event at the Puente Romano club in Marbella.
Next week, by the same means, he will play in the qualifying for what will be his first tournament on the main ATP circuit, at the same venue. Borg Snr will be in attendance, and has agreed to hand out the trophy. Two weeks ago, in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, the British contingent were startled to see the phlegmatic, flowing-haired Borg courtside.
‘He keeps a low profile and doesn’t show any emotion when watching but he is pleasant and down to earth when you talk to him,’ said GB coach and former player Jack Carpenter.
‘I’ve got a tattoo of the Three Lions on me, and he came up and had a chat about how Sweden are England’s bogey team at football. When people recognise him he is very polite and happy to have selfies taken. It took the players time to adjust to having someone like that watching their matches.’
At the Santo Domingo event, Leo faced three British youngsters, narrowly beating two of them before losing in the final 6-1, 6-3 to Bournemouth’s Jack Pinnington-Jones, 17.
Just prior to that, Leo had won an international grade one event in Porto
Allegre, Brazil, the top level on the circuit. He is ranked the No 12 junior in the world.
Having one of the most famous names in the game is a doubleedged sword, given the expectation it brings.
Leo is the son of Borg and his third wife, Patricia Ostfeldt, and plays in a similar way to his father with a recognisable backhand a feature of his baseline game. Wearing the same FILA brand of kit adds to the effect.
When Hollywood made a movie about Bjorn’s greatest rivalry — 2017’s Borg v McEnroe — Leo anonymously answered an advert for a child to play young Bjorn. Unsurprisingly he got the part when they saw him.
The name has already opened a few doors. At Wimbledon 2019 he was given a wild card into qualifying for the junior event but lost in the first round. Clearly he has improved.
Leo is not overwhelmed by walking in his father’s sneakers. ‘I am getting there and people are judging me more on my tennis and not simply on me being Bjorn Borg’s son,’ he told itftennis.com.
‘I’m trying to get to the top and my game has come a long way. Before, they were possibly just comparing me to my dad. I didn’t care because that’s normal, but now people are recognising me more. It’s going to follow me all my life, so it’s no big deal for me and something I have to deal with.’
Bjorn is also mindful of the comparisons. ‘He’s always going to be reminded of me, and that’s kind of a burden for him,’ he told the New York Times. ‘I try to make sure that the life he lives doesn’t give him any pressure. That’s our way of helping him.
‘Then, the only person who can put pressure on him is himself.’
Borg Snr’s involvement with tennis has been sporadic since his abrupt retirement at 26. His return to Marbella coincides almost exactly with the 30th anniversary of his extraordinary comeback, aged 34, at the Monte Carlo Open with a wooden racket.
At the time he was married to Italian singer Loredana Berte and had financial problems, following his exit from the sport after winning 11 Grand Slam titles.
His attempts at competing with outdated equipment were not successful and he soon retreated into the shadows. You can only wish young Leo, freighted with such a heritage, the best of luck.