On February 22nd, tennis legend Bjorn Borg became irate and frustrated after Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai arrived nearly two hours late to an event honouring him at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association stadium in Bengaluru. This incident left Borg with a sour taste in his mouth – an understandable reaction to the immense disrespect of being kept waiting for so long. An unnamed official reported to Deccan Herald news that the chief minister was held up due to ‘some of his other commitments’. Borg’s response spoke volumes to how unjustifiable this delay was, with the tennis great not even wanting to stay in the country before making a hasty exit from India.
Indian tennis great Vijay Amritraj not only has immense respect for his fellow tennis great Bjorn Borg, but he also believes in the importance of honouring them together. This became clear when a ceremony to honour the pair that was set to take place was postponed after Amritraj felt it would be inappropriate to receive the distinction alone. According to the Deccan Herald, both players will soon receive the honour at Karnataka’s Chief Minister’s office. The report indicated that Karnataka’s Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had arrived at a match between Borg’s son, Leo Borg and Hsu Yu-hsiou of Taiwan before this announcement was made by Amritraj. By pledging to accept honours together, Amritraj and Borg have shown yet again why they are two of tennis’ all time greatest stars; not only did they excel while on court but their insistence on fairness and humility off of it is inspiring.
Bjorn Borg is a name synonymous with the greats of tennis and his legacy still lives on. He was a teenage sensation who achieved great success in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 Grand Slam singles titles in which 6 were at the French Open and amazingly 5 consecutively at Wimbledon. Such effort has led to him being one of the few people to make history with three Channel slams. Unfortunately his US Open career didn’t yield much success despite four runner up finishes. But he is best remembered for his rivalry with John McEnroe which is thought of as one of the best rivalries ever in sport’s epic history, where their match at the 1980 Wimbledon final lived long in people’s minds as being one of the greatest matches ever played.
