Tennis / Julie Cart : A Prophetic Borg Says He Understands What McEnroe ‘Must Be Going Through’

Bjorn Borg nodded knowingly. “Yes,” he said, “I can understand what it is John McEnroe must be going through.”

Borg was giving a rare interview to a handful of reporters in New York during last week’s Nabisco Grand Prix and he was careful, as ever, about commenting about his former rival.

“I would not give advice,” Borg said. “But if he would continue like this for the next six or eight months, I don’t know. I don’t know if he can do it.”

Borg was prophetic about McEnroe’s state of mind. McEnroe, who lost in the first round to Brad Gilbert at the Masters, announced last Tuesday that he was taking an extended rest from tennis. McEnroe has complained that increased media probing of his personal life (his fiancee, Tatum O’Neal is expecting their child in May) has left him unable to concentrate on tennis.

In a remarkable outburst after his loss, McEnroe spoke for many minutes about his feelings about tennis and the responsibilities of the press.

“I’m just embarrassed at the way I’m playing, I have no business on the tennis court,” McEnroe said after his loss to Gilbert.

“My attitude is bad because I let things affect me that other times don’t. I’ve said to myself that everywhere I go I deal with people saying things, and it just has affected me. Right now I’m getting affected too much by this. This other stuff is kind of bothering me.

“The desire is there, but right now it isn’t. I feel like I have more things to accomplish in this sport, but it’s up to me because of these people. If they try hard enough, they will bring down anyone no matter how good a person (he) is. Unfortunately, that’s what I’m dealing with right now.

“I feel that as a person, I’ll learn from it. They didn’t learn from Borg. What you see happening to me is exactly what happened to Borg. I hope people care enough about the sport and about the individual. The power that you people have is a great power and it should be respected a lot more than it is.”

Borg can only manage a half-smile at hearing this. The Swede retired from tennis at age 26 for many of the reasons McEnroe cited, but also for several others. For Borg, tennis was simply not enough for him. He was bored.

“Before you retire from any sport, you have to find yourself, what’s best for you,” Borg said. “So many times you can cheat yourself as a person. If John wants to get out of tennis, he should get out. Totally.

“For me now, I might play tennis three or four hours a week. I never watch tennis on television. This is the first tournament I have been to in a long time. A lot of guys in sports want to get together and talk about the good old days. Not me. The distance from me and tennis is very far.

“I am happy with what I did for tennis and what tennis did for me. When I look back on my career, it’s like another life. It’s like something that happened to another person.”

The new Borg is divorced and engaged to model Jannike Bjorling. The couple have a young son, Robin. After 11 years living in the tax haven of Monte Carlo, Borg is moving back to Stockholm. From there, he manages his several business interests. He says he lives a private life and tennis is never mentioned.

Borg does play an occasional exhibition. He and McEnroe had a four-match tour at the end of last year. Borg said McEnroe is one of the players from the tour he is still happy to see, but is concerned about his friend’s sensitivity.

“He says that he blames the press,” Borg said. “I can’t understand that. He’s a very intelligent person. He’s a personality people want to write about. Look at the scandal papers. You have them in every country in the world.

“It comes to the point that even the serious papers have to write scandal, too. He can’t understand why people want to write about his personal life. I had this, too.

“But I know John can handle it. John is mentally very strong. I think everything is happening too fast for him right now. It’s difficult to handle at the moment.”

McEnroe has been given permission by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council to take 60 days off the tour, but McEnroe reportedly told Yannick Noah he wanted to wait until the baby was born (May) before resuming play. In the meantime, he has a lot to think about.

A sampling of comments from other players about McEnroe’s recent play:

Ivan Lendl--”I won’t advise John. It’s his problem, not my problem. He didn’t advise me when I was in trouble, why should I return the favor, which would hurt me? You think he felt sympathy for me when he was beating me all the time? I don’t think so. I’ve been working very hard and I enjoy beating him.”

Tim Mayotte--”I can understand the lack of desire to practice and really work on your game. But I can’t understand it, because the pressures on him are of such a higher magnitude than anything I’ve ever faced. I just think John needs to reevaluate what he wants to do in tennis, and perhaps put on some sweats and get to work a little bit.”

Yannick Noah (who is married and whose wife is expecting their second child)-”For somebody who is used to being on the tour by himself, it’s a big adjustment. He will be a dad, soon. I know what it is to think for three. I hope he will come back. He brings so much to the game.”

Notes John Carras, a freshman at USC, upset sixth-seeded Tom Mercer to win an intercollegiate tournament in Milwaukee recently. Carras, who was unseeded, defeated the fourth-, eighth- and ninth-seeded players to make it to the final. Allison Cooper and Jane Thomas of UCLA won the doubles competition. The unseeded Cooper and Thomas upset the top-seeded team from the University of Texas. . . . The first Women’s Intercollegiate Invitational Tennis Championship begins Tuesday and runs through next Sunday at Riviera Tennis Club. Players from 25 colleges and universities are entered in the 64-draw tournament . . . Vijay Amritraj, part-time tour player and part-time actor, will be featured in tonight’s premiere of TV sitcom, “The Last Precinct.” Amritraj will play an exchange policeman from India.