In the fourth profile of a series on the 26 players to rise to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, ATPTour.com looks back on the career of Bjorn Borg. View Full List

First week at No. 1: 23 August 1977
Total weeks at No. 1: 109
Year-End No. 1s: 1979-80

As World No. 1
Bjorn Borg rose to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time, for a single week, at the age of 21 on 23 August 1977. His sixth and final stint at No. 1 lasted 46 weeks, between 19 August 1980 and 2 August 1981. He was the year-end No. 1 in 1979 and 1980 and sat at the summit of professional tennis for 109 weeks. “It’s tough when you’re No. 1,” said Borg. “You don’t have any private life, you can’t even walk anywhere. I think that was one reason why I lost my motivation to play tennis.” He was ranked in the world’s year-end Top 10 across eight straight seasons between 1973 and 1981.

Grand Slam Highlights
Borg made his major championship debut in 1973 at Roland Garros, where he reached the fourth round and subsequently returned to win 46 of his next 47 matches in Paris (49-2 overall record), including title runs in 1974-75, 1978-1981. Across the English Channel, the Swedish baseliner was also making his mark at Wimbledon (51-4 record, .927), where ‘Borg Mania’ reached new heights as he won 42 consecutive matches and earned five straight crowns between 1976 and 1980. Often, against the best players at SW19, he serve-volleyed off his first delivery. Borg’s legendary feat of three Roland Garros-Wimbledon title doubles has since been achieved twice by Nadal (2008 and 2010) and Roger Federer (2009). In 16 major championship appearances, between 1977 Wimbledon and the 1981 US Open, Borg won nine trophies from 14 finals. He reached the US Open final on four occasions, in 1976 (on clay) and in 1978, 1980-81 (on hard courts) and competed at the Australian Open only once, as a 17-year-old in 1974. Borg’s four-set loss to John McEnroe in the 1981 US Open final was his last major championship match (141-16 overall record). “I think Bjorn could have won the US Open,” said Arthur Ashe. “I think he could have won the Grand Slam. But by the time he left, the historical challenge didn’t mean anything. He was bigger than the game. He was like Elvis or Liz Taylor or somebody.”

Nitto ATP Finals Highlights
The Swede made five appearances at the season-ending championships, starting with his debut as an 18-year-old on Melbourne’s grass in 1974. He went on to reach the 1975 final in Stockholm (l. to Nastase) and the 1977 final in New York (l. to Connors), before back-to-back titles in 1978 (d. Gerulaitis), when he went 5-0 during the week at Madison Square Garden, and 1979 (d. Lendl).

Tour Highlights
In partnership with Lennart Bergelin, his coach from 1971 to 1983, Borg won 64 singles trophies and won 644 matches (.827). Borg, who won 16 titles as a teenager, first represented Sweden in the 1972 Davis Cup at the age of 15 and quickly rose into the Top 20. He won his first big title before his 18th birthday at the 1974 Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, shortly before he started his love affair with Roland Garros. At 19, he punctuated a 19-match winning streak by helping Sweden capture the 1975 Davis Cup crown, and between 1976 and 1980 he won 90 per cent of his matches in four consecutive seasons. Towards the end of the 1981 season, his motivation waned, and he succumbed to burnout, announcing his retirement in January 1983 at the age of just 26. Growing his hair out once more, he attempted a comeback, using a wooden racquet, in 1991 and 1992, but failed to win a set. He subsequently joined the ATP Champions Tour.

Overall ATP Singles Match Win-Loss Record 644-135
Overall ATP Singles Titles/Finals Record: 64-25

Biggest Rivalries
Borg had two principle rivals, Connors and McEnroe, during his 11-year career. Borg met Connors, who is four years older, on 23 occasions, leading 15-8 overall (5-3 at Grand Slams and 8-5 in finals). Connors, who won six of their first seven matches, ended Borg’s 43-match winning streak in the 1978 US Open final, but Borg won their last match in the 1981 semi-finals. Because of their contrasting game styles and personalities, Borg’s clashes against McEnroe became the era’s biggest rivalry. The pair met just 14 times at tour-level (7-7), from their first meeting in the 1978 Stockholm Open semi-finals to the 1981 US Open final. Borg led McEnroe 7-4, but the American won their last three finals meetings, including at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1981.

Legacy
No modern career has been so brief, yet so bright. During the sport’s boom of the 1970s, every player attempted to replicate the ‘Ice Man’, his controlled, emotional demeanour, but also the way he hit heavy topspin forehands and two-handed backhands (his best stroke) with a western grip. His stamina, endurance and steely focus made Borg practically unbeatable on the clay of Roland Garros and Wimbledon’s grass. With Bergelin, Borg had more than a coach; he was a ‘second’ father and close friend, who protected his charge as Borg’s celebrity shone and developed the style of play that dominates the sport today. Borg was massively superstitious, from sitting on the same chair beside an umpire, to the way he placed his racquets and towels. His first wife, former Romanian player Mariana Simionescu, once said, “He was always very placid and calm, except if he lost a match – he wouldn’t talk for at least three days. He couldn’t stand losing.” His departure from the sport was a massive shock, just as his rivalry with McEnroe was at its peak. Today, alongside McEnroe, Borg is a team captain in the Laver Cup (since 2017).

Memorable Moment
On 5 July 1980, the world’s two best players, Borg and McEnroe, contested one of the most compelling matches in the sport’s history, pitting ruthless baseline play against a classic serve-volleyer. The match was unrivalled until the 2008 Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer. Borg and McEnroe engaged in a 20-minute fourth-set tie-break, which saw Borg save five set points and McEnroe save five championship points, before the American prevailed 18/16. McEnroe could not break Borg in the deciding set and the Swede won his fifth straight Wimbledon title, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-7(16), 8-6, after four hours and 13 minutes. “The 1980 Wimbledon final with Borg – that’s the one I was most proud of to be part of,” said McEnroe, who ended Borg’s five-title run at Wimbledon the next year. “It’s talked about as one of the best matches people have seen so that certainly elevated me in a lot of different ways, even though I came out second in that one.”

Connors on Borg
“Bjorn was a different breed. I threw my best material at him, but he would never smile, but that added to the charm when he played me and Mac. We were going nuts and losing our mind and he was sitting back like he was on a Sunday stroll.”

McEnroe on Borg
“He had this thing about him that was inexplicable. I don’t know what it is, why it is, but it is. Certain people have this incredible aura that I can’t explain without having to do anything. It’s like he got into his superman outfit. I did try in practice just for the hell of it, to be like that, but I couldn’t do it in practice, so I wasn’t going to waste my time in a match trying to be like he was. I felt like letting things out was healthier than keeping things in.”

Borg on Borg
“They [my rivals] didn’t really know what I was thinking or how I was feeling, if I am laughing or crying or disappointed or happy. They don’t know that because I kept it all to myself. That didn’t mean I wasn’t boiling inside, but I would never let anyone see that.”

Journalist/Broadcaster Graeme Agars on Borg
By almost all measures, Borg was hardly the classic highly strung tennis player. The incredibly popular ‘heart throb’ Swede wasn’t called the ‘Ice Man’ for nothing: His steely demeanour and superb concentration meant his matches were all business, with rarely any real emotion shown. But the same can’t be said for his wooden racquets, which were strung as tight as any professional player has ever used. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be strung at 75-80 pounds, more than double what the average player uses. And because Borg’s racquets were wooden and not made of the modern high-tech materials like graphite, they frequently used to succumb to the strain and that was often before he had even taken them on court. There were numerous stories on the Tour back in his day about the racquets exploding at the most inappropriate times, like the middle of the night in hotel rooms, in overhead luggage lockers on aircraft and during transit between venues. Although Borg was unmoved when it happened, those who were not aware of what the ‘rifle shot’ noise was were often terrified.

Novak Djokovic entered the 2014 Internazionali BNL d’Italia final with three victories from 16 ATP Head2Head clashes against Rafael Nadal on clay.

His performance on that day in the Italian capital marked a new chapter in their rivalry.

The Serbian, competing at No. 2 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, ended World No. 1 Nadal’s bid for an eighth Rome trophy with a three-set victory. It proved to be the first of four wins for Djokovic from five clay-court matches against Nadal between the 2014 and 2016 editions of the event. It remains the most successful period in Djokovic’s career against Nadal on the surface.

Djokovic v Nadal on Clay (Rome 2014 through Rome 2016)

Djokovic had battled through the field to reach his fifth final in Rome (2-2). After beating Radek Stepanek in straight sets in the first round, the 26-year-old was forced to deciding sets by Philipp Kohlschreiber and Top 10 stars David Ferrer and Milos Raonic.

Fresh from his Mutua Madrid Open triumph, Nadal was also tested en route to the championship match in Rome. The Manacor native survived three-set clashes against Gilles Simon, Mikhail Youzhny and Andy Murray, before a 6-2, 6-2 semi-final victory against Grigor Dimitrov.

After dropping the opening set, Djokovic earned an early break in the second set and pushed the Spaniard behind the baseline with aggressive groundstrokes to force the match to a decider. The two rivals traded early breaks in the third set, before Djokovic made the crucial breakthrough at 3-3. The 18-time Masters 1000 titlist soaked up the pressure from the back of the court to break serve and, two games later, took the title after two hours and 19 minutes with his sixth service break.

“I’ve had some tough matches. Four out of five matches were three-setters and I had to come back from one set down yesterday against Raonic and today again. That gives me a lot of confidence,” said Djokovic. “Winning against Rafa in the final of a big tournament on clay, his preferred surface, is definitely a confidence booster.”

With his 44th tour-level trophy, Djokovic moved to within 650 points of the World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Despite falling to Nadal in the Roland Garros final, Djokovic eventually overtook the Spaniard in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 7 July 2014 after winning his second Wimbledon trophy. The Serbian maintained the position until 7 November 2016.

Arthur Rinderknech talks about his mother’s coronavirus diagnosis and how he has turned to baking, drawing and watching ‘The Last Dance’ to pass the time…

In January and February, no player was more dominant than Rinderknech on the ATP Challenger Tour. The Frenchman entered the season outside the Top 300 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, but he would find his stride in a hurry.

Having thrived in four years at Texas A&M University, Rinderknech embarked on his second season on the professional scene in 2020. The 24-year-old adapted quickly, claiming his maiden Challenger title at home in Rennes, before sprinting to back-to-back finals on Canadian soil.

Armed with a mammoth serve and boisterous baseline game, Rinderknech built more confidence with every passing week. It was in Canada that he surged to a career-high of No. 160, finishing runner-up in Drummondville and lifting his second trophy the following week in Calgary.

“It was pretty tough for me [to stop playing]. If I can digest what happened in January and February, and go back to work with even more motivation, I can achieve my goals. I had a pretty good chemistry on the court and with some more hard work, I know I can do it again. I don’t have many [FedEx ATP Rankings] points to defend through the end of the year, but we’ll see how it goes. We’re all missing the competition in tennis, but the safety of the world is more important.”

Rinderknech’s victory at the Calgary National Bank Challenger marked the last time he would step on a match court. The Parisian immediately returned to France and just two weeks later, the country announced its lockdown. He has since remained in Paris, staying with his girlfriend and her parents.

During his time in quarantine, Rinderknech describes how his mother and two aunts contracted the coronavirus, what daily life has been like, how he’s been staying in shape and his plans to return to the court. He’s thankful for all the frontline workers’ dedication and hard work throughout the pandemic.

“The people working in hospitals are the true heroes right now. They are saving lives day in and day out. We’re all just trying to hold on for a few more months. I know it’s really tough for everyone. We’re just waiting inside, which is the best thing we can do right now. They are battling 24/7 and hopefully they can keep going and save as many lives as possible. They are the true heroes and we can only support them and do everything we can to make sure they are able to work.”

Photo credit: Arthur Rinderknech

Editor’s Note: ATPTour.com is resurfacing features to bring fans closer to their favourite players during the current suspension in tournament play. This story was originally published in January 2019.

I had finally reached my breaking point. Tennis wasn’t fun anymore.

I was playing a Futures event in Mornington, a town in Melbourne, Australia, in March 2016. I had recently struggled with some elbow issues, but that wasn’t my biggest problem. Questions constantly popped into my head.

Why am I here? Why am I playing? When could I go home?

It was funny because on the training court, I was having a great time. But as soon as it came to a match, my mind was everywhere but the tennis court.

I was miserable. I’d hit an error and be asking myself questions instead of problem-solving or looking to the next point.

After barely squeaking by an unranked player in the first round, I lost to someone outside the Top 1,300 in the ATP Rankings. When you’re a kid, everyone dreams of becoming the next Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. You think about playing for Grand Slam titles. And there I was losing early at a Futures.

Climbing the ATP Rankings is tougher than these guys make it look. You have to do well at Futures and then hopefully Challengers and finally ATP World Tour events. You work hard day after day and sometimes it’s not enough, and you get stuck. It can be so frustrating.

After my loss in Morrington, I needed a talk. My coach, who was Simon Rea at the time, sat me down and we had a pretty long chat. There was clearly something wrong. Outside of tennis, I was fine. But as soon as a match began, it was a different world.

Simon didn’t speak to me about tactics or my performance that day. He said I should be more worried about my wellbeing and happiness. And he was right — if I wasn’t happy playing tennis, what was the point?

In that moment, I didn’t think I’d ever pick up a tennis racquet again. I certainly needed a break.

That’s when life got a bit weird.

Tennis was all I knew. I’d never worked a day in life.

But I got a call from my brother-in-law, who was working as a fencer. He needed a couple of people to help him with a project, so I joined in. It’s not like I had anything else to do.

I was actually really excited. I remember waking up at 5:30 a.m. and making the 45-minute drive from home in Murray Bridge, South Australia to a primary school in Mannum.

And let me tell you, this was work. Putting up retaining walls. Digging holes. Sticking posts in the ground. Cementing. I didn’t know much of anything about what I was doing, but I was doing it.

Those were long, hot days. It can get pretty hot out on a tennis court, but this was rough. I was drained to say the least. Those 5:30 wake-up calls? My excitement was gone after Day 2. That was not fun at all.

And the job was around basketball and tennis courts. All I wanted to do was put tennis out of my mind. Just my luck.

I was sick of it after a couple of weeks. And after three weeks, we finished the project. I didn’t go out and find another job. I’d had enough.

Local Aussie Rules football was starting, and some of my mates asked me to play, so I joined the Mypolonga Football Club, where I was a goal-scoring forward. It wasn’t a professional team, but it was fun. I played with the club a bit, and caught up with my friends from home. That helped me regain my happiness again.

It was probably a couple months after that when I started missing tennis. I know, I know. I didn’t think I’d ever pick up a racquet. But I wasn’t totally out of touch. I’d made some great mates with the Aussie boys, and was still in group chats with them.

So when I saw guys I grew up with doing well, my fire started to burn a bit. Jordan Thompson and I had been climbing the ATP Rankings together. Yet there he was cracking the Top 100 and winning four ATP Challenger Tour events that year. Me? I was sitting at home. I was like… s***, that could be me. That should be me.

I didn’t want to act on any of these feelings because they could have just been for a day or two. It could have been a trap. I could have been back on the court hating it.

Eventually, I didn’t have a choice. I got a call from a bloke named Todd Langman. You might know him as the guy who coaches a good mate of mine, Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Todd saw a picture I posted on Facebook at the end of the footy season and gave me a call.

Are you ready to get going again?

All I could say was, you know what, I am.

That first day back was the day of the 2016 AFL Grand Final. I was massively out of shape, but I gave the ball a bit of a bash that Saturday. Todd said he’d see me Monday, and away we went.

It was all a novelty. Training again, getting back into a routine. I was enjoying every bit of it.

As much as I had loved tennis, I used to dread some of the more boring drills. Who wants to hit two balls cross-court and another down the line over and over? But weirdly enough, I was loving it.

Todd even had me playing against young kids. I asked him if he was sure, and he told me to give it everything I had. He didn’t want me worrying about my opponent. It was all about focusing on myself.

I made my return at a Challenger in Adelaide at the start of 2017. A lot of the footy boys came out, so I had plenty of friends and family there to support me. I managed to win a few matches to get into the main draw, and then I reached the second round, so that was pretty cool. Not once did I wonder when I could get off the court.

Things got even better when Tennis Australia gave me a wild card into Australian Open qualies. It was all such a blur. Before I knew it, I was beating Julien Benneteau in the final round of qualies to reach the main draw of a Slam for the first time.

I’d dreamt of that moment for so long, and I thought it was gone the minute I put down my racquet the previous March. I went nine months without playing tennis, not touching a racquet for almost the entire time. But somehow, I’d just beaten a former Top 25 player to make my dream come true.

I don’t know what it was about that month of tennis, but it was like I wasn’t even playing. I couldn’t tell you what happened. But that was when I realised that I made the right choice in coming back.

Last year, I won my second Challenger title, my first ATP Tour match and the coolest of all, I qualified for Wimbledon.

It was definitely bittersweet beating one of my best mates, Thanasi, to do it. But I definitely won’t forget that moment anytime soon. I even got to play on Court 1 in the main draw against British No. 1 Kyle Edmund. That was a bit overwhelming. I might have lost, but I loved every second of it. That’s why us Challenger guys grind away week after week. We live for those moments.

Every so often in my travels, I see a retaining wall and think, ‘Yeah, I know how to put that up’. It’s a good little reminder that I chose the right path.

I feel lucky. When I stopped, that could have been my life. I could be wilting away in the heat putting up fences right now. That’s a career path I would not have done well in, that’s for sure.

Leaving tennis was the best thing I ever did.

Before my break, I was living and dying by everything I did on the court. I couldn’t lose a point. I couldn’t lose a match. But coming back, my mindset was different. I wanted to compete and give it everything I had. If I won, I won. If I lost, I lost. It was what it was. I think that’s a big reason why I started to love this sport again. And I can’t wait to see where this ride takes me.

– as told to Andrew Eichenholz

Read More ‘My Point’ Essays

Success hasn’t come without sacrifice for #NextGenATP star Miomir Kecmanovic.

The Serbian, who is only 20, is at a career-high No. 47 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. It wasn’t easy getting there, though. When he was 13, Kecmanovic moved away from his parents in Serbia to train in Florida at the IMG Academy.

“It definitely was tough, especially for my parents. They had to make that call and I know it wasn’t easy for them, but I think they knew that it was the best thing for me at that time,” Kecmanovic told ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot. “I’m very happy that they let me go to pursue my dream… I didn’t really speak English that well, didn’t know anybody. At the beginning, it was really tough to get through. But eventually everything came together, and it was really enjoyable to be there.”

Tennis captivated the Serbian at a young age. One of his grandfathers took him to play the sport at Zlatibor Mountain, and he never looked back.

“We were always close, but I think that was definitely our thing. It was funny, because he was trying a bunch of different things, trying to see what would get me excited, and we finally found something that was working,” Kecmanovic said. “It was a happy time for us.”

In leaving for Florida as a teen, Kecmanovic was setting his sights high, hoping to become a professional. He knew he had to commit to his training to chase those goals.

“You have to be on the court every day, day in, day out. [You have to] give 100 per cent every time, even when you don’t want to, or you’re playing badly. It takes basically your whole life to commit to it, with the nutrition, with the mindset, with the way you behave, the way you act on the court,” Kecmanovic said. “I also think you need a ton of people around you that can help you, that can guide you through it, because obviously you don’t know a lot at that age. I think you do need to find that balance, and you just need to commit to it every day.”

Miro Hrvatin, Kecmanovic’s coach, has mentored him for more than a decade, and his aunt, Tanja Pavlov, accompanied the teen when he moved to Florida at a young age.

“My parents gave me everything that I needed so I’d have an opportunity to do it, and obviously my aunt too, she travels with me a lot. She’s a big help of course with everything outside of tennis,” Kecmanovic said. “I’ve had a lot of good coaches, physios and fitness guys, and I think I was very lucky to have a good group of people around me who wanted me to succeed for me, and just to help me in the journey.”

At the end of the day, through his highest highs — like making last year’s BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals and qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals later in the season — and his toughest moments, Kecmanovic is still that boy in the Serbian mountains who loves playing tennis.

“I just like to play. I enjoy being on the court,” Kecmanovic said. “I just want to prove to myself that I can do it in the end.”

The ATP Tour remains suspended until 13 July, but fans are following their favorite players closely.

Chris, a 12-year-old who lives in San Diego, California, misses the Tour so much that he wrote a song about it.

This is Chris. Chris was born with a rare genetic disorder called Alström Syndrome that causes blindness & multi-organ failure.

Chris sent us his #COVID19 song about the ATP Tour ? pic.twitter.com/LXEnoWppMC

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 11, 2020

One of the players mentioned in the song is former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who took to social media to show his appreciation.

❤️❤️❤️❤️??????????????? https://t.co/D4RS6U112R

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) May 12, 2020

Chris was born with a rare genetic disorder called Alström Syndrome, which causes blindness and multi-organ failure. He checks the scores and stats of all the ATP Tour matches when he wakes up, and his favourite players are John Isner, Matteo Berrettini, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

He got to meet Isner at last year’s BNP Paribas Open and the US Open. Chris also met Berrettini at Indian Wells this year before the event was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.

Read the lyrics of his song below:

We miss the ATP Tour

We hope scientists find a cure

We miss Fed, Nadal and Berrettini

Djoker, Nick and of course Fognini

Now Nadal is cooking eggs

Fed is playing in the snow with a hat

Djoker is getting a haircut

And Thiem prefers dogs to cats

You’ve got to love Stefanos posting Nick’s number to fans

And Isner describing how to make a heart with his hands

The break has taught the fans a lot of new things

One of them is Stan the Man, he’s a social media king

Murray is unbeatable in the virtual tennis game

Medvedev can howl and his dog can do the same

We are ready for the players to get back on court

The world can’t wait to watch this wonderful sport

We miss the ATP Tour

We can’t wait for the scientists to find a cure

Hey Young Writers,

Thanks for the fantastic stories you submitted for the first installment of our Fan Essay Contest. Not only did you impress our judges, but one essay so moved one of the subjects, John Millman, that the Aussie reached out personally to thank the author, 16-year-old Connor Joyce of Melbourne.

Now it’s time for the second contest. You have until Friday 22 May at 12 noon ET to submit your essay of no more than 500 words to [email protected]

The best three entries will be featured on ATPTour.com.

Check out more great activities in the Emirates ATP Kids Zone.

Our New Fan Essay Topic: If you could work any job at an ATP Tour event, what would it be and why? Describe some of your duties and how you would execute them. In your job, would you have any direct interactions with players, and if so, how would you handle those?

If you know someone who works at an ATP tournament, you can also write about what they’ve told you about their job and what you’ve learned from them. Perhaps you’ve already worked at a tournament, maybe as a ballkid or in some other role. Feel free to write about that.

Below is a list of jobs for your consideration. However, you don’t have to choose from the list. Perhaps you can make up a tennis job that doesn’t yet exist!

• Ballkid
• Chair umpire
• Linesman
• Courtesy car driver
• Reporter or photographer
• Post-match on-court interviewer
• Stringer
• Locker room attendant

Fans must be 18 and under to enter. Winning entries will be determined by the ATPTour.com editorial team.

Entrants are limited to one entry per essay topic, but may submit entries for each new question in the competition. There will be a new topic every two weeks. Essays must be written in English and submitted to [email protected]. Please do not send essays as attachments. Paste the text into the body of an email.

Click here for full terms and conditions.

Your favourite players are all at home, but they’re finding plenty of ways to pass the time. From Stefanos Tsitsipas showing off his fashionista side, to Andy Murray’s backboard hitting session, find out how the world’s best players are keeping busy.

Tsitsipas broke out his old school tracksuit.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Combine good weather with retro attire, just for a change. #RetroAesthetic #Fashionista #OldSchool

A post shared by Stefanos Tsitsipas (@stefanostsitsipas98) on May 5, 2020 at 12:06pm PDT

Murray left his neighbours an unexpected present with his errant backhand.

#TennisAtHome @andy_murray style ? pic.twitter.com/9I83i5t5BL

— LTA (@the_LTA) May 10, 2020

Mike Bryan honoured his wife, Nadia, as she celebrated her first Mother’s Day.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

This is one amazingly strong and awesome woman! I’m proud and honored to be your husband. Baby Jake definitely hit the jackpot in the Momma department ! #supermom #happymothersday

A post shared by Mike Bryan (@mikecbryan) on May 10, 2020 at 2:45pm PDT

Frances Tiafoe paid tribute to his mother, Alphina.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Happy Mother’s Day @k.alphina thank you for everything u do for me and @k1ng_2._0. Forever grateful for you. #fromthegutter #famfirst #godspeed????

A post shared by Frances Tiafoe (@bigfoe1998) on May 10, 2020 at 2:09pm PDT

Dominic Thiem hit the track with his brother, Moritz.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

weekends on the track

A post shared by Dominic Thiem (@domithiem) on May 10, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

Fabio Fognini started his week by taking care of business.

Smart working ?☕️?#monday #athome pic.twitter.com/LKD7IojyeI

— Fabio Fognini (@fabiofogna) May 11, 2020

Diego Schwartzman enjoyed some quality time with his dog.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Ziggy ❤️ ph: @eugedemartino

A post shared by Diego Schwartzman (@dieschwartzman) on May 8, 2020 at 5:35pm PDT

Leander Paes took time to answer fan questions.

https://t.co/HO5m6vpcUF

— Leander Paes (@Leander) May 10, 2020

Edouard Roger-Vasselin proved that you don’t always need an opponent to play a grueling point.

Quel bonheur de retaper dans la balle ??? #comeon ? pic.twitter.com/wTO36ypyez

— EdouardRogerVasselin (@ERogerVasselin) May 11, 2020

Rafael Nadal’s first appearance at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, in 2005, was certainly a memorable one. But what most fans will remember is the final.

Nadal, then only 18, showed his trademark fighting spirit to rally from down 0-3 in the fifth set to defeat 2004 Roland Garros finalist Guillermo Coria 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6) in a gut-wrenching five hours and 14 minutes.

“I am very happy,” Nadal said. “I played today one of the toughest matches in my life.”

Even though he was a teenager, the Spaniard had already proven he was capable of competing at the ATP Masters 1000 level, becoming the second-youngest champion in series history just weeks earlier at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. In Monaco, Nadal also defeated Coria in the final, 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5. That match that lasted three hours and nine minutes.

But in Rome, the lefty was pushed to the brink. Coria, who had won a clay-court Masters 1000 title in each of the previous two years, appeared poised to finish Nadal when he broke in the deciding set and consolidated that advantage.

“I think the public was very important for me because when I [was down] 0-3 in the fifth, my energy was finished,” Nadal said. “But the public all the time supported me. For that, I [was able to] win the match.”

Nadal pounded away with his forehand at 5/3 in the final-set tie-break, manoeuvring the Argentine around the court. But Coria hit a tremendous backhand passing shot down the line to retrieve the mini-break. Nadal, however, would not be denied.

At 7/6, the teen scraped back a high lob off a crushed Coria forehand, later in the point forcing the Argentine to make a volley error. When that volley sailed long, Nadal collapsed to the court in celebration.

“I’m a little bit not satisfied because I ran for five hours just to lose with two points. So I am very disappointed,” Coria said. “It’s normal, but I lost with a top player who played a great match.”

There were 18 service breaks in the match — nine per player — and Nadal won two more points than Coria, 190-188.

“I think I was pretty close to beating him today, but he’s very confident,” Coria said. “He has won a lot of matches and he’s making some incredible shots and he’s very confident in his game.”

It’s safe to say that Nadal, who remains the youngest champion in Rome history, showed from early on that he was not a typical teen. Nadal went on that year to win his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros, and he has triumphed at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia eight times since that day.

“I was really surprised by how he was running and his shots,” Coria said. “I think there are very [few] players who can hit so hard.”