McEnroe-Borg again

We are observing, and maybe celebrating, the 30th anniversary of the McEnroe-Borg rivalry with a new HBO program and two new books. This NYT article links to the books.

Fire and Ice

I watched the HBO documentary called Fire and Ice, about the McEnroe-Borg rivalry of the early 1980s. See Wikipedia. I thought it was excellent. I hated the hair styles of that period, especially McEnroe's. McEnroe's behavior was absolutely outrageous. But today he's a great tennis commentator. Borg in later years said that when he thinks of those matches, it's somehow like he lived another life. I feel that way  too, when I look back over many years.

What to me was amusing was that after ten years of retirement Borg re-entered competition and did not do well at all. He persisted in using the old, style wooden racket that was popular earlier. In the meantime, the tennis world had switched to larger, graphite rackets. I've seen this pattern in other people who can't adapt to new technology, new computers, etc. Some of Borg's behavior is completely unexplainable.