Tennis · 1980 · London, England
The Tie-Break
Björn Borg saves seven championship points and loses a 34-point fourth-set tie-break before regrouping to win a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.
Borg def. McEnroe, 8-6 in the 5th
Result
McEnroe won 18-16
4th-set tie-break
5th consecutive
Borg's Wimbledon titles
Björn Borg, chasing a fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, led John McEnroe by two sets to one and held championship points in the fourth-set tie-break, only for McEnroe to save them one after another and eventually win the tie-break 18-16, an extraordinary 34-point sequence still regarded as the greatest tie-break in the tournament's history.
The tie-break alone lasted about twenty minutes and swung on repeated momentum shifts, McEnroe fighting off match points, Borg fighting off set points, neither man able to land the decisive blow until McEnroe finally levelled the match at two sets apiece.
Rather than being broken by the loss, Borg regrouped in the fifth set, breaking McEnroe's serve to win it 8-6 and claim his fifth straight Wimbledon crown. The match is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever played, and its central sequence gave the rivalry between the ice-cool Swede and the fiery New Yorker its defining moment.
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