By Cliff Richey
Roland Garros is a place where I have many memories – some I want to remember the rest of my life and some I’d rather forget. One unique experience I had came back in 1973 when I played a first-round match against a young Swedish player named Bjorn Borg, who was making his French Open – and Grand Slam — debut.
The day the draw was made that year, my sister Nancy (the 1968 French women’s champ), and I were practicing on a back court and she suddenly stopped our practice session and told me she was going to the event headquarters to observe the official draw. I didn’t go and stayed behind to practice my serve. Nancy came back and I was eager to hear who I was going to play.
“You’re playing some guy named Bjorn Borg from Sweden.”
I had seen Bjorn play an exhibition the year before in New York the week before the US Open, so I knew I was in for a tough match, even though he was only 16 years old. Well it wasn’t a tough match for him! He killed me 6-2, 6-3 (the French Open played best-of-three-set matches in the first two rounds that year).
The match was played on Court Central – the main stadium court. I remember how quick-of-foot Bjorn was. He also never missed. He had those big topspin groundstrokes. Bjorn sort of led the way with the modern game with his extreme western forehand that had a lot of power and of course that two handed backhand of his. I probably didn’t play great that day, but when a guy never misses it gets a little challenging! And of course as we all know Bjorn won six French Opens in eight appearances in Paris. Incredible.
Is Bjorn the greatest clay-courter of all time? Rafael Nadal can settle that this year if he wins a seventh French title. At Rafa’s still young age, I’d bet on him to win a seventh and probably a few more as well. So if Nadal wins this year, let’s all remember the great Bjorn Borg and his great French Open record right after the dawn of Open tennis.
On a side note, my last pro match was in 1992 at a senior tour event in Florida. It was a doubles match. My partner? Bjorn Borg!
Cliff Richey was a Roland Garros semifinalist in 1970 and also a two-time US Open semifinalist (1970, 1972). He lead the United States to victory in the Davis Cup in 1970, the same year he finished as the No. 1 player in the United States and as the first-ever Grand Prix points championship – the precursor to the ATP rankings. He is now a mental health advocate and is the author of the book ACING DEPRESSION: A TENNIS CHAMPION’S TOUGHEST MATCH, available at www.CliffRicheyBook.com