The 1976 Wimbledon Championships saw a long haired 20 year old Bjorn Borg from Sweden up against Ilie Nastase from Romania who was 30 years of age. Borg was known as 'The Ice Man' for his calm nature on court whereas Nastase was the opposite , a fiery tennis player but very entertaining with his antics at times. To make it to the final Borg had beaten American Roscoe Tanner 6-4, 9-8, 6-4 (tie breakers were at 8 games all until..) and Nastase had beaten Raul Ramirez of Mexico 6-2, 9-7, 6-3. Borg talks openly about this match and how he had lost to Nastase on at least two occasions going into the final, but their rankings did not show much of an advantage with Borg at 4 and Nastase at 3.
Nastase started the match in style and raced to a 3 - 0 lead before Borg clawed his way back into it and took the first 6 -4. The come back by Borg seemed to deflate Nastase and a second set win of 6-2 to Borg had him looking at his first Wimbledon title. After a tight battle in the third set Borg took the title with a 9-7 win in a tie breaker. The highlights of this match are surprisingly clear even today and worth a look, especially at the pre- match locker room footage. Borg can be seen relaxing reading a paper while Nastase is rubbing some oil into his torsoe. Before the players walk out Nastase can be seen combing his long hair in front of the mirror , priceless footage.
As Borg throws his racket in the air with delight at winning Nastase jumps over the net and gives Borg a hug and ruffles his hair. Jumping the net traditionally was done by the winner of a game of tennis but both the era and Nastase showed that tennis back then was in many ways unscripted.
Borg And Nastase Team Up CHAPTER 2)
At the World Invitational Teams Classic at Hilton Head in October of 1977 Borg and Nastase teamed up to play doubles together against Australian Rod 'Rocket' Laver and American Arthur Ashe, a most entertaining match filled with controversy. The match was played on American clay that left a tell tale mark on most shots so if a player thought a ball was out then on most occasions he could prove it.
At one point Ashe hits what appears to be an ace but it is called wide, that's where the fun begins. Nastase during his career was often known for being rather controversial in the way he acted on court , particularly with his line call arguing. On this particular occasion as Ashe walks to the net to see if he can see the mark from his serve Nastase walks over and scuffs out the mark with his shoe, end of argument. At 2 games all in the final set Laver joins in the fun and returns the favour as Nastase walks towards the net to see if he can see where his shot had landed that had been called out.
'Rocket' was never known for controversy on a tennis court , this would be about as close as he would come to any . Nastase applauds Laver's actions with a sarcastic hand clap. What Borg does next is quite extraordinary. .Nastase's actions obviously were starting to wear off on his partner as Borg hits a ball out of the stadium in frustration as the commentator says "now there's a home run". Strangely enough Borg does not receive even a word from the umpire. Perhaps a crystal ball was there to see that in the future Borg's issues with officialdom could be counted on the fingers on one hand.
Bjorn Borg and Ilie Nastase were of very different personalities on a tennis court. In the Wimbledon final they were opponents , at Hilton Head the following year they teamed up to play together. 'Fire' and 'Ice' , but it's what made these two so entertaining to watch.
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