John McEnroe reveals what he said to Bjorn Borg after he told him he was retiring from tennis at 25 years old

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John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg enjoyed one of the biggest rivalries in tennis history during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Rivalries in tennis are what makes the sport special, whether that be Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova’s, or Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova’s.

Borg and McEnroe’s rivalry was something else altogether, as the controversial American did whatever he could to get under the skin of his Swedish rival.

The pair faced off against one another 14 times on the ATP Tour, remarkably sharing seven wins a piece.

It was an intense rivalry at times, but one that has now turned into a friendship with McEnroe and Borg often joking together as Laver Cup captains.

Their on-court rivalry ended prematurely, however, as Borg retired from the sport at 25 years of age, something that McEnroe couldn’t quite believe.

John McEnroe thought Bjorn Borg was ‘kidding’ when he told him he was retiring in 1981.

Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, McEnroe revealed what happened when Borg told him that he was retiring from the sport at the end of the 1981 season.

“At the end of 1981, which was my first year that I finished number one, [Bjorn] Borg at the end of the US Open, or a month or so after, we were at an exhibition in Australia and we were having a beer before this press conference,” said McEnroe.

“The late great Vitus Gerulaitis was with me as well, and he [Borg] said I’m going to quit playing.

“I was like what! We thought he was kidding, we laughed at first.

“Apparently, he was being serious and we were like what the hell are you going to do? You’re 25 years old.”

McEnroe now thinks he knows why Borg made the decision to retire, and explains why that wasn’t an option for him.

“I think he was the first player that could afford to do it,” he said.

“He’d made the type of money where he thought he could live the rest of his life [without playing], that’s if you don’t have kids, I’ve got six kids so got to keep working.”

The American star went on to explain just how big an impact Borg’s retirement had on him.

“It affected me greatly for the better part of two years, I didn’t perform as well as I’d have liked to,” said McEnroe.

“The dream is always to feel like you’re bringing that game to that max level, where you can do anything and everything at any point.

“I was mentally just waiting for him to come back and push me because I think you’ve seen with the three guys, Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], and Novak [Djokovic], that they made each other better, you have no choice but to get better.

“But I realized at the end of 1983 that he probably wasn’t coming back, and I started to put my head into trying to max out what I hopefully can do.”

Has anyone accomplished as much at 25 years old as Bjorn Borg in tennis?

When Borg retired from tennis at the end of 1981, he did so as an 11-time Grand Slam champion, a number bettered by just four players in the Open Era.

However, Pete Sampras, Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, the men who surpassed his tally, all played for much longer than the Swede, so how would they have stacked up as 25-year-olds?

Only Federer could match Borg’s achievements at 25, with the pair level on 11 Grand Slams.

It’s Djokovic who is the big surprise, however, as his late-career success is evident with a comparatively slow start.

There can be no arguments over the success Borg achieved during his time on tour, but the question of just how many Slams he would’ve won if he hadn’t retired at 25, will always remain.