2 Responses to rg80borg_solomon

1. Voo de Mar says:

   October 20, 2025 at 2:29 pm

   Points won by each set: | 42-33, 31-19, 24-6 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   17 % Borg – 13 of 73
   6 % Solomon – 5 of 82

   The fifteenth and last match between these two players. Initially in their rivalry the four years older Solomon was able to steal some sets (including a French Open ’74 semifinal), but from their eighth meeting onwards, he lost all sets, and only once got four games in a set. The beginning of their 1980 semifinal was quite promising that finally the shortest major semifinalist (168 cm) of the Open Era would be competitive. At 2-all he had a break point (Borg committed two double faults in a row that game), in the 6th game he won the best rally of the match (17 strokes) responding to [1] Borg’s four overheads before finishing it with a tight backhand passing-shot! Solomon [6] received an ovation from the crowd, but running a few meters behind the baseline from corner to corner exhausted him (in the quarterfinal he’d survived a 3.5 hour match against Vilas). For the next twenty minutes, Solomon was still trying his best, but he was no threat for Borg from 2-all in the 2nd set onwards – the Swede collected ten straight games, not facing any game/break point, attacking the net often and convincingly finishing the points with winners. Borg and Solomon had the best two-handed backhands at the time, and the match was almost deprived of slice shots – a super rarity at the time.

   Serve & volley: Borg 2/2, Solomon 0

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   October 20, 2025 at 2:51 pm

   ☆ 28-year-old Solomon reached career-high no. 5 a few months later, and it was the end of his physical abilities
   – in the years 1981-86 he lost more matches than he won

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