The Swedish royal family had an affection for tennis, and Björn Borg had a knack for pleasing them. In July 1973, Borg had impressed King Gustaf VI Adolf at the summer resort of Båstad, reaching the semi-finals and pushing Stan Smith to three sets. Gustaf died shortly thereafter, and when Borg returned home for the Stockholm Open, his grandson, newly-minted King Karl XVI Gustaf, was looking on instead.
The 17-year-old Borg wasn’t yet the king of the courts, or even the king of clay, but he was making a quick ascent at the same time that Karl Gustaf did.
On November 10th, the Swedish sensation pushed for a new best on home soil. To reach the semi-finals, Borg had won three straight three-setters, against little-known local Birger Andersson, the suddenly vulnerable Ilie Năstase, and the dangerous left-handed veteran Niki Pilić. His semi-final opponent, Jimmy Connors, had yet to lose a set.
The two youngsters would ultimately play 23 official matches, including four major finals. This was the first of those meetings, and it wasn’t one that the 3,500-strong sellout crowd would soon forget. Borg took the first set, 6-4, then Connors equalized with a 6-3 frame. The American had more experience competing indoors, but he could have used more support from the grandstand. After twelve deadlocked games in the decider, Borg ran away with a tiebreak, allowing Connors just two points.
The victory set up a final that would reverberate far beyond the Swedish border. Advancing through the other half of the draw was the speedy American, Tom Gorman, who upset Smith in the quarters and outlasted Tom Okker in the semis. Gorman stood in eighth place in the Grand Prix standings, hanging on to a place in the field for the year-end Masters event. Just fifteen points behind him in ninth place: Björn Borg.
The Stockholm winner would take home more than the $10,000 first prize: Either Gorman would cement his claim to a place in the Masters draw, or Borg would overtake him. Only one more “A”-level event remained on the Grand Prix calendar, in Johannesburg, and neither man intended to make the trip. At the Swedish capital’s Royal Hall, before a royal audience, two men who had squeaked through to the final would continue their fight for a place among tennis royalty.
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This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.
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