Borg and Federer chat champion's mentality



In a recent episode of Champions Chat with Tim Henman, Roger Federer and Bjorn Borg connected to chat about backhands, ATP Finals history and their famous calm temperaments.

Federer was clear about what shot of Borg's he'd want to steal.

“Backhand down the line, Bjorn, maybe, what do you think?" Federer said. "The two-hander, it never misses. My battle my whole life is to make sure I can hit four backhands in a row over the court nicely.”

Borg wanted to take Federer's entire game.

Team Europe's captain Bjorn Borg (L) and player Roger Federer smile during a press conference ahead of the 2019 Laver Cup tennis tournament in Geneva, on September 19, 2019. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)        (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
© AFP via Getty Images

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They also reflected on their ATP Finals memories—Borg won the title in 1979 and '80 while Federer won in 2003-04, 2006-07 and 2010-11.

Known as "The Ice Man" during his career, Borg was very calm and collected from a young age, while Federer had to work on it.

“I've had some major meltdowns, but some good ones, mostly anger at myself..." Federer said. "I think actually Bjorn and me we have a very similar story, it’s just that Bjorn figured [it] out earlier on in his teens and it took me until much later to understand what it takes to become a champion.”

Previous Champions Chats episodes have featured Stefanos Tsitsipas and Stan Smith, Dominic Thiem and Lleyton Hewitt, and Novak Djokovic and Pete Sampras.