We live in an era where three men – Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are rewriting tennis history as they dominate the sport in a manner that is completely unprecedented. Between the trio, they have won 56 Grand Slam titles. Yet there was a time where three other men might well have done the same.

Two Americans – Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe – and one Swede, the eponymous Björn Borg, were constantly in the limelight as the 1970’s gave way to the 1980’s. In total, they won 26 Grand Slam titles between them, but it may have been so many more. This week, we look at why Björn Borg walked away from the game when he was at his untouchable best.

We look at the feats of messrs Djokovic, Nadal and Federer so rarely that it would be feasible to imagine that no other records existed before they came along, or still exist despite their recent dominance of the sport. Borg, however, was a one-off. He won the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back in three consecutive seasons, something no other player has ever got close.

Björn Borg mastered two surfaces that are at opposite points on the spectrum in tennis – clay and grass. In total, he won six French Open titles and five Wimbledons, but what it even more amazing than his 11 Grand Slam titles is the fact that while he failed in nine attempts to win the U.S. Open (losing in the final four times) but also, he only entered the Australian Open once, being absent in the other eight years he might have been a strong contender.