John McEnroe def. Bjorn Borg
7-6(4), 6-1, 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-4
Love him or hate him, that day in 1980 John McEnroe was the sole reason Bjorn Borg never achieved the career Grand Slam.
The pair had already clashed at Wimbledon that summer, with Borg taking a five-set epic for his 10th Slam. But the US Open was McEnroe’s turf, having won the title the year before, and he had already escaped one noose in the semifinals, losing the third set to Jimmy Connors 6-0 to go down 2-1 before rallying to the win.
McEnroe took the first two sets over Borg in the final, only to see the seasoned veteran take the next two.
“When I lost the fourth set, I thought my body was going to fall off,” McEnroe quipped later. In the seventh game of the fifth set,
Borg double faulted twice and couldn’t recover, as McEnroe won the four-hour, 13-minute marathon.