Oh that's cool you were there...I was 13 and this was the first tennis match i ever watched. I was visiting relatives in Florida and there was nothing else on TV so i put this on. I didn't understand tennis but after watching a few games i was totally swept up into the game, by halfway through i was screaming at the TV, emotional and on the edge of my seat at every McEnroe return. To this day it's still maybe the greatest sporting event i ever watched

Must have been something to watch borg take the next 3 against kreik

@@rrfamig It was like 2 different matches. Kriek taking chances vs ho hum Borg first 2 sets, then Borg serving a lit better, and Kriek started missing everything as he'd do when his game went south. There was no in between with Kriek. Either hot or cold,

McEnroe refused to play in S. Africa for ALL the reasons you mentioned (save for the LGBTQ thing).

I look for this match But unfortunately but I believe he is nowhere to be found

19 sets played in 4 days.

@@miguel6440 You forgot the key stat, 21 yrs old...

Pedestrian theyed get smashed today

@@chasam1234 Only in your certifiably delusional mind! McEnroe and Borg at the very peak of their respective primes (in 1984 and 1979, respectively) would have the definite edge over Federer, Djokovic and Nadal! Only those who know absolutely zero about the game of tennis delude themselves into laughably and erroneously thinking and asserting otherwise!

To be fair the modern generation would have too much power using modern rackets. How many top players these days are the size of Borg and Mac? Spin the coin the other way and modern players could not compete with the wooden rackets. Its like comparing badmington and tennis. Different sports.

Yep, that ball was clearly out. You can see it even in crappy standard definition mode on this video.

That call was clearly a blown call by the line judge, but your portrayal of it is also wrong: that call did NOT "give McEnroe a break point". It put the score at 0-15. Borg evened the game score at 15-all the next point, and he would even it to 30-all, and to Deuce. But he had two double-faults on the deuce side to go down 15-30 and 30-40, and then hit a lob wide to fall to Ad-out. Then he was unable to volley a passing shot at the net to....finally....get broken. It was a poor line call. But Borg climbed out of that hole quickly, and then climbed out of hole after hole that he himself - not any line judge - put himself into, until at the end when he couldn't. So ultimately, that poor call had little to do with Borg losing that game.......

@@Bitshitter . First, although I made an error in claiming in my above-posted comment that the bad call Borg got in the fifth set of that 1980 U.S. Open final gave McEnroe a break in that seventh game, I corrected that error in another comment in the comments section either on this video or on another video about that match. I clearly stated in that comment that it was the first point of the game! Second, you wrongly assume that the baseline judge made a bad call on that point. It may have been that the baseline judge signalled to the chair umpire that he (the baseline judge) was "unsighted" when the ball hit the court because Borg's body blocked his view of where the ball landed and the chair umpire then made the bad call on that point! Or the baseline judge may have made the proper call of out on that ball, but then the chair umpire overruled the baseline judge and called the ball as good. Third, even though Borg got the score in that game even at 30-30, that doesn't mean that the momentum in that set didn't go in McEnroe's direction as a result of that atrocious call! Borg was clearly pissed off by that horrible call (even though he didn't verbally complain to the chair umpire about it - that's the class he showed during his tennis matches) which can affect a player's concentration, especially since the seventh game in a set (particularly in a fifth and deciding set) is the critical game in a set as pointed out by many tennis experts such as the late tennis champion Bill Tilden. As the late Vitas Gerulaitis accurately pointed out, it is an erroneous belief in tennis that the bad calls in a match even out. They do not because a bad call in the first set of a match that goes the five set distance is not crucial, whereas a horrible call in a fifth and deciding set can be and frequently is crucial to the outcome of a tennis match!

Mac respected Borg and early days he idolized him, wearing same Fila and headband to mimic Borg's style. Mac was the first youger player to beat Borg.

Federer would be great in any era, had variety, power, touch, everything. Nadal and djok would struggle more, but still be great I'm sure.

You mentioned the wood racquets, that makes it impossible to compare generations. Personally, I liked the variety of the old game, one could come to the net without getting annihilated

Borg perse probabilmente qui la finale. La palla era fuori, non fu chiamata e si deconcentrò. Con questa vittoria avrebbe vinto facile in Australia e completato il Grande Slam.

Il aurait fallu que Connors élimine McEnroe en demi-finale pour que Borg puisse en remporter l'USOPEN...car Jimmy malgré toute sa bravoure,ne parvenait plus à battre Bjorn depuis 2 ans...je suis persuadé que Borg aurait pris le meilleur sur Connors, même au prix d'une finale en 5 sets...

Même si ça jouait plus lentement que maintenant, que c'était bon ces rivalités entre ces trois immenses champions qu'étaient Connors, Borg et McEnroe !

@@domino-mao8912 oh oui

Exploit unique de Mc enroe qui joue 19 sets en 4 jours en battant Lendl, double le lendemain puis Connors et Borg .

@@miguel6440 oui magnifique McEnroe lors de cet USOPEN 80..mais il allait le payer physiquement au tournoi de San Francisco, 3 semaines plus tard, en étant éliminé par Johan kriek, en quart de finale

Look for Paire vs Tsonga at Halle 2019.... Same sequence (but a bit longer)

No chance today ..no chance 10 years after this ..

Its a different sport these days. Players are so much taller and stronger. Borg and Mac were tiny by todays standards. With wooden rackets though they would still dominate.

Jesus it was 40 yrs ago...

@@athelstan927. The fact that that match was 41 years ago (not 40 years ago) is irrelevant to the fact that Borg got a horribly bad call on that crucial point at that stage in the match! Imagine if McEnroe or Connors had been the recipient of that atrocious call!? They would have gone absolutely ballistic over that call!

@@michaelbarlow6610 let it go, Borg has!

@@athelstan927 . You misunderstood the point of my comment which was merely to state the fact that Borg got royally screwed by that call at that juncture of the match! I do not, contrary to the implication in your response comment, obsess over that point!

the reasons were named Connors and McEnroe.

Sad, but true

Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, et al.

@@Rayoscope Right, and maybe those loud fans as well made it hard to concentrate

Death threats, dodgy calls (check out 3-3 in the 5th, Borg's 1st serve), the arrangers always ensuring he played under the floodlights which he naively admitted he hated did not help. The US Open then as now was horribly biased towards helping the US players. It is the main reason Serena Williams still plays, she knows she will get favored there no matter what her seeding is.

I just tried a search for any mention of the crucial, controversial call & can't fnd a mention. I watched the match & Tennis Channel has edited out the controvery & the broadcast right after the call. They showed a stop action replay along the baseline, the ball landing behind the line & no commentator said it was in. Wanted to see that replay again to see how definitely it is that Borg got robbed.

You need to see an Optician. clearly the ball was in.

Looked out at full speed

Agree completely. Out.

Ball was way in

They look a lot alike except Borg is 10 times the athlete with the ridiculously superior foot speed