📍Södertälje, Sweden
1956 – 1973“Björn Borg was born in Stockholm in June 1956 and grew up in Södertälje, an industrial town on a canal south-west of the capital, the only child of Rune, a clothing store worker and keen table tennis player, and Margarethe. As a boy his passion was ice hockey; he played centre for the town's junior team and dreamed of being a hockey star. Tennis came by chance: in 1965, his father won a tennis racket as a prize in a table tennis tournament and gave it to nine-year-old Björn. The local tennis club was crowded, so he taught himself by hitting balls against the family's garage door for hours, pretending he was playing for Sweden in the Davis Cup, with a two-handed backhand that came from his hockey slapshot. When he joined a club, the coach, Percy Rosberg, saw his extraordinary footwork and determination; he would always get one more ball back. For five years he travelled by train to Stockholm every day after school to train, and he gave up hockey. He was a hot-tempered boy at first, until his parents and coaches insisted he learn self-control, and he became famously icy calm. At fifteen he made his Davis Cup debut for Sweden and left school to focus on tennis. He went on to win eleven Grand Slam titles, including five Wimbledons in a row from 1976 to 1980 and six French Opens, and became a global superstar, nicknamed Ice Borg. Södertälje remembers him as its most famous son.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
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