Sport: Free to Be Bjorn, Once More

Testing life without tennis and liking it, Borg withdraws

Every sports season aspires to be endless, but tennis achieves it. So a mid-life crisis at 26 is eminently understandable, though in Bjorn Borg's case, especially regrettable. The shy Swede, born just outside Stockholm, raised just outside the baseline, is a special case. First of all, his departure grants Czechoslovak Ivan Lendl and Americans John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors complete custody of the game, a dismal situation.

Though Borg is a dulls enough fellow, in this company "dull" is appealing. Lendl is a chilly, self...