Dad’s not my tennis role model! The son of a former world number one celebrates his first win on the ATP circuit

Some offspring of famous parents have their future careers almost predetermined. Others have maximum freedom for their life choices. But it’s hard not to be impressed by their parents’ fates. That goes for Leo Borg, too. What determined his path to a sporting career and who is his tennis role model?

Leo Borg celebrated his 20th birthday this year. Although he has never crossed the 400th position on the ATP rankings, he is a relatively high-profile player thanks to his surname. Even though he is the son of an eleven-time grand slam winner, he decided his tennis career on his own.

Thanks to his father, of course, he has always been close to tennis, but the decision to go in this direction in life has always been his own. And he is quite sober in his goals.

First and foremost, he would like to play tennis for a living. And if he had to set a ranking goal, he talks about the world’s elite ten. At the moment, he’s more than 400 places away.

Surprising playing pattern

Perhaps a little surprisingly, Borg Jr. does not have his father as his role model, but a player who is still active. “I met Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup because my father was captain of the European team. Nadal has been my role model since childhood,” he told Marca.

He now has more than that in common with the Spanish tennis player. Nadal’s tennis academy is also helping the young Swede’s budding career. Leo visited it for the first time together with his father and both had nothing but words of praise for it.

Up for the win

Borg Jr. has very little experience of ATP tournaments so far. Everyone has their time and there is no reason to rush anywhere. An interesting opportunity faces the Swedish player this week.

In the meantime, before the American concrete takes over after grass, the focus of tennis action is on a few events on clay. All are in Europe and one of the opening ones takes place in Borg’s home environment. Sweden’s Bastad is one of the traditional stops on the ATP carousel.

Last year the young Swede failed to qualify here, this year he avoided it. He received a wild card. In the first round, he faced his compatriot Elias Ymer. The latter was a big favourite, but Borg seized his opportunity and won 7:6, 6:3.

He is now enjoying his first win on the ATP circuit. What number will he reach in this statistic?

In conclusion..

Being the offspring of a famous athlete is always a bit of a double-edged sword. Leo can hardly avoid comparisons with his father. On the other hand, he seems to be going his own way and a first win at this level will definitely help him.

The Bastad tournament could be a major milestone in his career. He was not expected to get a big result here and after winning the first round he can only surprise. And that’s not a bad position to be in. After all, clay is the natural element for his tennis pattern. And Borg Sr. has done a lot on it.

Source: Sportskeeda, Marca, ATP