1980 Wimbledon final
- Fourth set, 5–4
Borg served for the title and led 40–15. McEnroe saved both championship points and broke.
Match Charting Project log; Wikipedia - Fourth-set tiebreak
34 points. McEnroe saved five more championship points and Borg as many set points, before Borg put a drop shot into the net at 16–17. McEnroe won it 18–16.
Steve Tignor, Tennis.com - Fifth set
Borg dropped only a handful of points on serve and won it 8–6.
Tennis.com; Match Charting Project log
The match in numbers
76 % of points lasted three shots or fewer, and only 2 % reached ten. The longest rally in the chart is 12 shots.
Match Charting ProjectMcEnroe served and volleyed on 165 points and won 107. Borg did it 116 times and won 81, 70 %.
Match Charting ProjectBorg won 192 of the 376 charted points, 51 %. Each saved 10 break points.
Match Charting ProjectIn Match Charting Project data, about 81 % of points in 1990s Wimbledon finals and semi-finals were serve-and-volley, against 7 % in the 2010s.
Tennis Abstract
Point by point: the Match Charting Project log
Questions
How many championship points did McEnroe save in 1980?
Seven: two at 5–4 in the fourth set and five in the tiebreak.
What was the score of the famous 1980 tiebreak?
18–16 to McEnroe, 34 points, lasting about 20 minutes.
What we don't claim
- There are no official stats for this match. Every number above is from the volunteer charting, labelled as such. Sources differ on the tiebreak's length (20 or 22 minutes).