‘I Was Smoking Like a Chimney’- Bjorn Borg’s Ex-Wife’s Amusing Tale on How Her Actions Pissed off John McEnroe’s Family at Wimbledon

John McEnroe had his flaw but no one could contest his performance on the court. The American tennis legend clinched eight grand slam titles in his career. His arch-rival Bjorn Borg was a tough cookie and both of them pushed themselves to be the best on the court.

The tension got to the head of the first wife of Bjorn Borg who had to hear an earful from McEnroe’s father. She smoked excessively during their face-off which eventually led McEnroe’s father to speak up.

Mariana Simionescu detailed how her excessive smoking led to McEnroe’s father’s irritation

Mariana Simionescu and Bjorn Borg started dating in 1976, the year when he first won Wimbledon. Simionescu herself was a tennis player, and she understood Borg. She was seen in the front row of his matches at Wimbledon. She talked about her nerve-wrecking experience in an old interview. Borg’s ex-wife was smoking at that time.

This got excessive after a bit and because both the players’ families had to be close to each other, McEnroe’s father got irritated. She detailed the experience and said, “The McEnroe family was smoked out by me. John’s father once told me he couldn’t stand the smell.”

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Furthermore, she said, “I was really nervous, but I knew exactly when Bjorn would look at me, and when he did, I was like a statue.” Simionescu coped up by smoking for the rest of the time. She said, “Otherwise, I was smoking like a chimney, one, after the other, showing how nervous I was.”

The legendary rivalry of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe

The duo faced each other on the opposite side of the court 14 times from 1978 to 1981. Interestingly, the H2H series of the two players is 7:7. Bjorn Borg clinched five consecutive Wimbledon titles from 1976 to 1980. In 1981, McEnroe defeated him to break his streak.

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Their last match was in the 1981 US Open where McEnroe took the title home. This was the end of a short-lived but one of the most iconic rivalries in tennis of all time.