The Bjirthday Boy

Bjorn Borg turns 64 yesterday. From teen heartthrob to Ed Begley Jr. impersonator, he’ll always be my favorite men’s tennis player. 

Remains of the Day (07/17)

Instagram: Thomas Roberts vs. tight dress pants

Towleroad: Cher has recorded an entire album of ABBA covers

New York Post: Teen student defends teacher accused of inappropriate sex

The Randy Report: The first trailer for "Bohemian Rhapsody" is here

Dlisted: I see marriage hasn't made Prince Harry any less hot

Die Alone With Me: You're not the only one whose online dating experiences are sorely lacking

NYT Magazine: Parker Posey still loves Generation X

BosGuy: Naked yoga, anyone?

The New York Times: Man who posed as ride-share driver accused of raping four women in San Francisco

People: Hollywood offers support to Fred Willard after wife Mary dies at 71

Greg in Hollywood: Outfest 2018 report, starring Rita Moreno, Raul Castillo and Gus Kenworthy

NewNowNext: Here's the first pic from the set of Netflix's "Tales of the City" revival

Mirror: Revealing interview with former Romanian player and Bjorn Borg's first wife, Mariana Simionescu, who says the Swedish legend "was the love of my life"

PinkNews: Great news -- you can have sex with hot Lebanese men all you want! 

Baseline: The Top 10 moments at this year's Wimbledon

Gothamist: Beach umbrella impales woman at Jersey Shore

Savage Love: My lovely mother is cheating on my asshole father -- what should I do?

The Village Voice: When a terrible movie makes for an epic night out

Hot Cats of the Day: Adopt a kitten named after your favorite drag queen

Song of the Day: 'European Son' by Japan

It looks like the winning Laver Cup gang can't get enough of each other, reuniting for lunch in Shanghai! 

Tennis Tuesday

It doesn't look like lightning will be striking twice in the Good Tennis Movies Department -- I've heard the only thing "Borg vs. McEnroe" got right was the Swede's sexy underwear. 

But the trailer certainly isn't hard on the eyes -- Sverrir Gudnason is a dead-ringer for the Bjorn -- and bares all in the shower at 1:40.

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina won in St. Petersburg, claiming his first ATP title with a come-from-behind victory over Fabio Fognini, 3-6 6-4 6-2. As sexy as the fiery Italian is in skimpy briefs and Speedos, I'm glad he lost. His misogynistic ways are just not cute.

Plus Damir's got legs of his own ...

German ginger Peter Gojowczyk also popped his ATP cherry ...

embarrassing Frenchman Benoît Paire 7-5 6-2 for the crown in Metz, France, in what might have been one of the hottest -- and high-haired -- finals of 2017!

At least the French team of  Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin -- the son of 1983 Roland Garros semifinalist Christophe Roger-Vasselin -- delighted the home crowd by capturing the doubles title 7-5, 6-3 over Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak.

If the depth in the tournaments seemed nonexistent, it's partly because everyone and his brother was in Prague competing in the Laver Cup, a newfangled exhibition pitting Europe vs. the rest of the world. 

In what was a surprise to no one, Team Europe (whose players have a combined 36 majors) beat Team World (who have a combined zero -- and not even one major finalist) 15-9 to win the inaugural outing, capped by Roger Federer’s 4-6, 7-6, (11-9) victory over Nick Kyrgios.

I have a lot of issues with these types of events because the top players are always whining about the season being too long, but have no problem traveling halfway around the world for big cash.

 But I'm not going to complain too much about seeing Bjorn Borg "compete" against John McEnroe (as respective captains), seeing what Thomas Enqvist looks like these days (hot as ever!) or adorable moments like this one, above!

In women's action: The seventh time was the charm for Caroline Wozniacki, who won her first title of 2017 in Tokyo after losing in six straight finals. Her 6-0, 7-5 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was an empathic way to end the Danish drought. 

Jelena Ostapenko beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 to win the Korean Open. Although it was a rinky-dink tournament, I'm heartened to see the reigning French Open finally won her SECOND career title.

And finally, Shuai Zhang beats Aleksandra Krunic to win the Guangzhou title. It was the first meeting between the two players, with the No. 2 seed coming out on top with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over the unseeded Serb to reclaim the crown she previously won in 2013.

Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert Catch the Night Fever

These popped up on a Chris Evert Facebook page I'm on. You'd be forgiven if you thought they were taken at Studio 54, when in fact they were taken at the 1976 Wimbledon Champions Ball!

B(j)orn on This Day 60 Years Ago

Before he turned into Ed Begley Jr. and started selling his Wimbledon trophies on Craigslist, Bjorn Borg was one sexy man -- and subject of many pubescent fantasies. Happy birthday to one of the greatest players of all time!

Knife the 'Mac'

Filming of "Borg vs. McEnroe" is reportedly under way, with director Janus Metz Pederson at the helm.  Unlike tennis's Battle of the Sexes, I grew up obsessed with the Borg-McEnroe rivalry. That said, I already lived it -- so I'm not entirely sure I need to see the whole thing being re-enacted, especially with nearly 30-year-old Shia LaBeouf as the very young Johnny Mac ...

and 37-year-old Sverrir Gudnasson as the stylish Swede (Borg retired when he was 26!).

Permageddon 

The One(s) That Got Away

The Trophy That Roger Federer Has Never Won   

This WSJ article focusing on Roger Federer's fifteenth attempt at winning the Italian Open is noteworthy more for the fact that it fails to mention the most famous droughts of all time: Bjorn Borg's nine unsuccessful U.S. Open attempts, the last of which upset him so much it forced him to retire at 26. I guess it's all about the "active" players these days. #yawn

New Book Goes Inside Studio 54

This shot alone of Bjorn Borg and Bianca Jagger would make photographer Hasse Persson's upcoming "Studio 54" worth the price of admission. Somebody's got a birthday coming up in June ...

Order now HERE.

Description:

In 1977, at the height of the disco craze, a club opened at 254 West 54th Street in New York City. Studio 54 was-and, arguably, remains-the world's most renowned and legendary disco. Regularly attended by celebrities such as Andy Warhol, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall, Debbie Harry, Grace Jones, Michael Jackson, Calvin Klein, Elton John, John Travolta, Brooke Shields and Tina Turner, the club fostered an atmosphere of unadulterated hedonism for New York's art and fashion set. Hasse Persson and his camera were frequent club guests from 1977-80. The images he photographed there have become legendary, capturing the club's famed revelers, dancers in costume and general, drunken exhilaration-and yet, incredibly, Studio 54 marks the first time in history that they have seen publication. Almost 35 years after the club's unceremonious and sudden closure, this beautiful hardback volume superbly documents the zeitgeist.

How Swede It Is

 I knew my childhood crush on Bjorn Borg was shared by many other girls, but I had no idea others were as mesmerized by the Swede's Fila as my brother Bill, my friend Greg and I were. The Italian clothier was so exotic and out of reach for three kids from the suburbs, so when we finally came across a tennis shop(pe) that carried it, a sweat band or pair of socks was all we could hope for. (A pair of Ellesse socks at Ross Dress for Less was sadly my greatest tennis victories!) So this little tribute to Borg's Fila warmup jacket in GQ -- wondering why it still has "iconic resonance" today.

Happy Birthday to Bjorn Borg!

The Swedish tennis legend turns 57 today -- ouch. I was so smitten with him in the late '70s and early '80s that I still feel guilty for not ranking him No. 1 on my list of the 100 Hottest Male Tennis Players of the Open Era. Thirty-some years later he still ranks at No. 5, though.

Retro Ad Watch: Bjorn Borg

This blast from the past is for all of you guys who wrote to me expressing outrage over my not ranking Bjorn Borg the hottest tennis player of all time. 

Thursday Ad Watch

 A friend tells me Bjorn Borg underwear is making its way into Uniqlo stores, but I haven't seen any proof of this. Wouldn't they clash with your Novak Djokovic outfit, anyway?

Wednesday Ad Watch

It's hard for me to resist anything that features this sexy photo of Bjorn Borg, let alone an ad for his limited edition Borg/McEnroe briefs.

Classic Moments in Tennis

 

When Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe played in a Volvo Grand Prix Masters round-robin match at Madison Square Garden back in January 1981, one of them received not one, but TWO point penalties for disputing a call during a tiebreaker, and it isn't who you think it is.

In the Same Strip Mall as the Zelda Fitzgerald Center for Mental Well-Being

Just saw in The Buzz section of the new Inside Tennis that Ed Begley Jr. Bjorn Borg has launched a new dating service, Love for All, whose motto is "THE DATING SITE WITH 100% GUARANTEED SUCCESS." I mean really, who better than the oft-near-bankrupt former heartthrob Swede, whose success in the romance department rivals only that of his results at the U.S. Open: His marriage to his childhood sweetheart, tennis player Mariana Simionescu, ended in divorce after he fathered a child with Jannike Bjorling, a teenager he met while judging a wet T-shirt competition (she was a contestant). That also did not last -- surprise! -- but an ugly custody battle for their son, Robin, dragged on for years. In 1989 Borg was married for a second time, to Loredana Berte, a messy Italian rock star who used to appear half-naked and doused in glitter on the cover of her albums. (Her signature song was "Non sono una signora" -- "I Am Not a Lady.") The same year he wed her Borg was taken to a Milan hospital where he had to have his stomach pumped after a drug overdose. (Naturally, Borg denies it was suicide attempt.) Borg divorced Loredana in 1993.. He married wife No. 3, Patricia Ostfeldt, in 2003, and their son, Leo, was born the following year. (They were apparently still together as of post time.)

  

So where do you sign up, you ask? Right HERE! Of course, as this ad indicates, you guys won't have the same problems you've been having with the cult leader over at eHarmony:

 

Roger Federer: Bjorn Again?

Wow, are we already at this point? I know we talk about Roger Federer possibly being the greatest tennis player of all time, but I just realized he's going for his fifth straight Wimbledon -- a record held by Bjorn Borg (1976-80), and a record I never thought would be broken. (Even Pete Sampras -- who won it a record seven times -- was only able to win three in a row.) Although Borg never won the U.S. Open, his six French (Sampras 0, Federer 0) and five Wimbledon titles put him in a class of his own.