John McEnroe

Eindhoven: John McEnroe beat Bjorn Borg 7-6, 7-6 in a veterans’ tour match on Friday just over 26 years after defeating the Swede in the Wimbledon final.

Both players showed all of their old magic, skill and determination in a thrilling clash with McEnroe saving set points in both sets before battling to victory.

It was their first meeting on the Tour of Champions for five years after Borg, winner of 11 Grand Slams, returned to competitive action in August following a six-year absence.

“The greatest matches I’ve ever played in my life have been against Bjorn, and I just want to say to him, welcome back to the Tour of Champions,” the 48-year-old McEnroe was quoted as saying in a release.

“He’s a freak of nature. He’s still so fit and I was getting a little nervous at the end because it’s a huge crowd here and any time I play Bjorn you don’t know you’ve won until the end.”

McEnroe has also expressed concern about the threat of a fully-blown gambling scandal in tennis, and the possibility that players will be found to have been “making a cheap buck” by taking bribes to throw matches.

A number of men’s players have disclosed that they have been offered money to deliberately lose, but the ATP Tour have said that they are yet to come across any evidence of corrupt professionals accepting the bribes.

“I’m worried for tennis. It’s a cheap way to make a buck. But throw them out — if players are making a living doing it, throwing matches for money, then if they get caught they should be severely punished,” McEnroe said.