Sven Lennart Bergelin (10 June 1925 – 4 November 2008) was a Swedish

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player and coach. As a player, for AIK, Bergelin won nine Swedish championship singles titles between 1945 and 1955, and the French Open doubles title in 1948. Bergelin is best known for his work with

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at ...

, whom he trained between 1971 and 1983, helping him to win 11 Grand Slam tournaments. Bergelin also captained Sweden to its first Davis Cup title.Lennart Bergelin, Bjorn Borg's coach, dies at 83
''International Herald Tribune'', 4 November 2008.

Tennis career

During a ten-year period, between 1946 and 1955, Bergelin was ranked among the top 10 amateur players in the world, reaching World No. 9 in John Olliff's 1948 amateur rankings. He won 20 national championships (9 singles and 11 doubles) and became the first Swedish player ever to win a grand slam, as he and Jaroslav Drobný won the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

doubles championship in 1948. Bergelin played 89

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

matches representing Sweden and won 63 of these. He played the last DC game, at the age of 40, together with

Jan-Erik Lundqvist Jan-Erik Lundqvist (born 14 April 1937) is a Swedish former international tennis player. During the entire 1960s he was Sweden's best tennis player. At the height of his career, he won at least 35 international titles and played 91 Davis Cup- ...

. Between 1971 and 1976, Bergelin captained the Swedish DC team and in 1975 he led them to victory as they defeated

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in the finals. Bergelin was awarded the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury l ...

in 1950.

Coaching career

Between 1974 and 1981, he and Björn Borg won 11 Grand Slam titles (6 French Open and 5 Wimbledon) of 16 Grand Slam finals became the first player-coach combination who won more than 10 major titles in the Open-era. During this period helped Borg become the first player in the Open Era to win three majors without dropping a set. Borg remains the only male player to win the Channel-Slam (French Open, Wimbledon back-to-back wins) in the same year for 3 consecutive years. Furthermore, as of today, his protege still holds a number of records; winning 41 consecutive sets at French Open (1979-1981) and being undefeated for 41 consecutive matches in Wimbledon (1976-1981).

Death

Bergelin died in 2008. According to Peter Bengtsson, a spokesman for the

Swedish Tennis Association Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used ...

, he died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

at a Stockholm hospital.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (1 title)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergelin, Lennart 1925 births 2008 deaths Swedish male tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles French Championships junior (tennis) champions French Championships (tennis) champions Swedish tennis coaches People from Alingsås