Niels Visker missed a large part of last tennis year due to a shoulder injury. In recent months, the Lagelander has been pain-free on the track again. On Thursday afternoon, Visker defeated the second-seeded crowd favorite Leo Borg, the son of tennis legend Björn Borg, in Kalmar, Sweden.
Niels Visker (ATP-1317) met Leo Borg, who celebrated his twentieth birthday on Monday, in the second round of the Kalmar clay court tournament. The Lagelander was not impressed by the tennis player with his world-famous father and surprisingly won in two sets (7-6, 6-3) against the Swede, who is almost nine hundred places higher in the world ranking.
Leo Borg was the tennis player who made the biggest jump in the world rankings last year. The Swede climbed more than 1500 places. He is currently 450th in the ATP world rankings. At the tournament in his home country he was seeded second.
Famous namesakes
,,He is of course the son of, but I have played against special players before this year”, says Visker from Sweden. ,,I played tennis against the brother of Matteo Berrettini and the brother of Stéfanos Tsitsipás. There are a few of those types of players around. It’s no different for me to play against them.”
Björn Borg, winner of eleven grand slams, was missing from the stands in Kalmar on Thursday afternoon. “I understand that too. Maybe his son doesn’t like it when he’s in the stands.”
Visker saw clear similarities between Leo Borg and his father. ,,He looks just like his father, with that long, blond hair, but they differ in terms of game. It is also difficult to compare, times have changed. What struck me in any case was that Leo Borg is not very comfortable with the net.”
Sporty wish
During the match against Visker, the young Swede was quite verbally present. “He was a bit irritable and was sometimes cursing a lot. He is of course still young and at that age you can still learn a lot mentally. After the game he was very sporty. He congratulated me on the win and wished me luck in the quarterfinals. There are a lot of players who can’t get that over their lips after a defeat.”
Visker will meet a good acquaintance in the quarterfinals in Lewie Lane on Friday. The Lagelander occasionally trains with the German, who, like Visker, has had a lot of injuries. “I am happy that I won two rounds. The results were somewhat behind this season. For me, the tournament is only just starting.”