Bjorn Borg is a former world No. 1 tennis player from Sweden widely considered to be one of the greatest in tennis history.

Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic have dominated tennis in the last 10 years but during the 1970s and 80s the Swede was simply a sensation.

He captured 11 grand slams during eight years of dominance, including six French Opens and five Wimbledon titles, though he never won the US Open despite reaching four finals, or the Australian Open.

Bjorg, who turns 60 today, was just 18 when he won the 1974 French Open and looked like he would overtake Roy Emerson’s 12 grand slams when he won it for a sixth time in 1981 to take him to 11.

He had helped propel the rising popularity of tennis, but Bjorg’s flame burned all too fleetingly.

The game became more lucrative but rising attention and pressure resulted in burnout and contributed to his retirement, aged just 26, in 1983.

 Other sporting stars born on this day:

1940: Willie John McBride, Irish former rugby player who won 17 caps for the Lions and toured five times (76).

1957: Mike Gatting, English ex-cricketer who captained his country 23 times, scoring over 4,000 Test runs (59).

1966: Tony Yeboah, Ghanaian footballer scored one of Premier League’s most iconic goals (below) at Leeds United (50).

1983: Joe Rokocoko, All Blacks’ Fijian-born winger who scored 46 tries in 68 Tests for New Zealand (33).