From an interview with Steve Tignor:
When did Björn Borg have his burnout?
In 1981. That’s when he quit.
He lost to McEnroe in Wimbledon in 1981.
Borg first realized what was happening when he lost to McEnroe in 1980 at the US Open. He told his coach, this is it, I can’t do this anymore—he was tired of it. Then he lost to McEnroe in 1981 at Wimbledon. McEnroe said that Borg looked relieved when he lost that match. When Borg lost the final of the US Open in 1981 to McEnroe, he just walked off the court, didn’t stick around for the trophy ceremony, just walked out and left and never came back. He was done, completely done with tennis.
And Wimbledon 1980 is still considered the greatest final ever?
Wimbledon 1980, and then Federer and Nadal in 2008, those are the two greatest. Borg won in 1980, but that was probably the first time that he thought he could lose. McEnroe pushed him further than he’d ever been pushed.
It was five sets.
Five sets, famous tiebreaker. 18-16. That’s what everybody remembers from that match.
From an interview with Thomas Herzog:
You say history is only linear if the observer is included. Are we talking about the same history?
Pretty much, I think. It’s space and time history.
Then it’s possible that in the ensemble of possible universes Napoleon won against Wellington.
If there is a history where Napoleon won against Wellington then there is an observer who lives in that history, whose observations would agree with that statement.
Not Napoleon’s great-great-great-great-great-grandson. It’s not that kind of thing?
No, not that kind of thing.
It’s the question you ask.
My thinking has evolved a little since the top-down approach. We’ve implemented this mathematically in a much more concrete manner. In doing that I haven’t really considered those examples.