The 69-year-old former sportsman – who retired from the game at the age of 26 – has regular nocturnal visions of being about to face a high-profile opponent, but always wakes up before getting onto the court.

He told the Times newspaper: “It could be against [Jimmy] Connors or [John] McEnroe.

“But it could also be [Roger] Federer; it could be [Rafael] Nadal.”

Asked if he wins, he said: “I never get that far.”

Bjorn retired with 11 major titles but doesn’t stop to think about how many more he could have won if he had kept playing for longer.

He said: “No, because that’s not part of my personality.”

But the Swede insisted the game was different in his era and players didn’t worry too much about their “stats” or legacy.

He said: “I could have done different things to get the stats much better but we didn’t care.”

“If I had gone to Australia more, I could have won a few times. Definitely.

“It was grass then. That’s one thing. And if I had continued to play, maybe I could — who knows — maybe I could have won more tournaments or maybe more grand-slams, too. I’m careful to say.”