Stefan Edberg, Quiet, Cool, Fast-Surface Tennis Specialist

Career

Edberg first came to the tennis world's attention as a junior player. He won all four of the Grand Slam junior titles in 1983 to become the first-ever player to achieve the "Junior Grand Slam."

As a professional, Stefan Edberg won his first career doubles title in Basel in 1983 and his first top-level singles title at Milan in 1984.

Edberg's first two Grand Slam singles titles came at the Australian Open. In 1985, he defeated Mats Wilander in straight sets to claim his first major title. Two years later, he beat Pat Cash in five sets to win the last Australian Open held on grass courts. Edberg also won the Australian Open and U.S. Open men's doubles titles in 1987 (partnering fellow-Swede Anders Järryd).

In 1988, Stefan Edberg reached the first of three consecutive finals at Wimbledon. In all three finals, he played Boris Becker. Edberg won their first encounter in a four-set match spread over three days because of rain delays. A year later, Becker won in straight sets. The closest of their matches came in the 1990 final, when Edberg won in five sets.

Stefan Edberg claimed the World No. 1 ranking in August 1990 by winning the Cincinnati Masters. He held it for the rest of that year and for much of 1991 and 1992.

Edberg's final two Grand Slam singles triumphs came at the U.S. Open, with wins over Jim Courier in the 1991 final and Pete Sampras in the 1992 final, who was just months away from being ranked No. 1 in the world.

Edberg's last Grand Slam singles final appearances were at the Australian Open, where he lost in four sets to Jim Courier in both 1992 and 1993.

In 1996, Edberg won his third Grand Slam doubles title at Australian Open with Petr Korda.

The only Grand Slam singles title Stefan Edberg never won was the French Open. He reached the French Open final in 1989 but lost in five sets to 17-year old Michael Chang, who became the youngest ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title.

Edberg was most comfortable playing tennis on fast-playing surfaces. Of his six Grand Slam singles titles, four were won on grass courts at the Australian Open (1985 and 1987) and Wimbledon (1988 and 1990) and two were won on hardcourts at the US Open (1991 and 1992).

Distinctions and honors

• Stefan Edberg also played on four Swedish Davis Cup winning teams in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1994. He appeared in seven Davis Cup finals—a record for a Swedish player.
• Edberg was also a member of the Swedish teams that won the World Team Cup in 1988, 1991, and 1995.
• At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where tennis was a demonstration sport, Edberg won the men's singles gold medal. Four years later, at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, tennis became a full medal sport and Edberg won bronze medals in both the men's singles and the men's doubles.
• During his career, Edberg won a total of 42 top-level singles titles and 18 doubles titles and appeared in a then record 54 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments (since then broken by Wayne Ferreira).
• He was ranked the World No. 1 for a total of 72 weeks.
• Edberg was also a five-time recipient of the Association of Tennis Professionals' (ATP) Sportsmanship Award (1988-90, 1992, and 1995). In recognition of this achievement, the ATP renamed the award the "Edberg Sportsmanship Award" in 1996.
• In 2004, Edberg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, United States.
• Edberg won singles titles in 12 different countries: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Edberg was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1990.
• Edberg was a childhood hero of current World No. 1 Roger Federer.
• Edberg is one of the few players who reached the final of all four Grand Slam tournaments, winning three of them. In the 1989 French Open final, Edberg lead the match by two sets to one over Michael Chang and had numerous break points during the fourth and fifth sets. He eventually led the match by a break in the fifth set but could not win it.
• Stefan Edberg won several Grand Slam matches after being down a break of service in the fifth and deciding set. Notable examples include the 1988 Wimbledon semifinal against Miloslav Mečíř, the 1989 French Open semifinal against Boris Becker, and the 1990 Wimbledon final against Becker. In the 1992 U.S. Open, Edberg did it in three consecutive matches, against Richard Krajicek in the fourth round, Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals, and Chang in the semifinals.
• Edberg's distinctive serve is used as the logo for the Australian Open.

Trivia

• Edberg was involved in a freak accident during the boys' singles final at the 1983 U.S. Open, when Richard Wertheim, a linesman, was struck in the groin by a ball struck by Edberg. Wertheim fell backwards, fracturing his skull, and died in hospital shortly thereafter.
• Stefan Edberg is a supporter of English football team Leeds United.

Go to the List of Male and Female Tennis Players

Source of this article: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia