Stefan Edberg - The quiet virtuoso turns 55
Today Stefan Edberg celebrates his 55th birthday. The Swede impressed with his style and his sense of style.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 18, 2021, 04:09 pm
The late 1970s, then the 1980s - what a golden age it was for manufacturers of tennis clothing! The inclined fan could see enough of his idols for a long time. And he actually saw these stars in the same clothes for a long time! Boris Becker in Puma, as does Martina Navratilova. Nike first really stepped on the scene with Andre Agassi, but then at full speed. The Austrians followed Thomas Muster to the lottery. And then there was also Adidas, where one day Ivan Lendl appeared with something unheard of on his left chest: his initials, represented in geometric shapes.
That fitted in with Lendl's image, which looked rather angular on the tennis court. Carefully worded. In stark contrast to Stefan Edberg, who moved extremely smoothly (and quietly) across the court, mainly in the direction of the net (which was good in that Edberg's forehand was pretty average for a player in his class). Not that Adidas built Edberg as the opposite of Lendl, but the fact that the Swede also appeared with his initials on his jersey not long after the exiled Czech took away the other side of the fan universe.
Edberg wins Wimbledon twice
Stefan Edberg, who is celebrating his 55th birthday today, achieved something as a junior that was and has remained unique: in 1983 he won all four Grand Slam tournaments, starting with the French Open, the season was still towards the end of the year in Australia. It was there that Edberg picked up his first two of a total of six majors, 1985 and 1987, both on grass.
In 1988 and 1990 he beat Boris Becker in the Wimbledon final, against whom he otherwise had a poor record (10:25, including several meetings in the Davis Cup). In 1989, Edberg had a great chance against Becker to win at Roland Garros. But lost the final against the amazing Michael Chang. Two titles followed at the US Open (1991 and 1992), and Edberg won a total of 18 tournaments.
The brilliance on the net helped Edberg further on the net, with partner Anders Järryd he won two majors early in his career, at the side of Petr Korda in 1996 at the end of his career again the Australian Open.
Return as a coach from Federer
After that, Stefan Edberg, who has long since returned to Sweden after many years in London, was rarely anywhere near the professional tennis scene. Until the call of Roger Federer overtook him at the end of 2013. Edberg preached an even more offensive approach during his time as a super coach, but the two were still denied a joint major title. The 2015 Wimbledon final, in which Edberg met his old rival Becker again, was particularly memorable. The German had the better end for himself as Novak Djokovic's coach.
At the end of this tennis year, Federer and Edberg parted ways, as it turned out a few years later in Federer's last Wimbledon victory: After the maestro's eighth title, Stefan Edberg and his wife were one of the first to congratulate him. Today the congratulations go in the opposite direction.