“10s Whenever” Newsletter Vol. 156

Written by: Staff on 27th March 2014

"10s Whenever" Newsletter Vol. 156

Swede Stefan Edberg holds the vase which he was awarded 01 July by HRH The Duke of Kent, the Wimbledon president (l) at the Wimbledon Championships. The award was for Edberg's contribution to Wimbledon and tennis. Edberg retired from the game in 1996. |

Stefan Edberg by Richard Evans

Out of the archives

One of the best things about watching the galaxy of stars inter-act at the ATP Heritage dinner at the Waldorf Astoria just before the US Open was the degree to which the world No 1’s were in awe of each other.

John Newcombe and some of the older champions voiced serious admiration for the current top trio of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic while those guys were thrilled to see some of the players who were their idols growing up.

Surprisingly, perhaps, no one shone brighter in this dazzling company than Stefan Edberg. Djokovic had never met him and made a point of saying what a thrill it was to do so while Federer stayed much later than most so that he could have a long conversation with Stefan who was a player he revered while growing up.

It is not difficult to understand why Edberg is held in such high regard. With the possible exception of Rod Laver, I cannot think of a more self-effacing, low key, unfussy champion. While the elegant Swede was winning his two Wimbledons, two US Opens and two Australian Opens, I was constantly left wondering how such a super star could be quite so normal and charming. The fact that he always took the tube to get about London when he lived in the city was just one small example of how he handled his fame.

Edberg did, in fact, need a little bit of pep talk and some personality coaching from Tony Pickard, the former British player who became his coach and life long friend from an early age. There was nothing retiring about Pickard who always strutted about as if he had just won Wimbledon. He was very conscious of body language and when he started working with the handsome, blond teenager he didn’t like what he saw.

Slumped shoulders and a chin that rolled about on his chest was not, in Pickard’s view, the image of a champion. “Get your chin up! Walk tall!” was the message and Edberg was transformed. Being such a beautiful physical specimen anyway, it did not take much to turn him into a figure who commanded attention the moment he walked on court. He even developed a little skip as he turned in mid-court after missing his first serve. Just a little gesture that told his opponent that it was not a disaster – he had his big kicker to come.

Pickard will be the first to tell you that he didn’t teach Edberg his one handed backhand – Percy Rosberg, who also coached Bjorn Borg in his formative years, was responsible for that. But he taught him a work ethic and how to train and get fit. Tony pushed him hard but Stefan, revealing the steel that lay beneath the soft exterior, did everything mentor asked of him.

It was the same with the titles he won. Australian came quite easily to him. He had won the junior title Down Under and reveled in the sunshine while playing in front of those Swedish students who used to give all their players such noisy support — winning at Kooyong on grass in 1985 and on Rebound Ace at what was then called Flinders Park in 1987. Wimbledon was his cup of tea, too. Tradition and elegance and a proper way of doing things were factors that made Edberg very comfortable at the All England Club and he reached three consecutive finals there between 1988 and 1990.

The US Open was a different story. New York grated on Edberg’s nerves. He didn’t enjoy the rough and tumble or the smell of hamburgers that drifted on the outside courts at Flushing Meadow and, for years, he never played his best tennis there. Once again Pickard came to the rescue. “Listen, we’re going to get the best hotel; eat at the best restaurants and spend as little time on site as possible. And you’re going to concentrate.”

Edberg’s response was to win back to back US titles in 1991 and 1992 – victories I consider to be his greatest achievements. Unlike his great rival Boris Becker — or Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras for that matter – Edberg did get as far as the final at Roland Garros but lost to 17-year-old Michael Chang. It was a match he knew he should have won.

Because Becker was such a huge, dominating personality, it was the big German who kept on hogging the headlines and he did, indeed, have a winning record over Edberg. But not necessarily when it really mattered. The first and third of those Wimbledon finals were won with victories over Becker in the final after Boris had won the second. And, in Davis Cup, too, Edberg usually had the last word when Sweden played Germany. Stefan was on four winning Davis Cup teams in the halcyon years of Swedish tennis.

The story that typifies Stefan Edberg for me entails a Davis Cup final between Sweden and the United States in Gothenburg not long after he had retired. A group of us were leaving the Scandinavium arena after play one snowy night and a boy of about eleven was standing in the cold waiting to get autographs and pictures of his heroes. Jonas Svensson was one of the new stars of the Swedish team and the boy immediately asked for his autograph and then, as an after thought, handed his little camera to someone standing nearby and asked if he would mind taking a photograph of him with Svensson.

Ignoring the irony, Stefan took the picture and handed the camera back with just the hint of a wry smile. Fame is fleeting but it never really worried this exceptional champion.

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