Stefan Edberg

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Stefan Edberg
Country (sports) Sweden
ResidenceVäxjö, Sweden
Height6 ft 2 in (187 cm)
Turned pro1983
Retired1996
PlaysRight; One-handed backhand
Prize money$20,630,941
Singles
Career record806-270
Career titles42
Highest rankingNo. 1 (August 13, 1990)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (1985, 1987)
French OpenF (1989)
WimbledonW (1988, 1990)
US OpenW (1991, 1992)
Doubles
Career record283-153
Career titles18
Highest rankingNo. 1 (June 9, 1986)
Last updated on: August 19, 2006.
Olympic medal record
Men's Tennis
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul Singles
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul Doubles

Stefan Bengt Edberg (born January 19, 1966 in Västervik, Sweden) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player (in both singles and doubles play) from Sweden. During his career, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam doubles titles. Edberg is well known as one of the best serve and volley players of all time, for his superb volleying skills, and as a gentleman and ambassador for the sport.

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, 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, 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.

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 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).

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 [citation needed] (broken by Wayne Ferreira) [citation needed]. 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, USA.

Trivia

  • Edberg won singles titles in 12 different countries: Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
  • Edberg was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1990.
  • Edberg was involved in a freak accident during the boys' singles final at the 1983 US 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.[1]
  • A childhood hero of current world number 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 throughout the forth and fifth sets. He eventually led the match by a break in the fifth set, but could not win it.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (6)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1985 Australian Open Sweden Mats Wilander 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
1987 Australian Open (2) Australia Pat Cash 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3
1988 Wimbledon Germany Boris Becker 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
1990 Wimbledon (2) Germany Boris Becker 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4
1991 U.S. Open United States Jim Courier 6-2, 6-4, 6-0
1992 U.S. Open (2) United States Pete Sampras 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-2

Runner-ups (5)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1989 French Open United States Michael Chang 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
1989 Wimbledon Germany Boris Becker 6-0, 7-6, 6-4
1990 Australian Open Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 4-6, 7-6, 5-2 retired
1992 Australian Open United States Jim Courier 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
1993 Australian Open United States Jim Courier 6-2, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5

Grand Slam men's doubles finals

Wins (3)

Year Championship Partnering Opponents in Final Score/Final
1987 Australian Open Sweden Anders Jarryd Australia Peter Doohan
Australia Laurie Warder		 6-4, 6-4, 7-6
1987 U.S. Open Sweden Anders Jarryd United States Ken Flach
United States Robert Seguso		 7-6, 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6
1996 Australian Open (2) Czechoslovakia Petr Korda United States Alex O'Brien
Canada Sebastien Lareau		 7-5, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1

Runner-ups (2)

Year Championship Partnering Opponents in Final Score/Final
1984 U.S. Open Sweden Anders Jarryd Australia John Fitzgerald
Czechoslovakia Tomas Smid		 7-6, 6-3, 6-3
1986 French Open Sweden Anders Jarryd Australia John Fitzgerald
Czechoslovakia Tomas Smid		 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 14-12

Masters Series singles finals

Wins (4)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1990 Indian Wells United States Andre Agassi 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6
1990 Cincinnati United States Brad Gilbert 6-1, 6-1
1990 Paris Germany Boris Becker 3-3 Ret.
1992 Hamburg Germany Michael Stich 5-7, 6-4, 6-1

Runner-ups (5)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1990 Key Biscane United States Andre Agassi 6-1, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2
1990 Stockholm Germany Boris Becker 6-4, 6-0, 6-3
1991 Stockholm Germany Boris Becker 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
1993 Cincinnati United States Michael Chang 7-5, 0-6, 6-4
1994 Cincinnati United States Michael Chang 6-2, 7-5

Singles titles (42)

  • 1984 (2) – Milan(Indoor Carpet), Los Angeles Olympics (demonstration sport)(Hardcourt)
  • 1985 (4) – Memphis(Indoor Carpet), San Francisco(Indoor Carpet), Basel(Indoor Hardcourt), Australian Open(Grass)
  • 1986 (3) – Gstaad(Clay), Basel(Indoor Hardcourt), Stockholm(Indoor Carpet)
  • 1987 (7) – Australian Open(Grass), Memphis(Indoor Carpet), Rotterdam(Indoor Carpet), Tokyo Outdoor(Hardcourt), Cincinnati(Hardcourt), Tokyo Indoor(Indoor Carpet), Stockholm(Indoor Carpet)
  • 1988 (3) – Rotterdam(Indoor Carpet), Wimbledon(Grass), Basel(Indoor Hardcourt)
  • 1989 (2) – Tokyo Outdoor(Hardcourt), Masters(Indoor Carpet)
  • 1990 (7) – Indian Wells(Hardcourt), Tokyo Outdoor(Hardcourt), Wimbledon(Grass), Los Angeles(Hardcourt), Cincinnati(Hardcourt), Long Island(Hardcourt), Paris Indoor(Indoor Carpet)
  • 1991 (6) – Stuttgart Indoor(Indoor Carpet), Tokyo Outdoor(Hardcourt), Queen's Club(Grass), U.S. Open(Hardcourt), Sydney Indoor(Indoor Hardcourt), Tokyo Indoor(Indoor Carpet)
  • 1992 (3) – Hamburg(Clay), New Haven(Hardcourt), U.S. Open(Hardcourt)
  • 1993 (1) – Madrid(Clay)
  • 1994 (3) – Doha(Hardcourt), Stuttgart Indoor(Indoor Carpet), Washington, D.C.(Hardcourt)
  • 1995 (1) – Doha(Hardcourt)

Doubles titles (18)

  • 1984 (1) - Hamburg
  • 1985 (4) - Bastad, Brussels, Cincinnati, Doubles Masters
  • 1986 (3) - Los Angeles, Doubles Masters, Rotterdam
  • 1987 (6) - Montreal/Toronto, Australian Open, Bastad, Rotterdam, Stockholm, US Open
  • 1991 (1) - Tokyo Outdoor
  • 1993 (1) - Monte Carlo
  • 1995 (1) - Doha
  • 1996 (1) - Australian Open

Singles performance timeline

Tournament 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A 2R QF W NH W SF QF F SF F F SF 4R 2R 2 / 13 56-11
French Open A A 2R QF 2R 2R 4R F 1R QF 3R QF 1R 2R 4R 0 / 13 30-13
Wimbledon A 2R 2R 4R 3R SF W F W SF QF SF 2R 2R 2R 2 / 14 49-12
U.S. Open A 1R 2R 4R SF SF 4R 4R 1R W W 2R 3R 3R QF 2 / 14 43-12
Win-Loss 0-0 1-3 6-4 16-3 8-3 17-3 18-3 19-3 13-3 21-3 19-4 16-4 8-4 7-4 9-4 N/A 178-48
SR 0 / 0 0 / 3 0 / 4 1 / 4 0 / 3 1 / 4 1 / 4 0 / 4 1 / 4 1 / 4 1 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 6 / 54 N/A
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics NH NH W NH NH NH SF NH NH NH 1R NH NH NH NH
Year-End Championship
Masters A A A 1R SF SF SF W F A RR RR RR A A 1 / 9
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters A A A A A F 2R 2R W SF A 2R SF SF 2R 1 / 9
Miami Masters A A A QF SF QF A A F SF 3R QF QF 2R 4R 0 / 10
Monte Carlo Masters A A A A SF 2R A A 3R 2R A SF SF 1R 2R 0 / 8
Rome Masters A A 2R A A A A A A A A A A QF QF 0 / 3
Hamburg Masters A A 1R A A A A A A QF W 3R 2R A A 1 / 5
Canada Masters A A A QF F F 2R A A A A A A 2R A 0 / 5
Cincinnati Masters A A QF QF SF W F F W QF SF F F 1R 2R 2 / 13
Stuttgart Masters A A A A A A A A A W F A W A 2R 2 / 4
Paris Masters A A A A A A A F W 3R QF SF 2R A QF 1 / 7

Note 1: These events were designated as the 'Masters Series' only after the ATP took over the running of the men's tour in 1990.

Note 2: The 1984 Olympic Games event was a demonstration event.

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Quote

  • "If he hadn't lived," Edberg later said of Van Allen, "Michael and I might still be out there playing!"
    • Background : Jimmy Van Allen (famed for his invention of the tennis tiebreak) died on the same day in 1991 that Michael Stich narrowly defeated Edberg in a Wimbledon semifinal 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 7-6(2) where Edberg did not lose his serve.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sporting Life" Accessed 28 January 2007.
Preceded by Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Ivan Lendl
Boris Becker
Boris Becker
Jim Courier
Jim Courier
 World No. 1
August 13, 1990 - January 27, 1991
February 18, 1991 - July 7, 1991
September 9, 1991 - February 9, 1992
March 23, 1992 - April 12, 1992
September 14, 1992 - October 4, 1992 		Succeeded by
Boris Becker
Boris Becker
Jim Courier
Jim Courier
Jim Courier
Preceded by
Ivan Lendl
 ITF World Champion
1991 		Succeeded by
Jim Courier
Preceded by United Press International
Athlete of the Year
1990 		Succeeded by
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