Stefan Edberg during his visit at the Tennis Warehouse shop

from L'Alsace.fr (21.05.2010)
by Estelle Bloch
translated into English by La Zingara

Former number one, the Swede Stefan Edberg was on Wednesday in Illkirch for a quick autograph session with his fans.

Same smile, a little bit shy, same blond hair, still in a great body shape: even fifteen years after retiring as a pro, Stefan Edberg has not changed. The former number one (in 1990) was on Wednesday at Tennis Warehouse in Illkirch (an Internet tennis seller), for an autograph session with around thirty fans, mostly women between 35 and 40 years old, like this women team from the Entzheim Tennis Club.

That’s not really a surprise: the Swede is still charming, stylish and… popular ! He is as discrete as at the time of his serve and volley style and his wonderful backhands. He’s living now in Sweden, with his wife and their two kids (13 and 17 years old). He’s only following tennis with one eye, he’s too busy with his finance and real estate business. But he’s still training twice or three times a week with Magnus Larsson, a former Top Ten player.

Roland Garros memories from 1983

Stefan Edberg remembers his first visit in Strasbourg, it was to sign a contract with a sponsor. It was back in 1984, at the beginning of his career, but a little bit after what is now his best French memory: Roland Garros 1983… He was watching the final between Noah and Wilander, after his victory at the Junior tournament, he never succeeded on the Professional Tour. “I have good memories, bad memories and very bad memories there… I have never felt comfortable on clay”.

His tennis achievement could leave some players jealous: 42 Singles titles, 6 Grand Slam titles, 18 doubles titles and 4 Davis Cups. For Roland Garros 2010, no surprise, he sees Nadal winning “one more time”, even if “Federer is fantastic to watch, he needs a little bit of luck”.

And for those who missed him in Illkirch, you can still catch up in Paris: there is a humorist who named his one-man-show “How Stefan Edberg changed my life”. That put a smile on the Swede’s face, surprised and even a little bit uncomfortable by the idea. But he’s not curious enough to go and have a look at it in Paris next week: for him, Roland Garros will be “a few matches on TV”, and nothing more.

Read the original article in French