from Cityam.com
by Frank Dalleres

Stefan Edberg with his coach Tony Pickard (picture by Tob Gonsch)

BRITAIN’S Laura Robson has made the right decision in jettisoning a third coach in 18 months, according to former world No1 Stefan Edberg.

The Swede, who won five of his six grand slam titles under British coach Tony Pickard, believes Robson, 19, can improve by focusing on honing her strengths rather than trying to eliminate her weaknesses.

Robson parted ways with Andy Murray’s former aide Miles Maclagan last week, just four months after joining forces. That followed a nine-month spell under Croatian Zeljko Krajan.

"Maybe having a lot of coaches isn’t the best situation but, equally, if you stay with the wrong person and do not make a decision that is probably worse," Edberg said.

"People often talk about how you should work on your weaknesses. For me it was the forehand from the baseline. But I was more concerned with strengthening my strengths."

from Smålandsposten 
by Sven Elofsson
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg poses with the PlaySight Smart Court device installed in the Södra Climate Arena

SMART COURT. What do London, New York and Växjö have in common in tennis? The answer is all three have got winners in the Grand Slam tournaments, but now also PlaySight Smart Court, a technological system, currently being installed at the Södra Climate Arena.

«If we want to be at the forefront as development center, we must take on the best devices available», says former pro Magnus Larsson. He and his colleagues in Ready Play Tennis Carl-Axel Hageskog and Stefan Edberg have just had visits by Israeli company Play Sight that installed computers and cameras in the hall.

Roughly speaking, it is possible to do the following: four cameras are placed on the four corners of the tennis court and one main camera in the middle of one side. Players log in the computer systems. Each shot on the court is  recorded automatically through the cameras of the computer. Throughout the session you know if your serve is inside or outside the lines, the speed of your serves and other data. After finishing the match, you go to a 3D screen for analyzing the data. You can see yourself playing on the monitor and you'll get more statistics than the ones reported on the TV screen after the pro tour matches.

by Mauro Cappiello

The ATP World Tour celebrated the 40th anniversary of the introduction of computer rankings with a great parade of number ones at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York last night. 18 former singles ranking leaders, and the current man on top, Novak Djokovic, were present at the gala night that was streamed live by the ATP World Tour official website.

Among those super champions, with the elegance we are all used to, was also Stefan Edberg. «What a great idea! These occasions are very special, so everyone should make their best effort to come», he said in a short video interview. Actually it was a unique meeting among some of the greatest names in the history of the game and a nice melting between the very best of the present and the past.

by Mauro Cappiello

STE...fans, the only real tribute to Stefan Edberg on the web, turns 12 years old

Our website gets one more year older and, even though it’s still young, it has already come a long way. The Stefan Edberg project we have started from a blank page 12 years ago has reached a popularity and an authoritativeness that can’t be ignored.

I was thinking this morning that maybe there’s not been one single day since July 2001 that has ended without a little update, a little brick to make the website more complete or more graphically attractive. And I was also thinking: how many amateur sites, with no real sponsors and no organization behind, in a place like the Internet (where even heavily sponsored projects start and die every day) can proudly say to have such a long history behind and such a bright future ahead?

A birthday present for STE...fans! Make a small Paypal donation clicking the image above

I would like to start thanking all the people who have been supporting STE…fans in many ways. Contributing exclusive content, just like the live video from the Hall of Fame induction we have shared a few days ago. Or making Paypal donations that have all been invested in purchasing new (old) stuff from eBay to make the site richer.

Growing popularity
Since our landing on the social networks, a little more than three years ago (we started a Facebook page on June 15th, 2010) the interactivity with the fans has grown a lot. Further contribution to the new dimension of our project has been given by the site’s new version launched just two years ago, on the day of its tenth anniversary.

After two days walking around the Wimbledon courts, taking pictures with the fans and releasing interviews for the local media, Stefan Edberg was finally spotted on the Wimbledon Centre Court in the day of the men's semifinals.

Just like last year, when he came earlier in the first week of the event to watch Roger Federer's second round match against Fabio Fognini, he was invited in the Royal Box, along with Annette Olsen (last year he was with his long time coach Tony Pickard).

Stefan and Annette watched the semifinals of the men's singles tournament Novak Djokovic vs Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Murray vs Jerzy Janowicz from the first to the last point and, from what we saw, they were both very happy with the tennis quality and really involved in the development of both matches.

They were framed eight times by the TV cameras on the Centre Court. In this three minute and a half HD720 video clip, we patiently collected all the moments they appeared on TV with comments by Boris Becker and John McEnroe. There are also some screenshots from this nice British Friday afternoon.

from Sports Football Magazine
by Carl Huybrechts
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

In 1995 Dick Norman - who retired as a professional tennis player - experienced his moment of glory with a fourth round at Wimbledon. Sports / Football Magazine talked with him about his memories of his famous win against Stefan Edberg.

Stefan Edberg and Dick Norman shake hands just after Stefan's shock exit in the second round of Wimbledon 1995

After a surprising victory in the first round against Pat Cash, waiting for him in the second round on the sacred grass of Wimbledon Court one was Stefan Edberg: number sixteen of the world and winner in 1988 and 1990. Norman: "I feared for a massacre, three times 6/2 or something. The night before the game I called Libor Pimek, with whom I played twice: he wanted to change racket and wanted to test my Wilson. "Let's hit a ball," I suggested. To relax a little...».

«I took his Head and... Unbelievable! I hit a lot harder than with my racket. A fantastic feeling. «Libor, give me three rackets. I will play against Edberg with your Heads.» But he talked to me straight. "Do not, Dick ... You are playing good."»

«That night I asked the stringer to measure the balance and weight of Libor's racket and adapt my Wilsons. The guy has huge lead weights attached to it.» (Laughs)

from IG Passivhus Sverige
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

A rendering of the Södra Climate Arena winning project by Danish architect Kent Pedersen

The 2013 "Swedish Architecture Prize for passive" was awarded. The international jury chose the world's first passive tennis hall in Växjö. The hall was built entirely in wood in the mission of Södra Timber and is run by Stefan Edberg's company Ready Play.

The "Swedish architecture prize for passive" competition was published for the first time in 2013 by Intressegruppen Passivhus Sverige. Among the projects are strong examples of energy-efficient buildings associated with good architecture. The award, which will be given annually, is intended to stimulate and motivate a development which is working to build efficient passive in conjunction with good design, function, durability and comfort.

The winner of the first prize of 10,000 SEK was Denmark's Kent Pedersen Architect Company for passive tennis hall Södra Climate Arena in Växjö. The tennis hall was built in the "Europe's greenest city" in the mission of Södra Timber. Behind the company Ready Play who runs the hall there are three tennis personalities, Stefan Edberg, Magnus Larsson and Carl-Axel Hageskog.

from Around the Rings.com

Stefan Edberg with squash player Gregory Gaultier during last year's CASE Swedish Open in Linköping

Andre Agassi, Kim Clijsters and Stefan Edberg have followed fellow tennis legend Roger Federer in backing Squash to be added to the Olympic Games programme in 2020.

"Squash is absolutely one of the best/toughest sports," said Agassi, the eight-time Grand Slam champion and Olympic gold medallist in 1996. "The Games would be proud!"

Federer was one of the first leading tennis players to pledge support for his fellow racket sport: "I think it's a wonderful sport. It's unfortunate some sports don't get the opportunity to be in the Olympics - I think squash would deserve it."

from Svd.se
by Jonas Arnesen
Translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

In the spring of 1983, the Swedish Davis Cup team began the amazing journey that brought to seven straight finals. This weekend Sweden will be fighting to regain a place in the World Group. How did we get to this point? SvD.se tennis reporter Jonas Arnesen has followed the team closely for over 30 years and sees several reasons for the decline.

We wrote from a packed Scandinavium in Gothenburg in December 1988, when Sweden played the Davis Cup final for the sixth consecutive year.

Prior to the meeting with the Germans, Sweden had lost just two of the previous 22 ties, the team had the most successful and beloved stars in all categories of Swedish sports, and they were proud to be playing for their country.

Swedish tennis flourished, during the season Mats Wilander had won the Australian Open, the French Open and had become the first Swede to triumph at the US Open, Stefan Edberg had won his first of two Wimbledon titles and with the two men from Smaland the Swedes were the clear favorites against Boris Becker & Co..

After only two days the guests won, still the main setback was yet to come.

from La Gazzetta dello Sport
by Riccardo Crivelli
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Nole: "If I think I've won the same Slams as Edberg and Becker I've got shivers. My target is just to win as much as possible, as long as I can"

There is the fierce Djokovic on court, the warrior with the armor of a superman physical preparation and an overwhelming mental strength. And then there's the one off court, who meets Zheng in the locker room and greets her in Chinese or stages the Gangnam-Style dance with the ball boys during practice: “It 's my way of sharing with the others the happiness to have become what I am. Not all of us are able to do it”. There are two aspects so inextricably linked to the personality of a champion who is slowly taking possession of history: four wins in Melbourne like Agassi and Federer, six Slams like Edberg and Becker.