from ATP World Tour.com

On 23 August, ATP celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Emirates ATP Rankings. We continue our countdown with a look at Stefan Edberg, the 1990-91 year-end No. 1. #ATPHeritage

Stefan Edberg was one of the greatest serve-and-volley exponents in tennis history, a possessor of an elegant backhand and a cool and analytical mind. Like John McEnroe, he reached the top in singles and doubles.

Edberg first captured the attention of the tennis world in 1983, when he completed a junior Grand Slam of the four major championships. Before the age of 19, the Swede had won his first ATP World Tour title and also the singles competition as a demonstration sport at the 1984 Olympic Games.

Edberg was the eighth player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings to become No. 1 on 13 August 1990, following a quarter-final win over Michael Chang in the Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati. With his coach, Tony Pickard, Edberg remembers, "We had a little champagne that night. It was unusual. We just had a little."

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.