from Tennis Magazine
by Benjamin Badinter, Rémi Bourrieres and Stephanie Tortorici
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg on the cover page of Tennis Magazine (issue 502/October 2018)

STEFAN EDBERG-TONY PICKARD... A little like the Rafael and Toni Nadal of the 80s-90s, a mythical duo with slightly (and deliciously) vintage reflections today. More than 20 years after the  retirement of the Swedish player, that also marked the one of the British coach, both retain a brilliant form, and a magnificent complicity. Discretion not being the least of their qualities, their word remains very rare. For Tennis Magazine, they made an exception. For almost an hour, we have redone the match with them. And we feasted.

Tennis Magazine: Do you remember your first meeting and your debut together?

Stefan Edberg: Yes, we met in England, through Wilson, our common sponsor. I must have been 16 or 17 years old. At the time, I was working with Percy Rosberg (the man with whom he had changed his two handed backhand to move to a single-handed one, editor's note), a coach who had collaborated with a lot of young Swedish players, especially Björn Borg, but who did not really have experience on the circuit.

Tony Pickard: Specifically, it was in 1983, occasionally at the Bournemouth tournament. I had already seen Stefan play before, he was a very promising young player, but I did not know him personally. We have immediately hooked. I never imagined at the time that I would pass so many years on the road by his side. It will remain an amazing experience to have been able to work with someone like him. He was extremely easy to coach. He was listening, he had this incredible ability to assimilate and execute immediately what we had previously discussed about. In more than fifteen years, I don’t think that we have argued once. It was a beautiful time, too. After McEnroe and Connors, gentlemen had taken over the game. And Stefan was the first of these "new" gentlemen.

But, basically, that made this duo work so well?

T. P.: The secret is that we trusted and believed in each other. That is surely the reason why we have never had "words" all this time. There have been a lot of discussions. Our relationship was not a dictatorship. It was a construction over the long term. On the other hand, this is the problem that a lot of coaches face today. They are there for three months, then it's over. You can not build anything this way.

Last weekend was a special one in the Uk with the whole country (and not only) mobilized for the Royal Wedding between Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle.

Coinciding with this event, Wimbledon decided to officially open its doors for the first time this year.

Some former tournament champions and members of the All England Club were invited to inaugurate and test the courts for the 2018 edition, which will take place between July 2nd and 15th at SW19.

Among the tennis celebrities we can see in the pictures and video below, shared on the Youtube channel of the Championships, were Stefan Edberg, Martina Navratilova and Marion Bartoli.

Stefan Edberg on court during a tennis clinic with Indian kids in Mumbai earlier this month

World number 1 Roger Federer is still uncertain whether to play or not on clay, but former coach Stefan Edberg is convinced he should skip the French Open build-up season like in 2017. "He has to make the decision like he did last year. He has to think about having enough breaks so he can recover and be hungry for the big ones," said Stefan from Mumbai, during his recent visit to India, interviewed by Rediff.com

from Mumbai Live
by Akhil Gangan

Stefan Edberg during one of the interviews he had a the Times of India Sports Awards

Mumbai. Former World No.1 and Tennis legend Stefan Edberg was in Mumbai for the Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) and was the mentor for the third edition in 2018. From being Roger Federer's coach between 2013 and 2015, to being a six-time Grand Slam champion, Stefan Edberg discussed the rise of sport in India and his time with the 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer.

The significance of events like TOISA (Times of India Sports Awards) and you being the mentor this year

Sports awards, in general, feels good when we get-together and meet personalities from different sports and the sportsmen and women get recognised and felicitated for their achievements. I'm honoured and happy to be here as this is my second visit but it has come after many years. I'm happy to promote tennis here in India.

from RP Online
by Gianni Costa
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Six Grand Slam titles, two Olympic medals and numerous individual successes: Stefan Edberg (52) has achieved almost everything in his career. The Swede is one of the legends of tennis sports. We met him.

Stefan Edberg is tired of traveling. If it can somehow be avoided, then the 52-year-old spends most of his time with his wife and two children in a farm near Växjö in the south of Sweden. He makes an exception for his outfitter Wilson. We meet him at Tennis Point. Edberg was the number one player in the tennis world ranking for 72 weeks, winning 42 titles, and from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2015 he was the so-called super coach of Roger Federer.

Mr Edberg, your former protégé Roger Federer is again in the final of the Australian Open. Are you wondering how long he has been in the world class?

Stefan Edberg: It's not a coincidence. Roger is sure to be blessed with an incredible talent. But he understands like no other that he needs to reinvent his game again and again. A few years ago everybody thought that the changing of the guard would be imminent. And? Nothing happened - last year Rafael Nadal and Roger shared all Grand Slam titles among themselves. And now he has another chance for a big triumph.

by Mauro Cappiello

A few years ago, Stefan Edberg used to regret the disappearing of serve and volley in every interview. Coaches and analysts answered smiling and shrugging their shoulders in disbelief, saying tennis has changed over the years, surfaces are slower today, racquets are bigger and more precise and give baseline players a huge advantage against the volleyers.

Now Roger Federer, newly crowned Wimbledon champion for a record 8th time after a two-year partnership with Edberg, is repeating the same mantra as his former coach. More, he connects the lack of style variety and poor volley skills to the gap that still separates the new generation from the top level of men’s tennis.

“I have played almost every player here that wouldn’t serve and volley, -  Roger said about his Wimbledon opponents in the media conference the day after his triumph. “It’s frightening to me, to see this at this level. I look at the stats and go into whichever round it is and see that the guy I’m going to face is playing 2 per cent of serve and volley throughout the championships. I’m going, ‘OK, I know he’s not going to serve and volley’, which is great.”

Stefan Edberg and Anders Järryd were defeated 6-3 by Dustin Brown and Tommy Haas in the one-set doubles exhibition in Båstad that marked Stefan's return to played tennis after more than three years.

The challenge between Sweden and the Rest of Europe ended on 1-1, since the team Wilander/Pernfors had defeated Frenchmen Forget/Pioline 6-4 on Monday.

Unfortunately, the event wasn't televised and there's no video of Stefan's performance available on Youtube or anywhere else for the moment.

Boris Becker, who was also supposed to take part in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Swedish Open and appear during the exhibition as coach of the German team, wasn't in Båstad instead and was replaced on the bench of the Germans by Ilie Nastase.

Earlier today, the Facebook page of the Swedish Open shared some fantastic high-definition pictures of the exhibition. Some others were kindly shared by Birte P. (@Sommarsverige on Twitter).

from Hd.se
by Ulf Månsson 
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Sweden has had three players listed as the world's best - legends that evoke sweet memories in the first days of the Swedish Open.

Björn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg have all been world number ones. If you put them along with Anders Järryd and Mikael Pernfors you get a total of 35 Grand Slam titles. Precious tennis nobility that brings together much of the history of Swedish tennis. Players who have an obvious place at the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the Swedish Open.

"It all started when I contacted Bjorn (Borg), and he was excited to be involved. Then came Wilander and Edberg and I was very enthusiastic," says tournament director Christer Hult.

After the Wimbledon final won by Roger Federer against Marin Cilic, Stefan Edberg was reached by Phil Jones of BBC Sport who recorded his view about Federer's amazing run at SW 19.

Stefan highlighted the Swiss' fantastic year so far, with just two matches lost in the season, two Major tournaments won and an 8th Wimbledon crown taken without losing a set. "He did the right choice, we have the answers now," Stefan said about Federer's decision to skip the entire season on clay to save energy and be at his best for the fortnight of the Championships.

"When you take two months off you take a little bit of a risk, but he was calculating that he was going to do well on grass, he was going to get a few matches before the tournament and it turned out to be the right decision."

Stefan was also asked about the greatest of all time topic: "I've never seen Rod Laver play, but Roger is the greatest in my eyes. He's so special in many ways... He's won here eight times, he's done well on all the surfaces, he's wonderful to watch, he's got so much talent and it’s always worth coming out to watch him because you always know there’s going to be some unbelievable shots out there." (mc)

After the two finals lost with Stefan Edberg in his corner always against Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer took his long chased 8th Wimbledon title today, beating Marin Cilic in a straight-set final.

Affected by a slight physycal problem since the end of the first set, the Croat could do little to avoid an easy 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 defeat, allowing Federer to become the oldest man win the Championships in the Open Era.

Just as he left the Centre Court after the trophy presentation, Federer met Stefan Edberg who congratulated him whith a strong, deeply felt hug and also had the privilege to hold once again that cup, 27 years after his second triumph at SW19. (mc)