by Mauro Cappiello

Do you remember when Roger Federer talked about the Edberg vs Becker rivalry as an inspiration for him growing up and approaching professional tennis?

In the early years of his career and up to the start of his partnership with Stefan Edberg, the Swiss stated in several interviews that he had shifted from the German to the Swede to finally like and support both. But that doesn't seem the case anymore.

A couple of interviews in the last two weeks suggest he has no more doubts about who his real tennis idol is.

The Australian Open has started yesterday and, as announced a few months ago, the tournament has got a new logo that, after 21 years, replaced the "serving man", according to many modelled on Stefan Edberg's service action.

From a quick poll conducted by Huffington Post Australia, though, a great majority of fans are not enthusiast about the new branding image of the event, that was heavily criticized on the social networks as soon as it appeared last early October.

Contacted by The Huffington Post Australia, Nick Davis, general manager of Landor, the agency that designed the new logo, said that a negative reaction was expected.

The European School of Economics shared on its official Facebook channel a clip of the event in which Stefan Edberg received a special Sportsmanship Award last September 10th in Florence.

The Swede had been invited by ESE president and founder Mr. Elio D'Anna to the gala dinner held at Palazzo Borghese to celebrate the graduated students for academic year 2016. Stefan's daughter Emilie has herself attended the school in 2013.

In his acceptance speech, Stefan recalled his first career title, won right in Italy at the Cuore Cup in Milan in 1984. Then he talked about his current activities in Sweden and about his coaching experience with Roger Federer.

Before the ATP World Tour Finals Championship match between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, Stefan Edberg was invited by BBC to preview the final showdown (that would also award the year-end number 1 spot for 2016) in the studio with Sue Barker and Tim Henman.

The Swede analysed both players' chances and the meaning of being at the top of the ranking at the end of the season, especially in such an important occasion: in fact, it was the first time in the history of men's tennis that the year-end ranking leader was decided in the last match of the season between the two contenders.

From next year, Milan will be the home of a new season-end ATP event dedicated to the young generation, called Next Gen Masters. The top seven ranked under 21 tennis players plus a wild card will compete at the Fiera Milano venue from November 7th to 11th for the title of best junior of the year.

The news was given yesterday in a media conference in London, during the ATP World Tour Finals, by ATP World Tour CEO Chris Kermode, joined by 18-year-old American Frances Tiafoe and Stefan Edberg.

A short promotional hd video made by Swedish filmmaker Kristoffer Davidsson for Adidas at the Södra Climate Arena and shared on Vimeo shows how Stefan Edberg's elegant motion on court has just stood the test of time.

Still at 50, Stefan playing is a joy to watch. It's a shame that, since he quit his job as coach of Roger Federer, he has never appeared in public tennis displays...

His appearance at the Necker Cup this week has been out of fans' reach, who couldn't see anything either live or on tv, and his name is not in the field for next year's edition of the Kings of Tennis.

from ATP World Tour.com

Stefan Edberg in action during his 1989 New York Masters final against Boris Becker

Stefan Edberg will make a welcome return to The O2 in London next week as part of the ATP’s Finals Club, which this year celebrates Barclays ATP World Tour Finals competitors in the 1980s.

Having qualified for nine straight year-end championships in New York City and Frankfurt, between 1985 and 1994, the Swede continues to marvel at the growth of the prestigious event.

“This has become one of the best events to visit as a spectator,” Edberg told ATPWorldTour.com. “You don’t have to deal with rain, you’re guaranteed two great matches each day and everything runs well.

“It was mostly about the Grand Slams in my generation, but I think this championship and the [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000 events have so much importance to them now, which is great. That’s how it should be.”

Stefan Edberg was interviewed by Espndeportes.com and gave his view on the change at the top of the men's ranking, with Novak Djokovic being passed by Andy Murray at world number 1.

"It was a little surprising that Andy reached No. 1 by the end of the year, but he had a great season and was playing great tennis lately," he said on the Scot.

"However, Djokovic will not step aside. His reign as world number one was great and he had a great year as well. But it's normal to see new people challenging him for the first place," added Stefan.

from Expressen.se
by Linus Sunnervik
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg, 50, still believes and hopes for Roger Federer to win yet another Grand Slam title. For Sport Expressen the tennis legend talks about his support to his former protégé, his faith in the future of Swedish tennis and his view of tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios. “It’s with mixed feelings that I see him,” said Edberg.

For twenty years six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg has given back to Swedish tennis through his foundation. Each year, he has praised the four more promising Swedish juniors - a guy and a girl of the 14-year-old class (SEK 25,000 each) and 16-year-old class (SEK 50,000 each), with a check from the Edberg Foundation.

The winners are determined by a point system based on results in the Swedish Junior Championships, SALK Open and Bastad Open.

“The idea is to give juniors the same opportunity I had in my time. It is very costly to go out and play. Sure you can write a check and say 'Here you are', but this feels more right and more long term. We can reach much greater targets,” said Edberg.

from Dagens Nyheter
by Nils Palmgren
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg with Robin Soderling and the 2016 winners of the SE foundation schoolarship: Maria Petrovic, Ross Weibull and Cajsa Henneman

At the Stockholm Open the crowd cheers a 18-year-old Michael Ymer. But the reality for Swedish young tennis is anything but light. This year not one of the national teams managed to qualify for the European Championship games. “There is total darkness,” says the outgoing Davis Cup captain Fredrik "Fidde" Rosengren.

The place is the Royal Tennis hall's VIP section, and the scene will take the former world number one Stefan Edberg on the stage. Among the former Swedish star’s mingling crowd there are players and even those who never became anything, plus parents, coaches, sponsors and representatives from the Tennis Federation.

It’s the 20th anniversary of the Stefan Edberg Foundation and this evening he will hand out 25,000 crowns (€ 2,577) to two 14 year olds and 50,000 crowns (€ 5,155) to two 16 year olds. To assist him former world number four Robin Soderling and Sofia Arvidsson, with a number 29 best ranking. Both have themselves received money from Stefan Edberg's hand. ­

“I wanted to give something back. Tennis has given me so much,” explains Stefan Edberg on the background of his foundation. ­ “Sure, you can always write a check and say ‘go ahead, do something.’ But I wanted to do something more long term. From 2017, the scholarship totals will also increase to 50,000 and 100,000 crowns (€ 10,310), respectively. ­ It is very costly to travel and start playing tennis today. Above all, the cost starts to escalate in the 16 ­year­ old category and therefore we want to give something extra,” says Stefan Edberg.