from The ITF Olympic Book 

Stefan Edberg with Seoul silver medallist Tim Mayotte and tied bronze medallist Brad Gilbert during the medal ceremony

Stefan Edberg shared his memories about his Olympic experience in a special publication issued by the ITF for Rio 2016, collecting words from all the tennis players who were awarded a medal since tennis officially became part of the Games in Seoul in 1988.

It does feel good to be an Olympic medallist. At the time, I was quite disappointed in 1988 with the bronze medals. I was really looking for the gold medal. I gave it a shot in 1992, clay court wasn’t my best surface at the time and I got knocked out there. It wasn’t the end of the world.

Looking back, it was very nice. I remember five or ten years ago, my kids were in school and they could bring some medals to the school because it was an Olympic year. I took the medals to the school to show them and they could have a look at them and see what the real thing is. I told them about when I was playing in the Olympics. You could come out and show the young people some real Olympic medals which probably a lot of school kids hadn’t seen. It was a nice thing to tell a story about being part of the Olympics. You are part of history in the Olympics. It was the local school where I live now in Vaxjo.

by Mauro Cappiello

With a message to his fans on his Facebook page, two days ago Roger Federer put an early end to his season, announcing he won’t compete at the Rio Olympics and in any other event before 2017. The Swiss was suggested this long break by his doctors, in order to give his left knee a proper time to fully recover from the injury of last February.

The news has left the tennis world stunned. During their idol’s career, the Maestro’s fans have not been used to long injury stops, but this year, for the first time since 2000, Roger will end the season without a tournament win and with just six singles events played.

Even though the 7-time Wimbledon champion has stated several times that he still wants to be on the Tour for more years, what his supporters fear the most is that this could be an early sign that Federer’s time to call it a career is quickly approaching.

Dear fans,
today we want to celebrate with you a very important landmark for our website that turns 15 years old!

As we look back on the day when everything started, Stefan Edberg was into his fifth season since his retirement from tennis and had almost disappeared from public life. You could hardly find a recent picture of him on the internet... His interviews and appearances were even more rare than today.

In spite of his discreet personality, or right for this reason, Stefan has always had an enormous amount of followers around the world, so the idea of a fan website came up to create a place where old fans could gather and share memories of him.

The Internet was a very different place from what it is now. To start a website meant spending a lot of hours fighting against codes, the interaction was a lot harder, no social network, no Youtube, lower speeds... Some websites had already been built, but they were just a simple collection of results and statistics, there was no real community of fans.

A super Roger Federer staged the umpteenth incredible performance of his Wimbledon career to come back from the verge of defeat and beat Marin Cilic 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 in the quarter final at the Championships earlier today.

Stefan Edberg had come back again to the second row of the Swiss' box and couldn't have been more pleased with Roger's match, as the seven-time Wimbledon champion cancelled a two set deficit and three match points in the fourth set tie-break to overcome the powerful Croat and avenge a semifinal loss suffered at the US Open two years ago.

Federer will next meet Canadian Milos Raonic, who beat Sam Querrey in four sets, in a remake of the 2014 semifinal.

Even if Stefan Edberg watched Roger Federer's 4th round match at Wimbledon from his box this doesn't mean he's again part of his coaching team.

Roger Federer himself confirmed it in a media conference following his win over American Steve Johnson.

"Severin (Lüthi) and Ivan (Ljubicic) are my coaches now, I talked with them about my match," said the Swiss, who met his former mentor before entering the court.

Stefan Edberg came back to Roger Federer's box today to watch the Swiss move to the quarter finals at Wimbledon with an easy straight-set win over American Steve Johnson.

Last year after the end of their partnership, Stefan had said he would always feel part of Federer's team and would come and visit him sometimes during the season.

With his former pupil plagued by injuries and only playing today his 26th match of 2016, there would be no better occasion for Stefan's appearance than the Championships. So Stefan sat beside Roger's mother Lynette and watched him start the second week of his chase to a record eighth Wimbledon crown and 18th Major title.

from ITF Tennis.com
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg with Anders Jarryd and the doubles medalists of the 1988 Olympic Games

Former world number one and great ambassador of a classic serve and volley tennis in the '80s, the Swede Stefan Edberg is one of the rare athletes who can complain to have won an Olympic gold medal in one of the few editions where tennis was not yet formally accepted as an Olympic sport, but only as an exhibition event.

This happened in Los Angeles 1984, the year in which the sport was again present as a demonstration, like in 1968.

On American soil, the Swede took the gold in singles, but he did not have the same luck when, four years later at the official Olympic event, he "just" could take two bronze medals in Seoul '88.

by Mauro Cappiello

With the start of the Championships at Wimbledon only 10 days away, Tennis Magazine came up with a graphic video ranking of the top ten grasscourt players in the Open Era.

Rankings in tennis are always tricky, especially if they compare players from different ages. The case of grass is even more tricky, if we take into account the changes this surface has gone through in the last 15 years.

But even considering these two factors, and accepting the inevitable subjectivity of any ranking, the verdict from the authoritative French magazine seemed too funny to be true.

The Adidas Y3 collection, that the German sportswear house issued for the 2016 edition of the Roland Garros, generated some social irony for the unusual striped tissue that was used indistinctly for men and women playing at the French Open.

If some users appreciated the originality of the pattern, many others highlighted how eye-bothering the black and white crossing bands can be when watched on tv and, more generally, criticized the brand for an idea of sports fashion that is more and more distant from the iconic outfits of the past.

Right looking at the past, we had some fun trying to imagine what Stefan Edberg would have looked like in the outfit worn by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Dominic Thiem, among others, on the clay of the Philippe Chatrier Centre Court.

from Il Venerdì 
by Angelo Carotenuto
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello 

Between the '70s and '90s, a country of eight million inhabitants ruled the tennis world with Borg, Wilander and Edberg. But after them the downfall. Why? With a guide book, we went to have a look.

STOCKHOLM. Thomas ran to the net on the opponent's drop shot, opened his forehand, leaned the ball to the left of the Russian Safin, and then looked up to see where the lob was going to die. Besides the line. He had won. He didn't kneel, didn't throw his racquet, didn't kiss the Melbourne rebound ace. He simply clutched his fists and smiled, a normal gesture. "I didn't have the feeling  it was something historic."

In January 2002, Sweden was winning its final Slam and did not know it. In the land we've been associating with tennis since the '70s, there are no more champions. Gone in 14 years. Not only one who is capable of winning the Roland Garros is missing, but no title in any other tournament, never a final over the last five years, not one semifinal, or a player among the world top 100. There are only two in the top 400. Like a Brazil without football.

Thomas Johansson - that Thomas - today is 41 years old and is the Stockholm tournament director. His name is in the staff of the Peak Tennis Academy, in Östermalm, residential area of ​​the city, apartments for diplomats and bankers, 75 thousand crowns (eight thousand euros) per square meter. Here, they offer five day packages for 5,300 euros to amateurs who want to try the thrill of training in the same conditions as professionals.