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.

The front cover of the Italian version of "När vi var bäst"

by Mauro Cappiello

"När vi var bäst", the book on the Golden Age of Swedish tennis written two years ago by Mats Holm and Ulf Roosvald, is out in bookshops in Italy today!

As we had anticipated in early January, Italy becomes the first nation to translate the work, that collects stories and behind the scenes from the 30 years in which Sweden ruled the world of tennis.

The Italian version, named "Game Set Match - Borg, Edberg, Wilander e la Svezia del grande tennis" (translation by Alessandra Scali), has been presented two days ago by the Italian independent publishing house Add Editore and sports journalist Piero Valesio (Tuttosport) during an event in Turin.

from Kristianstadbladet.se
by Patrick Nilsson
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg talks during the breakfast meeting at the Kristianstad Arena

Peter "Foppa" Forsberg recently won this year's Mästarnas Mästare. Stefan Edberg has a standing invitation to the TV show - but has so far declined. - Sometimes I look at the program, but it is not a natural environment for me and then I will decline, says the tennis legend who visited Kristianstad Arena during a breakfast meeting.

Stefan Edberg was invited by Marknadsföreningen NordostSkåne and Sparbanken Skåne as the meeting host and the interest was huge to say the least. The restaurant in Kristianstad Arena was packed when Håcan Nilsson began talking with Stefan Edberg.

So, during a very entertaining hour Stefan Edberg told anecdotes from his active career, but we also got a glimpse of what life the former world number one is living today.

Yesterday Stefan Edberg appeared at the Infosys Confluence 2016, a summit of ideas on how the use of technology can improve any kind of industry that gathered world leaders and innovators at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco from April 27th to 29th.

The meeting was organized by Infosys, an Indian multinational corporation that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services.

Thanks to his experience of innovation at the Södra Climate Arena in Växjö, the first tennis hall completely built using passive house technology and one of the few where a Play Sight system for the analysis of coaching stats was installed, Stefan Edberg was there to talk about the growing importance of big data in the world of tennis.

In an interview by Riccardo Crivelli published last April 21st on Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, Roger Federer spoke about the differences between his current coach Ivan Ljubicic and Stefan Edberg.

"It's a completely different approach. - said the Swiss - I had a more global relationship with Stefan, as he took care of all the aspects of my preparation. With Ivan there's been a generational change, as he played with many of my current opponents and has got a different mind perspective and a wider knowledge. It's like he is still a tennis player, so to say, and that's what I needed in this moment."

picture © Francesca Sarzetto (ubitennis.com)

Frenchman Michael Llodra retired from tennis in November 2014. Even though he never managed to become an élite player during his professional career, he was admired worldwide for his attacking tennis and for his elegant volleys that sometimes reminded of those played by Stefan Edberg.

In an article written yesterday for the French edition of the Huffington Post, Llodra talked about his tennis idols and explained how his dream came true in his last year on the Tour when he had the opportunity to hit with Stefan Edberg, during the Swede’s first season as Roger Federer’s coach.

from Göteborgs Posten
by Eric Hilmersson
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

He is our last world number one, but today he wants to "act without being seen" ... Nevertheless, two years ago he accepted the most prestigious job in the tennis world: to coach Roger Federer... "It was as if we had known each other all our lives," says Stefan Edberg of his first meeting with the greatest in tennis history.

Stefan Edberg with Magnus Gustafsson (photo Joel Marklund)

During his career, Stefan Edberg was known as a gentleman, a humble and correct perfectionist who left the big gestures behind and let the serve&volley game speak to the world tennis venues. An image that initially earned him the epithet of dull, but gradually won more and more respect, especially in London, which became his hometown as a 18-year-old and where he met Boris Becker in the Wimbledon final for three years in a row (1988-1990). He won two of them and the Londoners adopted that same shy Swede. In Sweden he won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1990 and inspired all the young players to to go to the net after their serve.

The 50-year-old who walks into the Ullevi Tennis Klubb in March 2016 is essentially the same Stefan Edberg who won 41 singles titles during the ‘80s and ‘90s: well groomed, polite and unwilling to be at the center - although he is undoubtedly the star of this evening.