Edberg, Stefan
Tennis
b. Jan. 19, 1966, Vastervik, Sweden
A strong, solid baseline player, Edberg won a total of six grand slam singles titles: Wimbledon in 1988 and 1990, the U. S. Open in 1991 and 1992, and the Australian Open in 1985 and 1987. He also teamed with Petr Korda to win the 1996 Australian Open doubles championship and with Anders Jarryd to win the 1987 Australian and U. S. Open doubles titles.
Edberg put on a dramatic performance in his 1992 U. S. Open victory. He was losing in the fifth set of three matches, against Richard Krajicek, Ivan Lendl, and Michael Chang, but he pulled out a victory in each. Then he lost the first set of his final match against Pete Sampras before rallying to win in four sets.
With his 1990 Wimbledon victory, Edberg took over the world No. 1 ranking from Ivan Lendl and he stayed there through the end of the year. He was also the top-ranked player at the end of the 1991 season, and he was named the ATP Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
Edberg played for Sweden's Davis Cup team 13 consecutive years, from 1984 through 1996, and Sweden won the cup in four of those years. He was 35-15 in singles play and 12-8 in doubles.
Edberg retired after the 1995 season with 41 tournament victories and a total of $20,411,361 in earnings. The Association of Tennis Professionals in 1996 named its annual Sportsmanship Award for Edberg, who won the award a record five times.