Are you still remember Stefan Edberg ??
Who's don't know Stefan ?
The best Tennis player in the world ever had !!
Tennis player who has cool blonde hair
Tennis player who has a sweet smile
And has a funny nose
Stefan Edberg is a former world number one tennis player from Sweden. He is known as one of the best serve and volley players of all time !
Stefan Bengt Edberg, born 19 January 1966 at Västervik - Swedish.
His serve and volley style Tennis was definitely more effective on fast surfaces. He won four of his Grand Slam Titles on grass court and the other two on the hard courts at the US Open!
On the Tour he was not only known for his exceptional serve and volley game but also for his sportsmanlike conduct! He received the ATP Sportsmanship award an astonishing 5 times and as a result the ATP renamed the award the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award !
As a professional, Edberg managed to win six career grand slam singles titles and an overall of 42 career singles titles !
Edberg could hit the forehand with moderate pace relatively consistent, yet he was not able to generate a lot of pace on his own or really hurt somebody with that forehand. He hits with a rather conservative grip on his forehand and oftentimes his hitting zone is a bit short, resulting in balls that are not really penetrating the court. He was able to hit winners with this shot from almost everywhere on the court.
From a technical standpoint the shot is pretty much flawless! Stefan utilizes a great unit, creating a lot of coiling with the upper body. All of these results in the great use of the kinetic chain !
His grip looks like a continental with the index knuckle on bevel two. What he does so racket face Relatively flat and he moves the racket forward on a rather straight swing plane rather than swinging down a lot. This straight swing plane makes the ball go through the court and his opponents have a tougher time taking a full swing to pass Edberg at the net.
Stefan hits an interesting serve. He rarely flattens out his first serve and does not go for many service winners. Instead he hits the first serve with more spin, give yourself a bit more time to come in to the net. His second serve was a bit too harmless at times in his career. The motion itself is solid. He has a continuous arm motion and creates a good separation angle between his hips and his shoulders !
Also his racket face is relatively flat at contact which volunteers that really go through the court. His racket moves forward rather than downward on his volleys ! One other thing to note is that Stefan Edberg in his prime was one of the best movers ever around the net. He was extremely quick coming in. After his serve as well as moving back for overheads, allowing him to cover the net very well ! With his forehand liability he knew that playing long rallies from the backcourt was not to his advantage. He would hit his forehand deep and wait for the opportunity to come in, especially with his backhand. Overall a very smart game plan built around his technical possibilities !
During his time on the tour, Edberg was one of the fittest players around. His movement around the court was effortless and graceful ! Great movement is one of the commonalities between the all-time great players and Edberg was no exception! Most likely he had an incredible work ethic off the tennis court, Stefan is an incredible competitor. There are very few players in the history of the game that they are able to keep their composure as well as the Swede.
Throughout his career, I have never seen a point at 100%, no matter what the score was, This is a sign of a true champion.
I consider Edberg very strong in the physical, mental and tactical areas. He has one weakness and that is his forehand from a technical perspective.
Therefore, I would rank Stefan Edberg's skills in the following order :
