Six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg coached Roger Federer for two years. (Source: Express Photo by Karma Sonam Bhutia) Six-time Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg coached Roger Federer for two years. (Source: Express Photo by Karma Sonam Bhutia)

There’s a real calmness in the way Stefan Edberg struts around a city hotel, measured and assured. The way he talks isn’t much different either. It fits well with a man who had forged a reputation of being one of the coolest, silkiest movers on the tennis court in a career that lasted 13 years.

A six-time Grand Slam singles champion, who won three doubles titles as well, Edberg’s genius on court though came from the elegance of his backhand. If the current generation watch in awe as Roger Federer hammers his one-handers down the line, cross court, or even slices with casual devastation, the Swiss himself modelled his backhand on Edberg’s.

But as the Swede looks back and thinks about the origins of his most potent weapon on court, he recalls his one-handed wonder once being a two-handed disaster. “It didn’t look very good and I wasn’t hitting it well,” he says. “I had to change it when I was about 14-15. I started to fool around and started playing one-handed. Then something happened. I used to have a big forehand, but the backhand became the weapon.”

It was the shot that defined and inspired his serve-and-volley style. “They can’t hit on my backhand, because it’ll be my backhand volley which is my best shot. It’s like taking away a weakness from my game,” adds the former world no 1.

Yet to change such a crucial part of his game so late was a calculated risk — something he’s been making a living off since he retired from the tour in 1996. The 52-year-old has travelled to Mumbai for the TOISA function not only as a tennis great, but as a shrewd and successful businessman. And while some professional athletes take time to settle into their role post-retirement, Edberg had a clearer picture of life after tennis.

“I always thought of asset management and property,” he says. “I wanted to try a few different things that kept my interest. As of now, I’m just an owner of a company. But I don’t work on a daily basis. I don’t have any personal customers, but I know the business.”

Being his own boss, his work timings are flexible – in contrast to the demands of the pro circuit that left time for little else.

Edberg belonged to a generation of players that had a great depth in men’s tennis. The likes of John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi all became multiple major winners while the Swede was still competing.

“It was greater depth back then. There were many more different players playing. But were we better? Probably not,” he says. “It just happened that we have some exceptional players playing now. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, you’re not going to produce these players in the next 20 years. They’re exceptions. Maybe you can go back and say Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe. Then you have Federer and Nadal which is another level at winning Slams.”

Edberg’s own Slam-winning spell had begun when he was still a junior. Till date, he’s the only player to have won a calendar Slam in the juniors, winning all four majors in 1983. The last title though, at Flushing Meadows, came with a dramatic twist.

In his career, Edberg was never known to be a big server. But an ace in the boys’ singles final against Australian Simon Youl struck linesman Richard Wertheim in the groin. The 61-year-old fell off his chair and hit his head on the hard surface, rendering him unconscious. Wertheim would never wake up from the coma and passed away five days later.

“That was a freak accident, a freak outcome. I couldn’t believe what happened. The next day I was shocked,” recalls Edberg. “I had to remind myself that I was playing tennis, I was just doing my job. It was a freak accident. Nobody would have expected it. But it happened. I had to talk with people around me, I had to look at the bright side of tennis.”

It was an inauspicious beginning — he’d turn pro later that year.

But Edberg would go on to become one of the most successful, and graceful players the sport had seen. He won 41 singles titles that included his six major crowns and was world no 1 for 72 weeks.

When he retired though, he had no plans of coming back. That was before Federer came calling in 2013. The Swiss player wanted Edberg to join him as coach, and also have his childhood hero in his box. Asked what it’s like to be the idol of arguably the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT), Edberg smiles.

“He’s a sensible man,” he says. “From what I’ve seen, he’s probably the greatest player to play the game. The way he plays, he’s probably the most complete player. He can play from the back of the court, offensive, defensive, he can play drop shots, do the angles. Watching him in matches is sometimes magic. But sometimes watching him in practice sessions when he’s hitting his shots can be magic too.”

Following that two year stint, Edberg returned to his life as a tennis recluse, while Federer got back to the top. But just as it was when he retired as a player in 1996, Edberg is away. But far from forgotten.

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