Stefan Edberg recalls his illustrious Davis Cup by BNP Paribas career for Sweden in the latest interview of the ITF’s Davis Cup Idols video series, which features former stars of the game talking about their experiences and memories of the competition.
Edberg lifted the Davis Cup trophy during his debut season in 1984 when Sweden recorded a famous 4-1 triumph over USA in the Final, played at The Scandinavium in Gothenburg. The former world No. 1 went on to win the title a further three times in 1985, 1987 and 1994. In total, he played 35 ties and compiled a 47-23 win-loss record.
“Obviously it was fantastic for me to join in 1984. We knew we had a good chance [against USA]. They were favourites on paper because they had [Jimmy] Connors and [John] McEnroe. It was one of my best memories, playing in front of our home crowd in The Scandinavium, 11 or 12 thousand people in the stands and for us… it was a huge thing. I was 18, my first year in Davis Cup and it’s probably one of my best memories from tennis,” said Edberg.
“Davis Cup has a tradition for Swedish players after the successful stories of the ‘80s, all the [great] players that we had. We became very good friends. We were playing as a team and we were very successful. We committed ourselves to play Davis Cup year after year. It’s got a lot of history. It’s a special event. Some people thrive playing in Davis Cup, whereas other players just freeze up because it’s different, because you play for your teammates, you play for your country.”