Stefan Edberg

Stefan Edberg of Sweden won the U.S. Open tenni tournament Sunday for the second straight year. But the 1990s still look to be a big decade for America's men tennis players. Americans won the other three 1992 Grand Slam events -- the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. An American might have won the U.S. Open, too -- giving the United States a clean sweep for the first time since 1938 -- had it not been for the wrongheaded scheduling of these Grand Slam events. We'll come back to that.

WIMBLEDON, England -- As the sun set here this evening, so did Stefan Edberg's Wimbledon career. The two-time champion fell to countryman Mikael Tillstrom's faster, younger legs, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4."Stefan was always my favorite at Wimbledon," said Tillstrom, 24. "I wasn't bothered by the crowd support for him because I knew it would be that way. To beat Stefan Edberg at his last Wimbledon, when I hadn't played anything on grass before, this was very big, very special for me."It was a much more pleasant story for No. 10 seed Michael Stich, a 7-6 (7-2)

WIMBLEDON, England -- Jim Courier has done just about everything right in the last 12 months.He has won back-to-back French Open titles on the slow Roland Garros Stadium clay courts. He captured the Australian Open in January. Last year he reached the U.S. Open final, losing to Stefan Edberg.And he is ranked No. 1 in the world, the first American to be atop the rankings since John McEnroe in 1984.But, as the Wimbledon championships start tomorrow, Courier might be the most maligned top seed in recent history.

PARIS -- It was a sweet enough spring day, but Roland Garros germinated a pair of bitter defeats. The tunnel-visioned Thomas Muster no longer can pursue a second consecutive French Open crown, and Stefan Edberg, the consummate tennis professional, will retire without ever having earned one.Muster's four-set loss to Michael Stich ended the chance of extending the recent string of back-to-back winners, launched by Jim Courier in 1991 and 1992 and followed by...

WIMBLEDON, England -- As the sun set here this evening, so did Stefan Edberg's Wimbledon career. The two-time champion fell to countryman Mikael Tillstrom's faster, younger legs, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4."Stefan was always my favorite at Wimbledon," said Tillstrom, 24. "I wasn't bothered by the crowd support for him because I knew it would be that way. To beat Stefan Edberg at his last Wimbledon, when I hadn't played anything on grass before, this was very big, very special for me."It was a much more pleasant story for No. 10 seed Michael Stich, a 7-6 (7-2)

WIMBLEDON, England -- The genesis of certain big sports events is well-known. The All-Star Game in baseball was started by a Chicago sports columnist hoping to raise charity and sell newspapers. The Super Bowl began as a peace offering between the warring football leagues.But little has been told about the beginnings of Wimbledon. It was established in 1877 because the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club was a little strapped for cash and the members wanted to raise some money. Not for tennis, but for croquet.

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- The microphone isn't working, so chairs are pulled closer and the reporters are scarcely breathing in order to hear every word. Stefan Edberg, hair still damp from the shower, is at the snug center of the media circle, chatting sociably, looking smaller and slimmer than he does on the court.Edberg, the No. 2-ranked tennis player in the world, perhaps only a tournament away from regaining the No. 1 position that he held for 66 weeks, doesn't look imposing enough, or sound arrogant enough, to convince you that he's entangled in a battle to be the best in the world.

NEW YORK -- We found something out yesterday in the post-Jimbo U.S. Open. Tennis isn't enough.Stefan Edberg played wonderful tennis. Jim Courier didn't. And it wouldn't have mattered if it had been the other way around. Nothing mattered. Whatever they did, these players were trapped in a show we can call "My Mother the Tennis Match."Let's just say it didn't exactly drip with drama. In fact, I've seen more heat and light at shoe-store openings. But give the fans credit: They yawned only between points.

NEW YORK -- Stefan Edberg has left little doubt why he is No 1 in the world of men's tennis today.He achieved that ranking yesterday, in one of the most precisannihilations in U.S. Open history.Edberg, on his way to a 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jim Courier, losjust 15 points on his serve in the entire match.He made Courier, the French Open champion who had nodropped a set on his road to this final, look like a plodding baseliner with feet of clay.He turned Courier's power game into something that looked likit belonged in junior league.

NEW YORK -- Stefan Edberg still looks out of place on the stadium court at the National Tennis Center.Wimbledon is his tournament of choice, grass his favorite surface and silence his preferred sound while playing tennis.But he has learned to cope with the wall-to-wall noise of the U.S. Open, drowning out the clamor of ushers screaming and fans rustling with the sport's most beautiful all-court style.Yesterday, Edberg returned to the Open, the reigning men's champion, the No. 2 seed and by almost any other standard the chalk favorite to win again.

PARIS -- Stefan Edberg, loath to retire without a French Open title to balance out his Grand Slam collection, still has Paris.Yesterday at the French Open, where 88-degree sunshine sent more than one fair weather spectator to the hospital, Edberg kept his cool against a long-haired Spanish hotshot in a headband.Edberg, 30, using a game of serve-and-volley on Center Court, trampled 20th-ranked Carlos Moya, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1."I think it was one of those days where everything that you do turns into gold; I felt like I was 20 today," said Edberg, who received a standing ovation when he left the court.

TennisPierce, Rubin ousted in 2nd round in PhiladelphiaMary Pierce and Chanda Rubin lost in straight sets yesterday in the second round of the $800,000 Advanta Championships in Philadelphia.Pierce, the No. 3 seed, fell, 6-3, 7-5, to Zina Garrison-Jackson, winner of three of their last four meetings. Rubin, the No. 8 seed, lost to qualifier Meredith McGrath, 6-3, 6-1. McGrath advances to the quarterfinals against top-seeded Steffi Graf.No. 2 Conchita Martinez, the 1993 Philadelphia champ ousted Natalie Tauziat of France, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. In the lone evening singles match, No. 3 Gabriela Sabatini withstood Brenda Schultz-McCarthy's tough serves to win, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)

Reading Time: Two Minutes.Now it becomes apparent why the flap arose over who sent the $75 birthday cake to O. J. Simpson trial judge Lance Ito, the NBC "Today" show or co-host Katie Couric. Having spent $1.25 billion for Olympic Games 2000 and Winter Olympics 2002 yesterday, the Peacock is suddenly strapped so Couric has to go into her jeans for the cake.* The famed Rucker Playground basketball tournament raged in the Big Apple recently and Joe Smith of Maryland, No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, along with teammate Exree Hipp, Carlton Screen of Providence, Bob Harvey of St. John's and Conrad McRae of Syracuse entered as a team.

WASHINGTON -- The great first volley doesn't have the sting it once had. The high-kicking serve that set up put-away volleys hasn't been as reliable.For Stefan Edberg, 29, these are the problems he has faced as his world ranking has dropped to No. 16.But Edberg, who has earned more than $18 million in prize money, is not ready to put away the rackets for good."

NEW YORK -- Unflappable is usually the best way to describe Pete Sampras at the U.S. Open.He ignores the noise, the crowds, the complaints.As seeded players Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Andrei Medvedev, Jim Courier, Wayne Ferreira and now Stefan Edberg -- a 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 loser last night to Jonas Bjorkman -- depart Flushing Meadow unfulfilled, Pete Sampras keeps slamming away.Until yesterday, Sampras, the U.S. Open's defending champion, ignored it all. And then along came this pesky, 30-year-old qualifier from the Bahamas, Roger Smith, who took the first set of their afternoon match and was up a break in the third and suddenly Sampras started to notice.

NEW YORK -- Andrea Leand held no delusions about her return to the U.S. Open after a two-year absence, just as she has not fooled herself since returning to competitive tennis earlier this year after spending more time recently writing about the game than playing it."Every step is a step in the right direction," Leand said yesterday.As things turned out at the National Tennis Center, Leand was a step -- or two -- slow during a 6-3, 6-2 opening-round loss to Elena Likhovtseva. The 29-year-old from Baltimore had problems with her own game, but nearly as many were caused by the 17-year-old qualifier from Kazakhstan.

PARIS -- Stefan Edberg, loath to retire without a French Open title to balance out his Grand Slam collection, still has Paris.Yesterday at the French Open, where 88-degree sunshine sent more than one fair weather spectator to the hospital, Edberg kept his cool against a long-haired Spanish hotshot in a headband.Edberg, 30, using a game of serve-and-volley on Center Court, trampled 20th-ranked Carlos Moya, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1."I think it was one of those days where everything that you do turns into gold; I felt like I was 20 today," said Edberg, who received a standing ovation when he left the court.

PARIS -- It was a sweet enough spring day, but Roland Garros germinated a pair of bitter defeats. The tunnel-visioned Thomas Muster no longer can pursue a second consecutive French Open crown, and Stefan Edberg, the consummate tennis professional, will retire without ever having earned one.Muster's four-set loss to Michael Stich ended the chance of extending the recent string of back-to-back winners, launched by Jim Courier in 1991 and 1992 and followed by...

Ah, Wimbledon. Baltimore's Steve Krulevitz knows it well.Centre Court. The royal box. The strawberries. The tradition that makes Wimbledon the world's most prestigious tennis tournament.Krulevitz knows what the Edbergs and the Samprases are going through this week as the Wimbledon fortnight swings into high gear. He has been there.From 1973 to 1983 Krulevitz was on the pro tour. He played Wimbledon nine times, the U.S. Open 11 times.But as the tennis world focuses on Wimbledon, Krulevitz does what he has done since leaving the tour.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Now here's how to make a real entrance at Wimbledon:You put Charlton Heston in the Royal Box, you knock as many aces as there are commandments, change your serve so it seems as if you're hitting with a stone tablet, wave to the crowd, bow twice, win in straight sets and hit the door."