On This Day: Edberg welcomes ATP Tour era by hitting No. 1 in 1990

No 1 Club

On This Day: Edberg welcomes ATP Tour era by hitting No. 1 in 1990

Swede won Cincinnati to begin first of five stints atop tennis’ mountain

Simon Bruty/Getty Images Stefan Edberg in action at 1990 Roland Garros. By Andy West

A bold new era in the history of the ATP soon brought with it a new World No. 1.

Stefan Edberg excelled in the inaugural season of the ATP Tour, which replaced the dual World Championship Tennis/ITF Grand Prix Circuit calendar at the start of 1990. Already a three-time major champion, Sweden’s Edberg racked up a 70-15 record overall and won five of his seven titles that year before 13th August, when he rose to become the eighth No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history.

After falling to Boris Becker in the 1989 Wimbledon championship match, Edberg enjoyed a rock-solid second half of that season to lay the foundations for his charge to the top. He reached finals in Cincinnati, Basel and Paris, before capping his year by earning revenge against Becker to seal what would prove to be his sole triumph at the Nitto ATP Finals (then known as the Masters).

As the ATP Tour era began, Edberg’s climb to the top of tennis’ mountain continued apace. He began 1990 by dropping just one set en route to the Australian Open final, where he retired in the third set against Ivan Lendl. He defeated Andre Agassi in Indian Wells for his maiden title in the newly created ATP Masters 1000 category, before falling just one win short of completing the prestigious ‘Sunshine Double’ after losing to the same opponent in the Miami final.

Perhaps fittingly, the final major step on Edberg’s journey to No. 1 came with a five-set Grand Slam final win against his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival Becker. The pair met at Wimbledon for the second of three consecutive title matches on the SW19 grass, where Edberg avenged his 1989 loss with a straight-sets victory.

Edberg was renowned for his elegant serve-volley game and his quietly spoken humble nature, and the manner in which he went on to seal top spot was certainly ice cool. The Swede quickly extended his winning streak to 17 matches with back-to-back titles on North American hard courts in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, respectively. The latter of those triumphs was the clincher for No. 1.

Edberg’s reign lasted 24 weeks, the longest of his five stints as No. 1. His initial rise to the top marked the beginning of a nearly three-year period of back-and-forth in the PIF ATP Rankings during which the Swede regularly interchanged at the top, first with his great foe Becker and then with a newly emerged rival, Jim Courier.

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