Edberg Overcomes Becker To Regain Wimbledon Title - NYTimes.com
Edberg Overcomes Becker To Regain Wimbledon Title
By ROBIN FINN, Special to The New York Times
Published: July 9, 1990
WIMBLEDON, England, July 8— When the match was over and it was truly time to surrender his title to the man he had claimed it from last year, Boris Becker paused for a moment and took a mental snapshot of the surroundings that have been most conducive to his urge to terrorize his competition.
Then, in the unfamiliar glare of sunlight, which bathed Center Court and worked like a halo for Stefan Edberg today, Becker made the long trudge across the court and over the net to pay tribute to the victor in the Wimbledon men's final. Moved by the moment, he put an arm around the shoulder of Edberg, who had just defeated him, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, and gave him a comradely hug.
''I had mixed emotions,'' said the 22-year-old West German, who for the past three years has been engaged in a tug-of-war with Edberg for the championship of the greatest tournament in the world.
Becker, who in 1988 played the role of the also-ran when Edberg won his first title here, snatched the championship back last year in a straight-set exercise only to have it wrestled away from him again this year. It had been over a century since the same two men had dueled in a Wimbledon final for three years running.
''I know how it feels to win it and to lose it against the same guy,'' said Becker, who has won three titles here. ''We've gone through so many matches together, and it just came over me then.''
That Special Feeling
The 24-year-old Edberg, a runner-up in 1989 in the French Open and Wimbledon, had not won a major title since defeating Becker here in 1988 and hardly knew how to react in the winner's circle today. After an instant of uncertainty, he belted a tennis ball into the stands, tossed his shirt into the crowd, and then, in a hurry to change into a clean shirt before confronting the Duke and Duchess of Kent, he put it on backward.
''After what happened in the French Open, losing early, you know, this feels really, really good,'' said the Swede, who like Becker was knocked out of the French Open in the first round, squandering a perfect opportunity to move into the No. 1e spot in the world ahead of Ivan Lendl, who skipped Paris to concentrate on his grass game.
''We really are the two challengers to Lendl's No. 1 spot; I know this No. 1 spot is within reach now,'' Edberg said.
But Edberg nearly watched today's match slip away when Becker recovered from a two-set deficit and went ahead a service break for a 3-1 lead in the final set. Had Becker been able to maintain his edge, he would have become the first player to recover from so steep a disadvantage in a Wimbledon final since Henri Cochet defeated Jean Borotra in 1927.
Edberg Shows Emotion
''I needed to lift myself in the fifth set to win that match,'' said Edberg, who was unusually liberal with his gesticulations after key points. ''I think it's important sometimes to get fired up, and maybe that's why I won today.''
Becker and Edberg did not exactly synchronize their efforts in the 2-hour-58-minute match. In the first two sets, Edberg played so flawlessly that Becker, who normally exerts an authoritarian presence on Center Court, was rendered nearly invisible. Edberg volleyed with iron wrists, able to deflect the harshest of Becker's passing shots back onto the West German's side of the net for winners and pillaged Becker's serve with scathing backhand returns aimed into his feet.
Becker, in contrast, had an easier time using his racquet to speed-dribble the ball than to connect his volleys with anything besides the net. He dropped his serve in the third and fifth games of both sets, and began watching Edberg's improbable backhand lobs like a spectator.
But after looking like nothing so much as a handy assistant as Edberg performed his captivating demonstration of the proper serve-volley technique in the initial two sets, Becker gave a demonstration of athletic reincarnation in the next two. As soon as Edberg failed to convert a break point in the first game of the third set, Becker, who likes to think of himself as a Panzer of a player, rumbled into action.
He earned his first break point of the match in the second game of that set and converted his second by ripping a backhand service return across the court. He then put the boom back into his serve and never allowed Edberg back into the set.
The Swede recovered from 0-40 to hold serve in the first game of the fourth set, faltered after earning another break point in the second game, and was broken himself after double-faulting to 30-40 and nudging an overanxious backhand volley wide at game point. Becker continued to pour on the pressure and used two service return winners to break Edberg for the fourth set and even the match.
''If you let it slip a little bit, he is going to get back into the match,'' said Edberg, who survived a similar roller-coaster meeting with Becker in the semifinals of the 1989 French Open. Until today, that match was the only five-setter Becker had lost after recovering from a two-set deficit; on three occasions, his comeback had been complete.
Edberg said he reminded himself that he needed to step up his intensity for the fifth set, but he started it shakily: he double-faulted twice in the second game before rescuing himself with a service winner, and in the fourth game, he double-faulted at game point to stake Becker to a 3-1 lead.
Furious with himself, Edberg broke back in the fifth game, involuntarily helped along when Becker overplayed a simple forehand volley at game point.
'There's Boris'
''Stefan was so much on top of Becker in this match and then all of a sudden there's Boris on top in the fifth,'' said Edberg's coach, Tony Pickard, a former captain of Britain's Davis Cup team. ''He had him 3-1; let's face it, he was gone. People think he's got no fire; I'm telling you he has. If anybody thinks the way Edberg plays is boring, I feel sorry for them.''
Edberg regained control of the set by spinning out a parade of uninhibited returns to break Becker in the ninth game. Two blazing backhands put Becker in trouble at 0-30, a brilliant backhand service-return winner handcuffed Becker to set up double break point, and all Becker could do was raise his eyebrows to the hazy backhand lob that gave Edberg the game and the chance to serve for the match.
''I thought it was the kind of final you don't see too often,'' Becker said.
''I had played six tough matches, especially the semifinal against Ivanisevic, that really took its toll,'' said Becker, who subdued Goran Ivanisevic, the teen-age ace artist from Yugoslavia, to get to the final. ''I was a little bit exhausted, and he is a player who all the time tries. He never really lets himself down.''
Photos: Stefan Edberg after breaking Boris Becker's serve in the fifth set yesterday at Wimbledon. (Reuters) (pg. C1); Boris Becker returning a shot during his five-set loss to Stefan Edberg in the men's singles championship yesterday at Wimbledon. (Reuters) (pg. C7)