Stefan Edberg retired from professional tennis in 1996. Of his last match played in November 1996, "It was fantastic but it was also heartbreaking, because there is so much emotion involved standing there with the spotlight on yourself. So many things rushed through my head in a short period of time. I really felt it tonight." Anders Jarryd had said, "Edberg is the last of the old Swedish guard."
In March 1984 Stefan Edberg "bridged the gap between junior and senior tennis" when he won his first Grand Prix championship. In 1983 he became the first player to win the junior Grand Slam of tennis (winning all 4 Grand Slam trophies in a calendar year). "In my era I've been very lucky to play against many of the best players: John McEnroe at his prime, (Ivan) Lendl at his prime, (Pete) Sampras, who I probably would consider the best player of my era because he had a big serve, a good volley and he moved well around the court, so during my era I think he was the most complete player," Stefan believed.
At the French Open championships in 1983, "I played the junior final after Yannick Noah beat Mats Wilander. I remember being in the locker room and thinking the whole building was going to collapse because it was so loud. Funny enough there were a number of people who stayed for the junior final. I played a French guy and won. That's my first memory of Roland Garros."
Stefan had played in both the junior and the professional tennis tour in 1983. He had not missed any of the 4 major championships. In all he had played in 54 straight Grand Slam tournaments starting with Wimbledon in 1983 and ending with the U.S. Open championships in 1996, "I produced the best serve-and-volley tennis of my career here when I won in '91 but you can't play forever."
On reflection in 2009, he expressed, "I feel a little bit sad that (serve-and-volley game) has disappeared, because it's always great to put a little bit more variation into the game of tennis."
In 1984, Stefan won the Olympic Gold medal when tennis was a demonstration sport at the Games. Tennis had not been a medal sport in the Olympics since 1924. By 1988 the Olympics had opened its doors to allow professional tennis players to compete for Olympic medals.
