1 Response to daviscup84sweden_usa

1. Voo de Mar says:

   November 30, 2020 at 2:09 pm

   Sweden clinched the 1984 Davis Cup title in front of an ecstatic home crowd. For McEnroe and Fleming it was their first doubles loss in 15 cup matches. ”We played badly, so we lost,” said McEnroe. ”But they have a great team on any surface, and they are the best on clay.” The youngest on the court, 18-year-old Edberg was the best, as the only player didn’t drop his serve, twice escaped from 0/40, once from 15/40. It was the first big success in his stellar career. Broken players: 5 – Fleming, 3 – Jarryd, 1 – McEnroe

   SWEDEN d. USA 4-1 in Gothenburg, Sweden: Clay (Indoor)
   Mats Wilander (SWE) d. Jimmy Connors (USA) 6-1, 6-3, 6-3
   Henrik Sundstrom (SWE) d. John McEnroe (USA) 13-11, 6-4, 6-3
   Stefan Edberg / Anders Jarryd (SWE) d. Peter Fleming / John McEnroe (USA) 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 7-5
   John McEnroe (USA) d. Mats Wilander (SWE) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
   Henrik Sundstrom (SWE) d. Jimmy Arias (USA) 3-6, 8-6, 6-3

   Swedish route to the title: Ecuador 4-1, Paraguay 4-1, Czechoslovakia 5-0, USA 4-1

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   The New York Times article, written in 1983 before the Davis Cup final.

   Sweden has found the secret of reproduction and the tennis world has been rocked by its Bjorn Borg (27 y.o.) clone army. The success of Sweden’s four-year training program is reflected in the ATP computer world rankings where seven Swedes are in the top 70 – a startling record for a country with a population of under nine million.
   Even last year’s retirement of five-time Wimbledon champion Borg failed to slow the march with Sweden reaching this year’s final of the Davis Cup, where it faces Australia in Melbourne Dec. 26-28. But win or lose, the four Swedes who have benefited from the initial program – Mats Wilander (19 y.o.), Joakim Nystrom (20 y.o.), Anders Jarryd (22 y.o.) and Hans Simonsson (21 y.o.) – will have to go it alone to make way for another fresh crop of teenage hopefuls earmarked to take over the mantle of “Team Siab,” named after the industrial construction sponsor of the training program.
   In fact, there will be no place in the training team for one youngster with undoubted potential. Stefan Edberg (17 y.o.), who won the French, Wimbledon, U.S. & Australian Open junior championships, is too old. The program is designed for 15 to 16 year-olds.
   Since 1980, world No. 5 Wilander, Nystrom, Jarryd and Simonsson have trained together and stayed together on the world circuit. The dividends have been fruitful with Wilander leading the way last year by winning the French Open and, in the process, supplanting Borg as the youngest player to hold a major title. Wilander, anxious to keep the momentum going, now has “Team Siab” coach Jan-Anders Sjogren as his personal mentor, but the future plans for his teammates are undecided. Jarryd, who upset Wilander in the opening round of London’s recent $315,000 Grand Prix tournament before losing his semi against eventual winner John McEnroe, would like the quartet to stay together. “Tennis is no longer just a social event. We have shown that traveling as a team is the best way to survive. It will happen more and more that players will want to travel as a team,” the young Swede said.
   Jarryd, whose Davis Cup appearances largely have been restricted to the doubles in partnership with Simonsson, has made great strides as a solo performer this season, climbing from 60th in the rankings to the low 20s. He hopes to get the No. 2 singles berth behind Wilander in the Davis Cup final. He made no secret about the debt Swedish tennis owed to Borg, whose baseline tactical game and double-fisted backhand is indelibly imprinted on the Swedes, apart from the occasional anachronisms like Edberg, who along with Henrik Sundstrom (19 y.o.) are the only players on the Davis Cup list who have not figured in the training program. Jarryd said, “We started playing when Borg was winning all those Wimbledon titles. We all tried to be good players like him. There is tremendous interest in all the Swedish clubs and the players are prepared to work hard.” American Gene Mayer had every reason to regret Jarryd’s perseverance after the Swede had ousted the fifth-seeded American in the quarterfinals of the London tournament. “Every Swede seems to be another Borg. They look like him, play like him, dress like him and think like him,” Mayer said. “It is one clone after another. They all come from the same mold – and believe me it is not a bad mold.” Mayer admitted Edberg differed from the Borg lookalikes, however. “I am surprised they haven’t deported him,” Mayer said. Explaining the reason for Sweden’s rise in the tennis world, Mayer continued: “They have a tremendous training program, great coaching and a Federation that shows tremendous interest. Czechoslovakia started to do something on the same lines and lost their way, but Sweden is churning them out. Borg is gone, but his memory is fresh and the new guys have done so well. They range from good to great. In the U.S., with so many playing, it is automatic for us to produce phenomenal players. But if you take the best 8 to 10 players from each country, Sweden certainly rates a close second to us.”

   @BenRothenberg‘s New York Times article written 30 years later

   Swedish Davis Cup 1985 team : (from left) Joakim Nystrom, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Anders Jarryd & (cpt.) Hans Olsson

   

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   Sweden got the first Davis Cup title in 1975, but it happened at the time when the omnipotent Borg was playing unbelievable tennis, and actually he won the Cup on his own being only accompanied by Ove Bengtson and Birger Andersson. Borg’s phenomenal achievements of the 70s triggered enormous popularity of tennis in Sweden, and it was reflected in the 80s when Swedes became the biggest force in tennis, producing more Top 10 players than any other European country, winning the Davis Cup title thrice (1984, 85 & 87) and four times finishing as a runner-up (1983, 86, 88 & 89).
   Sweden was still able to deliver to the tennis world very talented players in the 90s, not as good as those of the 80s, however, more very solid ones, and it allowed the Scandinavian yellow-blue nation, in obtaining another three Davis Cup titles (1994, 97 & 98), losing from match points a 1996 final, and triumphing twice at World Team Cup, still prestigious at the time… The first decade of the third millennium featured crisis in Swedish tennis, yet a few players achieved great results… Nevertheless, since Robin Soderling‘s withdrawal from the ATP circuit (July 2011), the Swedes have been suffering a slump, which I guess could be unimaginable in the 80s when four Swedes year by year occupied the Top 20… However, echoes of the Swedish Davis Cup spirit still exist in Swedish-Swiss cooperations: Edberg coaches Roger Federer while Magnus Norman coaches Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss players belong to the elite of men’s tennis and will be playing in the Davis Cup final later this year…

   Highest ranked Swedes (at the end of different seasons, Top 20):
   – in the 80s: Bjorn Borg & Mats Wilander [1], Stefan Edberg [2], Anders Jarryd & Kent Carlsson [6], Henrik Sundstrom & Joakim Nystrom [7], Mikael Pernfors [12]
   – in the 90s: Stefan Edberg [1], Thomas Enqvist & Jonas Bjorkman [4], Jonas Svensson [11], Magnus Gustafsson [12], Magnus Norman [15], Magnus Larsson & Thomas Johansson [17], Henrik Holm [19]
   – in the 00s: Magnus Norman [4], Robin Soderling [8], Joachim Johansson [11], Thomas Johansson [14]
   – in the 10s: Robin Soderling [5]
   Highest ranked Swedes since Soderling’s withdrawal (2011) at the end of years 2011-14 (!!!):
   Michael Ryderstedt [307] – Patrik Rosenholm [376] – Markus Eriksson [423] – Christian Lindell [223]

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   Swedish Davis Cup 1998 team (from left): Jonas Bjorkman, Magnus Gustafsson, Nicklas Kulti, Magnus Norman & (cpt.) Carl-Axel Hogeskog

   

   Grand Slam champions of Sweden:
   Singles (25)
   1974: Borg (French Open)
   1975: Borg (French Open)
   1976: Borg (Wimbledon)
   1977: Borg (Wimbledon)
   1978: Borg (French Open & Wimbledon)
   1979: Borg (French Open & Wimbledon)
   1980: Borg (French Open & Wimbledon)
   1981: Borg (French Open)
   1982: Wilander (French Open)
   1983: Wilander (Australian Open)
   1984: Wilander (Australian Open)
   1985: Wilander (French Open), Edberg (Australian Open)
   1987: Edberg (Australian Open)
   1988: Wilander (Australian, French & US Opens), Edberg (Wimbledon)
   1990: Edberg (Wimbledon)
   1991: Edberg (US Open)
   1992: Edberg (US Open)
   2002: T.Johansson (Australian Open)
   Doubles (20, incl. 4 of all-Swedish pairs)
   1983: Jarryd/Simonsson (French Open)
   1986: Nystrom/Wilander (Wimbledon)
   1987: Edberg/Jarryd (Australian & US Opens), Jarryd (French Open)
   1989: Jarryd (Wimbledon)
   1991: Jarryd (French Open, Wimbledon & US Open)
   1996: Edberg (Australian Open)
   1998: Bjorkman (Australian Open)
   1999: Bjorkman (Australian Open)
   2001: Bjorkman (Australian Open)
   2002: Bjorkman (Wimbledon)
   2003: Bjorkman (Wimbledon & US Open)
   2004: Bjorkman (Wimbledon)
   2005: Bjorkman (French Open)
   2007: Aspelin (US Open)
   2014: Lindstedt (Australian Open)…

   … Lindstedt, the last major Swedish champion in history?…
   

   Masters champions in singles:
   1979: Borg
   1980: Borg
   1989: Edberg
   Masters champions in doubles:
   1984: Jarryd/Simonsson (London)
   1985: Edberg/Jarryd (New York)
   1986: Edberg/Jarryd (London)
   1991: Jarryd
   1994: Apell/Bjorkman
   2006: Bjorkman
   Davis Cup triumphs: (7; all players who contributed):
   1975: Borg, Bengtson, Andersson
   1984: Sundstrom, Wilander, Edberg, Jarryd, Nystrom
   1985: Jarryd, Wilander, Edberg, Sundstrom, Gunnarsson, Nystrom
   1987: Wilander, Jarryd, K.Carlsson, Edberg, Nystrom
   1994: Edberg, Larsson, Bjorkman, Apell, Gustafsson
   1997: Bjorkman, Enqvist, Larsson, Kulti, Tillstrom
   1998: Bjorkman, Gustafsson, M.Norman, Kulti, Enqvist, T.Johansson, Tillstrom, Larsson
   World Team Cup triumphs: (4)
   1988: Edberg, K.Carlsson, Jarryd
   1991: Edberg, Gustafsson, Svensson
   1995: Edberg, Larsson, Bjorkman, Apell
   2008: Soderling, T.Johansson, Lindstedt
   Olympic medals: (3)
   1988: Edberg – bronze in singles, Edberg/Jarryd – bronze in doubles (Seoul)
   2008: Aspelin/T.Johansson – silver in doubles (Beijing)

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   Swedish World Team Cup 2008 team (from left): Robin Soderling, Robert Lindstedt, Thomas Johansson & (cpt.) Peter Carlsson

   
   

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