1 Response to gstaad86edberg_stadler

1. Voo de Mar says:

   July 17, 2025 at 4:30 pm

   Points won by each set: | 41-33, 32-36, 26-10, 27-31, 35-26 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   29 % Edberg – 44 of 149
   20 % Stadler – 31 of 148

   Stadler – a left-hander hitting his ground-strokes two-handed off both wings – was a ‘third league’ player in the first half of the 80s, second best Swiss man behind Heintz Gunthardt. He had reached a few semifinals and the French Open ’84 third round, but in 1985 he deteriorated, returned to studying law and considered retirement. Then came Gstaad ’86 – the tournament of his life at age 27 when he took advantage of specific conditions (the fastest clay due to altitude) and support of the home crowd; he went through qualifying rounds being ranked 414, and defeated two very good players i.a. (E.Sanchez, Šmíd) en route to his lone Grand Prix final. The 20-year-old Edberg [6], a new star in men’s tennis, built an early advantage in each set (4:1, 4:1, 5:0, 3:1, 4:0 respectively), but in two of them he couldn’t capitalize. It was Edberg’s first title on clay, he needed six years for another one on this surface. Gstaad could have been called ‘the best clay-court event for serve-and-volleyers’, but Edberg played there only once which is fully understandable given the calendar – Gstaad has been held for many decades as the first post-Wimbledon event. In 1986 Edberg unexpectedly lost at Wimbledon in the third round, so he had time to switch from grass to clay. In the years of his top form (1987-93) he was always playing in Wimbledon’s second week.

   Edberg’s route to his 6th title:
   1 Thomas Muster 6-3, 7-6 ☆
   2 Marcelo Ingaramo 6-2, 6-0
   Q Damir Keretic 6-4, 6-1
   S Jan Gunnarsson 6-3, 6-2
   W Roland Stadler 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

   ☆ The first of ten meetings between these two future Nos. 1, Edberg won them all in a ten-year span

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