Tennis Wilander Edberg Nyström Pernfors

Svt Dokumentär 2009

His the king of tennis prior to US Open stakes was high,the king can lose his title as world number one Out John McEnroe wins US Open for the third time in a row after the loss Björn Borg decides to take a time out the spark and the interest was gone,blown away you see for yourself what´s happening it´s out triple matchpoint 40-0 tremendously incredibly out 40-15 two match points left hope he can keep his nerves now Mats to the net it´s in the last point game set and match it´s tennis history sensational outcome THE SWEDISH PRINCES OF TENNIS In the fall of 1981 John-Anders”jonte”Sjögren made a unique deal with the construction company SIAB an economical support that took swedish tennis to a new dimension and he quit the job as the swedish Davis Cup captain thanks to SIAB´s millions he got the possibility to travel the world with Joakim Nyström Hans Simonsson Anders Järryd and Mats Wilander in TEAM SIAB Mats Wilander and Hans Simonsson won the european juniors the year before thanks to theire success they where selected to be apart of the team we had a really good basis for this, but we had to make use of it and progress spontaneously i was happy to join in I got the chance to travel and play the tournaments we wanted to Sjögren and the four players now started travelling as a team and that was something new in the tennisworld Me Joakim Nyström Anders Järryd and Hans Simonsson was best friends and we grow up together in swedish tennis and it was no competition between us,were trying to support each other when practicing etc Sjögren is an incredible fan,he sees sports as a process,is not the final score that counts not winning Wimbledon or the French,it´s how to learn to make a low forehand volley,a harder second serve to put pressure on the opponent,if that happens on match point or the first game don´t matter but that he saw that we developing as athletes and persons Björn Borgs success in the 70´s created an enormous tennis boom in sweden more and more kids choosed to play tennis instead of the already established sports thanks to Björn Borg the tennis interest was big in all ages and society classes one of many who was a tennis fan was Einar Wilander from Torpsbruk Sweden Einars interest affected the whole family specially the youngest son Mats and the interest took the family to Båstad every summer Swedens tennis capitol they stayed at Skummeslövs camping site and competed against other family´s for the young Mats Båstads ball plank was the most important place it was alittle inclined so if you hit good the ball came back with the right height i was there all day playing different games,only cross forehand only smash etc so i had played alot tennis against a wall for sure he won several big tournaments one of them was Donald Duck Cup 1977 the Wilanders moved to Växjö then i lost my icehockey and football mates so only tennis it was luck that made me continuing with tennis my relation with Mats started when we was 14 or 15 we was selected for a elite training camp in Båstad and shared the same room when Joakim Nyström was 15 he met Johan Sjögren newly europe junior champion best in theire year class but Joakim wasn´t afraid of him i was in the lockerroom and Joakim said isn´t it he who won the euro championship? yes it is we said,well then he won´t gonna get one game ok we thought with some silent laughs and we went to the match can´t believe it Sjögren has no chance to win a game and Sjögren was a very good tennis player but Joakim had maked up his mind not to miss one shot wins 6-0 6-0 ok Respect as you says nowdays fantastic fun to see another talent was Anders Järryd from Lidköping to get better practice he went to Göteborg the trainer was Jonte Sjögren:he was fast but lacked patience and matches flyed away fast sometimes Jonte was a hard trainer but always with a smile and fair when you worked hard so i got along well with jonte he was hot-tempered Anders could be really crazy in some matches but he was a very good tennis player beginning of my pro career i always lost to Anders,he played to fast for me spring 1981 the tennis federation did a effort developing the doubles game Anders Järryd and some other players went to a training camp in Italy and the head coach there was the Australian tennis legend Roy Emerson remember Roy Emerson on Järryd”he would never be a World Champ or a great doubles player” “that Järryd dude won´t make it to the top he´s to weak”Emerson said i said to Roy Emerson later that you was wrong about Järryd and he smiled,very nice guy Roy Emerson Wilander practiced even harder and travels abroad became more frequently,often organized by Thomas Eklund Thomas Eklund was a solid sports coach with a tennis background we had success with the juniors but not reaching the top so an effort was made for young guys up to 16 years I was responsible for an international program about that and focus was on a personal and a sports development so they was ready for professional tennis Thomas Eklund and Mats Wilander crowds in the small VW bus together with among others Joakim Nyström, Anders Järryd and Thomas Högstedt.Mats was the youngest so he had to sleep on the floor from Båstad to Luxemburg it took 20 hours in that bus and Thomas Eklund decided that we had to listen to Bob Dylan all the way down so we learned the lyrics we was on the road about 6-8 weeks so it was tough it was a cultural journey more than a sport journey it was about getting to know europe play against non swedish player and make the linecalls yourself and winning isn´t everything but it was about trying to survive and hang on spring of 1982 the players in Team SIAB was climbing the rankings Anders Järryd was first to win both in singels and doubles in austrian Linz Mats Wilander had been in a couple of finals and was climbing fast in the rankings end of may he was ranked 29 in the world now it´s time for Roland Garross one of the 4 grand slams and in the fourth round Ivan Lendl is waiting who was in the final 1981 against Björn Borg you can be 90% sure who you can beat in the draw and Ivan Lendl in the 4 round was the end for me so of course i book my flight home after the 4 round 6-1 against Lendl in the 5 set i didn´t do anything, just kept the ball in play and he couldn´t cope with that mentally when he got to the quarterfinal he learned to play against the big guys and speak english at the same time after the win against Lendl 1982 most people thougt the winning streak would stop you see for yourself what´s happening but the 17 year didn´t show any nerves when he beat Gerulaitis in the quarterfinal and got to the semis and there was Jose Luiz Clerc one of best claycourt players in the world he started to show some nerves and choked and i never gonna lose to him if i keep my level even if Jose Luiz Clerc was #5 in the world,Wilander had the momentum up to matchpoint he made good serve,i made a ok return,he did a inside out forehand on my backhand and hit the line here Clerc hit the line in the semifinal,got through the line but the linesman called it out umpire was so in love with swedes so he went down and said game,set and match it was a simple decision,i can´t win on a wrong call,i´m gonna live in this world for ten years Clerc gonna kill me in the changing room so of course we gonna replay the point i had my two brothers was in the crowd Anders and Ingvar and they was totally mad “this is not junior tennis it´s senior,you can´t give away points at this level” Mats Wilanders way to the final and his decision to replay the point was a huge thing all over the world the young Wilanders sportmanship had made him famous over a night in the final is Guillermo Vilas waiting who was undefeated 62 matches in a row i remember a call the night before the final,i called Wilander at Sofitel hotel i think it was and said whats happening? i´m doin my after match speech,ok what is it saying? first i gonna congrat Vilas to the win but i said you could win,no i don´t think i can win Wilander said Mats lose the first point and Einar Wilander,Mats Dad says”his not gonna make it” calm down a little i said (Sjögren) Guillermo Vilas won the 1 set easy but then Mats took over Vilas were arguing with his coach Ion Tiriac early 3 set and Vilas changing socks i sweat very little when i play but if he changing socks i´m gonna change sweatlets,Vilas is lost,he believe i´m Björn Borg Mats was a very humble guy no jumping and shouting after the win,he was very please, it was a incredible day (Nyström)if Mats can win French Open i can at least be top ten,i beat him in practise most of the swedish players thought that,ok Mats was good but not that good we thought,but he was Mats Wilander was the first unseeded player to win French Open and the youngest to win a Grand Slam first it was Björn Borg then i came along and did maybe 10% of what Björn did in his career and nobody realised that it´s maybe gonna be more players from sweden wins French Open 1983 doubles 8 in the world 1984 5 Grand Prix wins 6 ranked 4 GP WINS RANKED 4 43 WINS IN A ROW 15 GP WINS Mats Wilanders and Hans Simonssons titles in european juniors 1980 was huge successes but there was a another guy who won the 14 year class Stefan Edberg in the city Västervik Bengt and Barbro Edberg signed up there son Stefan to the local tennis club a decision that gonna change theres and the son´s life forever one year in tennisschool then my buddy wanted to quit and me to world # 1 1990-92 6 grand slam titles but i didn´t quit tennis,i am forever greatful for that decision at the start Stefan was a baseline player as all the other kids the rawmodel was Björn Borg got the twohanded backhand,played from the back,you can´t charge to the net as a youngster you gonna get lobbed first time i was anxious for Stefan Edberg was in Växjö district championship he played in the 12 year class as a 10 year old i won the 1 set in this match,get a set on Mats Wilander was a huge thing at the time Stefan Edberg was at the time a guy who was fighting and running,good serve good volley but had not found his playing identity success was fast and the sheltered life in Västervik was changing very exiting as a kid travel around with the gang and play small town tournaments Donald Duck Cup was the biggest junior tournament,1977 Edberg made his debut i beat the top seed pretty easy in the first round,it just rolled on Mats won the 13 year class i won the 11 year and fantastic playing the centrecourt in Båstad like the other talented swedes Stefan had great success at the international junior tournaments september 22 1982 the 16 year old Stefan made his debut as a pro with an aggressive playing style Stefan combine pro senior tennis with the big junior tournaments autumm 1983 he had a chance to win a junior grand slam,winning the first 3 now you got a chance for a grand slam going to Australia yeah i´m going,playing the junior tournament Edberg won in Australia and a junior grand slam,it was unique and has never happend again and now he was making results as a senior to can still remember a moment serving john on the other side watching the scoreboard saying Edberg-McEnroe 18 year old Stefan was ranked top 20 in the world and improving when 1984 was ending sweden has become in less then one year a big force in tennis now it´s time for davis cup final second year in a row now in Göteborg sweden against the favorites USA a massive coverage by media and tennis fever world 1 McEnroe world 2 Connors and world 1 in doubles McEnroe-Fleming never lost a DC match it´s gonna be pretty tough right? never thought we gonna lose,McEnroe and Connors on clay in cold dark Göteborg they are not gonna be happy about anything remember a practise and Connors had written something on the clay about Arthur Ashe that i can´t translate Henrik Sundström have had a great year beat Ivan Lendl in the semis and now ranked 7 in the world Henrik met John McEnroe the US frustration and the swedes confidence maked sweden a 2-0 lead prior saturdays double match,new doubleteam Edberg-Järryd could kill the final yeah wins on a doublefault Fleming is pissed great to win davis cup of course,83 we lost to Australia away it was also very good with the new young swedish team without Björn Borg making the final beat USA at home was great,best thing ever to happen when we won everyone wanted to play tennis,totaly crazy i was 6 in the world,for me a huge thing hard to be 25 in the world but 7 in sweden Mikael Pernfors was one of many talents during the seventies that started to play tennis but it was a slow progress i felt that my tennis was off track played very little as a 16-18 year old my way to get better was to combine studies with tennis in USA when Mikael´s studies was done he had won the college championship 2 year in a row time to be a pro on the ATP tour playing good,mostly in usa made him climb the rankings spring 1986 he was up 120 places in a short time ranked 27 week before French Open he popped up from nowhere,i met first time in Memphis won in 3 very tough then he beat me in Atlanta he made a very fast progress i wasn´t as good as the other swedes as a junior but i never thought about being in that gang he was always as good as us,but a surprise that he turned pro if Mikael played more as a kid he been as good as us earlier but he got there anyway,in his own way Mikael Pernfors got his breakthrough at the French Open just as Wilander he beat Edberg,Becker,Leconte but lost the final against Lendl but now he was a established player 1986 ended with Davis Cup final against Australia Pernfors joined the team a great ending of a fantastic year for Mikael my best ranking was 10 and i was 5 in sweden had 4 guys infront of me,it proved how hard being in that team right? Mikael was a breath of fresh air among the other players before the final he colored his hair yellow and blue yellow and blue turns green when i was practising so not very good,thats Australias colors he´s artistic side comes along and we learned from that to maybe practise with Mikael,he can show me some new strokes maybe everybody contributed and made what swedish tennis became Mats Wilander was top 3 without any ambition to be no 1 1986 happened something that would totally changed Mats´s focus on the way to a exibition tournament in Barcelona Ivan Lendl was among others the opponent ,his rackets and luggage was lost Lendl led 6-0 3-0 i had gamepoint at 4-0 serve was ok but no good groundstrokes because the racket was to bad and Lendl knew it he was very exited my serve i´m going forward and sure i get a bad slice in middle of the court so i can volley and win the point because it´s exibition,it was about winning but mostly about good practise but no chance he hit a crossbackhand at my feet and he wins 6-0 6-0 no 1 and 2 on clay next morning i got a phonecall 8-9 in the morning,timezone for me was 2-3 in the morning and it´s Ivan Lendls wife,me thinking i´m gonna get a apology?Ivan speaking.. hell no i wanna practise Ivan,i got no shoes no rackets how dare you call me morning after,he didn´t cared how i could feel,stonecold about tennis together made a strategy how to beat Ivan Lendl beating Lendl was my challenge,have a chance to beat him on all surfaces with good friend Matt Doyle Mats begin training harder and more systematic then before he trained extremely hard even running you never saw that before,something big coming trained and trained and i got rewarded in january 1988 couple years earlier 1984 Järryd and Edberg begun an interaction that gonna make them one of the best doublecouples in the world i didn´t have a steady partner Stefan came along we played Davis Cup and Hamburg was our first tournament and we won it i liked playing with Anders he pushed me and took all the conflicts on the court he was so quickminded,before i reacted he was at the umpirechair February 1987 the two swedes was ranked no 1 in doubles dispite the success Stefan had to make a hard decision prizemoney was increasing,harder competition,harder combining singles and doubles so i took the decision to stop playing doubles,it was pretty sad probably we had won a couple of more grand slam titles Stefans decision to stop playing doubles made his singles to improve fast his main rival was Boris Becker we watching behind our backs and thinking,what is Boris up to mm…? he was the player i most of all wanted to beat 1988 the new tennisstars met each other in the Wimbledon final,Stefans first final the german had won Wimbledon twice before Stefan had a chance to win Wimbledon,first swede since Borg 1980 it´s very special to enter the centercourt in a Wimbledon final and i forgot to bow so Boris said “you have to bow at the royalties” i was focused on getting the chair,i wanted same as against Mečíř i won that match in 5 but i didn´t get that chair,not optimal pre final i was the underdog,Boris was the king at Wimbledon “Wimbledon centercourt is my livingroom” but 88 was my year US Open is still the most spectacular tournament on the ATP tour,anything can happen the crowd is very expressive show what they like,planes passing over low etc i lived in Greenwich Connecticut 45 minutes outside Flushing Meadows had a tenniscourt at home,practise and warm up at home so i didn´t get the feeling that New York can be pretty exhausting Mats Wilanders hard training had paid off
wins in Australia and Paris and a quarterfinal at Wimbledon and again in the final at US Open 1988 and as many times before the archrival Ivan Lendl was the opponent in the final Lendl thought that he should win and he thought i should think that i´m gonna lose but i hadn´t that picture in my head and he does it,for the first time a swede wins US Open matchpoint is won than a ballboy gave me the winningball,never thought about that before ever but i put the ball in trunk,next moment my dad came forward with his small Instamatic camera and want to photo me “i want my own picture of you”he said “but it´s 50 photoguys here taking the same picture” i said totally a incredible moment se my dad on fire because i won but also for his love for sports,i forgot number 1 in the world, i forgot winning US Open,here´s dad taking pictures like the good old days when i won Donald Duck Cup in Båstad as a junior i had the winningball with me to the players lounge and there was Keith Richards yeah cool Keith Richards,have to give him something,been to all my matches we have become friends,still miles between us but we both like music i give him my winningball he got something from his pocket and he gave me a pistol bullit unused it was a little frightening for me as 24 year old but he was all smiles that was incredible moment made me go from being a boy to being a man when the unbelievable year 1988 coming to the end was Wilander # 1 Edberg # 3 the Davis Cup team made it´s sixth final in a row sweden met west-germany and was the favourits on clay instead of a walk in the park for sweden,the germans had won the final after the double west-germany had killed the final 3-0 lead,one day left to play it was spectacular loss but more was coming,non of the swedes wanted to play you owe the crowd a explanation we can accept that they won´t play during injury that doctors had approved Pernfors had to play with borrowed gear,he wasn´t even in the team,big dissatisfaction by media and crowd it was a turning point,got the crowd against you for the first time crowd shouting booh but it was lot of injury´s and shit strong personalities,egoists as we all were at the time nobody wanted to play we can´t win down 3-0,give the money back to the crowd,playing exibition after we lost no way don´t think Muhammad Ali or Mike Tysons opponents wanted to do a exhibition a day after they been KO he is hospitalised,we were in the hospital mentally Hans Olsson the DC captain got fired,he had to leave Mats Wilanders win at the US Open made him world number 1 but it´s gonna be hard to keep the position 20 weeks after Mats was no 1 Lendl was back at no 1 i was an athlete that have be very focused on everything i did,every detail and every shot every point of course but also every shot and if i wasn´t i felt it direct”what did i do now?” he had worked so hard to win US Open and become world number 1 so when he got there the hunger and will was gone the decline continued,a year after the win at US OPEN Mats wasn´t among best 40 in the world,he never gonna win a big title again i felt it inside i´ve lost something the intensity is gone when the intensity is gone it´s not as fun being in the limelight after some spectacular wins among them US Open 1991 Edberg was ranked number 1 he was the third swede who became world number 1 being world number 1 is for me the greatest achievement,ok first Wimbledon is also very special but being able to tell your kids that you been best in the world is the icing on the cake Edberg was world number 1 for 72 weeks and was able to win US Open 1992 also he had won almost all that a tennisplayer could win but didn´t get the recognition he deserved in a sweden that been spoiled by great tennis achievements 1996 Edberg had been top ten for over a decade he then took a deciding decision in the morning when wake up you should feel great it´s matchday,but i lost that feeling motivation wasn´t the same little heavier,soon turning thirty years,historically you don´t win as much sometimes i played good the last year,finished the year at world 13 so not so bad his farewell tour ends were it all started in sweden and at the Stockholm Open emotionally pretty hard,playing your last match at home,alone in the spotlight alot of feelings,i spent so much time on the tenniscourt and it gave me so much a little sad but sometime you had to end your career,it was a worthy ending and a tribute from the crowd and people around and i got a rockin´chair nice thing but i haven´t used it that much,saving for the future after Edbergs retirement it was mostly Jonas Björkman and Thomas Johansson that had any success on the ATP tour after Thomas Johanssons won the 2002 Australian Open no swede had been close to win a singles title at a grand slam not many players are coming up,only one swede is top 20 the swedish tennis federation and local clubs are figthing big economical problems the youth are not choosing tennis any more when you arrived in Australia in the changing room you had a swedcorner with 15-18 swedes now days you had to look for your spot swedish tennis at that time was fantastic,”but my kids won´t play because it´s never happens again” coaches might be less intrested,practise opportunities decreasing players don´t practise as much as other countries.. can be that way and talents choose a different sport if you wanna win the big titles the level is Federer,Djokovic,Nadal it´s hard but of course they are gonna decline to by the time the younger guys have to make that step you got a life after tennis and it´s good,i got some real estate.. in Växjö i live outside Växjö i spend most of my time there,develop knowledge and do what i enjoy i been asked several times to join the ATP Senior tour decided the to make a test 2008 and play Paris and London and in Paris i played very well i´m still motivated about tennis but in a different way play some senior tennis,operates training,trainingcamps and different things around tennis i´m active on several senior tours doin´many company events and work at a tennisclub in Florida Vero Beach were i live tennis gave me everything thats why i still training guys,it´s fantastic fun i´m still swedens davis cup captain,and play some senior tournament with Pernfors,Järryd and J McEnroe etc fantastic fun and still got four kids with the same wife that takes some time and i play some music and golf haven´t find my job yet still unemployed