Morning Man Classic: Stefan Edberg!

With the Australian Open in its second week, it’s nice to be able to celebrate two-time Aussie champion (1985 and 1987) Stefan Edberg who has just celebrated his 59th birthday.

He’s one of my top three all-time crushes where it comes to pro tennis players along with Patrick Rafter and Carlos Alcaraz.

The gorgeous Swede was also runner-up is Australia three other times. He’s a former world number one who also won Wimbledon twice and the US Open twice and was runner-up at the French Open in 1989.

He would have been one of the few players to complete a career grand slam had he been able to defeat Michael Chang in the 1989 French Open final. He lost in five close sets to the then 17 year old.

Edberg not only had then-rising stars like Chang, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras to contend with, but he also competed regularly on the tour against such all-time greats and former number ones as Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, and Mats Wilander.

Edberg played on four championship Davis Cup teams in his career, won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games when tennis was an exhibition sport, and also won three grand slam titles in doubles. He and McEnroe are the only two male players in the history of the tour to have been ranked number one in both singles and doubles in their career.

His serve and volley game was so exciting to watch and so were his incredible legs!

But most of all, Edberg was the consumate gentleman – so much so that the Association of Tennis Professionals tour sportsmanship award is named after him.

Total class act.