Without Fanfare, Edberg Goes About His Business

NEW YORK —  There is an old joke about how an empty cab pulled up to the curb and Stefan Edberg got out. The current holder of the U.S. national tennis championship often draws commentary as sharp as his volleys, not for how he plays on the court, but because he, well, because he has the personality of lettuce.

Actually, you dress lettuce up a little bit, add a few things to it, and it’s a darned exciting leafy vegetable, probably every ounce as vital and as extroverted as the player who is busy defending his U.S. Open title this week.

On the court, Edberg is a serve-and-volley paradox in tennis shoes--someone who looks at the world through beige-colored glasses, then lights up the scoreboard with high-wire, high-risk, high-octane pyrotechnic tennis.

Go figure it. Maybe it’s only fitting that what was a routine first week of the U.S. Open wound up with Edberg rolling quietly into the fourth round, creating slightly less of a stir than Jimmy Connors’ birthday cake.

So far, last year’s champion has not lost a set nor attracted much attention. His 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 decision Sunday over Swedish countryman Jonas Svensson was pretty typical of the way things have been going for him.

Winning points with his service as well as at the baseline and at the net, Edberg needed only 1 hour 35 minutes to arrive at a fourth-round encounter with the Netherlands’ power-serving Richard Krajicek.

But as splendid as Edberg’s performance was on the court, he really outdid himself in his post-match news conference.

An example:

Question: Stefan, was it as easy as it looked?

Answer: It was OK.

Q: Compare the way you are playing now to last year.

A: I just need to keep the momentum going now. . . . I am going to take one match at a time.

Q: How about playing Krajicek?

A: That is a tough one.

Q: What about being ready for the Open?

A: It is fine. I am happy.

And so on. Maybe Edberg is actually more concerned about keeping his record in Grand Slams on the up-and-up than coming up with witty quotes, which is perfectly understandable.

If low-key is the way he has to be, then it has been pretty successful.

Since 1987 when he won the Australian Open, Edberg has taken a Grand Slam singles title every year except 1989 when he was the runner-up twice--to Michael Chang at the French Open and Boris Becker at Wimbledon.

Edberg might have reached his peak in last year’s U.S. Open when he whipped through Chang in the fourth round, Emilio Sanchez in the quarterfinals, Ivan Lendl in the semifinals and Jim Courier in the final without losing a set.

That is sort of a tough act to follow, which may be why Edberg seems to talk as if he isn’t going to try. “At least I am through the third round now, but I am feeling pretty good out there,” Edberg said. “I play well when I have to.”

Becker played well when forced to, took advantage of a disputed line call in the last game and got past German Davis Cup teammate Carl-Uwe Steeb, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, in 3 hours 18 minutes.

At least Becker held nothing back--11 aces, six double faults, 73 winners, 40 unforced errors--which is also sort of what Steeb did when he argued over a volley that looked long but was called in and received a code violation for an audible obscenity.

Becker will face Ivan Lendl in the fourth round since Lendl came from behind to defeat 21-year-old wild card Chuck Adams from Pacific Palisades, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Fourth-seeded Chang also made it to the fourth round after a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Arnaud Boetsch. Chang is one of three players who haven’t lost a set, a group that also includes Edberg and Andre Agassi.

And, like Edberg, Chang is doing it quietly. “It suits my personality,” he said.

He isn’t the only one.

U.S. Open Notes

In the first matchup between two brothers at the U.S. Open since 1935, 27-year-old Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated 24-year-old Javier Sanchez in a third-round match, 5-7, 6-1, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. “It make my life difficult,” Emilio said. . . . Michael Chang said he is fairly confident at this stage. “Honestly, tell you the truth, I think . . . this year I feel that I have the best chance of winning it of the years that I have played.”

Criticized by Jimmy Connors for his style of play, Ivan Lendl spoke a few words in his own defense. “I have been hitting slice backhands to Connors’ forehand for eight years,” Lendl said. “He has beaten me once. Why should I change that? It has worked 17 times. Does he think I’m so stupid only because he doesn’t like it or what?” Boris Becker said he isn’t surprised: “You know they don’t like each other very much, they always talk, you know, a little bit more than they should.”