Edberg Completes Sweep in Masters

Stefan Edberg, the son of a policeman from Vastervik, Sweden, closed out a smash two-day run of one of the most arresting performances in Nabisco Masters history.

“I have just played some of the best tennis in my life,” said Edberg, with the pop-up shock of blond hair and the corkscrew swivel of a serve.

On the last day of Grand Prix tennis and the last match of the 20th and final Masters, Edberg beat heavily favored Boris Becker, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-1, and claimed the final major trophy of men’s tennis in 1989.

The victory of No. 3 over No. 2 in the rankings was no more surprising than Edberg’s straight-set victory Saturday over No. 1-ranked Ivan Lendl. It was the first sweep ever of Lendl and Becker in consecutive matches.

“I can tell you I am a really, really happy man,” Edberg said. “This is a really, really fine way to end the year. I lost a lot of finals this year, so I’m really, really thankful for this.”

Edberg won $685,000, which breaks down like this: $150,000 for winning the Masters, $135,000 for his previous four victories in the tournament and $400,000 for finishing fourth in the season-long bonus pool.

Becker, who had won the last three times he had played Edberg, finished his best year with a 62-8 record, but he did not finish it in characteristic fashion.

Becker had 12 aces, but he also had six double faults, three in a crucial game in the third set that gave Edberg an early service break.

Becker made only 49% of his first serves, which allowed Edberg to swing freely on second serves. Even so, Becker was up a set and had a set point in the second set tiebreaker to take a two-sets-to-none lead.

Two Edberg double faults in the tiebreaker helped Becker to a 6-5 lead. But then Becker faltered.

His return of Edberg’s first serve sailed far across the other baseline. With that mistake, what would be Becker’s last chance had disappeared. Edberg served an ace for 7-6 and then returned Becker’s second serve down the line to take the tiebreaker and the second set.

“I make that shot and it’s going to be an easy three-set win for me,” Becker said.

“One ball, that was the difference,” he said. “It would have been over. But that’s tennis. Sometimes it’s good or bad, depending on what side of the net you are.”

It was mostly bad on Becker’s side. From the time he took a 2-0 lead in the third set until the end of the match, Becker lost five of his seven service games.

He also lost confidence in his game from the back of the court, especially his backhand shot, which had been so devastating in the semifinal against John McEnroe.

Edberg watched Becker’s game evaporate bit by bit.

“I could see it happening,” Edberg said. “When I won the second set, I could see it breaking down.”

Becker grew so despondent he trashed his racket after Edberg broke his serve in the third game of the third set. Becker’s reasoning for the move was chillingly efficient.

“It was a bad racket. I lost my service game, so now the racket is gone,” he said.

Soon, Becker was gone, too. There would be no more stirring comebacks such as those that have become his trademark.

In Becker’s Wimbledon semifinal, he trailed Lendl by a set and by two service breaks and 3-0 in the fourth, but came back to win. Becker was one point away from losing to Derrick Rostagno in the second round of the U.S. Open, but won a fourth-set tiebreaker and went on to win.

“I have come back from many matches, but I cannot do it every time,” Becker said. “I was empty. It’s as simple as that.”

The Becker bank, however, is overflowing. He accepted a check for $715,000, which includes $165,000 from his four Masters victories and $550,000 from the bonus pool.

Becker won more than $2.2 million in 1989 and earned as much as five times that amount for exhibitions, appearance fees and endorsements.

Next year, the stakes are different. There will be no Nabisco Masters because the ATP Tour replaces the Nabisco Grand Prix and will have its own season-ending tournament, the ATP Championships.

A change of order may also be coming, Becker said.

“If Stefan and I stay healthy, it seems likely that one of us will be the next No. 1,” he said. “To be the official No. 1. Now I am sort of the unofficial No. 1. I want to see it written on paper that I can be No. 1 . . . and Lendl maybe No. 2.”

Edberg, meanwhile, had helped to erase the memories of his losses in the finals of the French Open and at Wimbledon.

“There’ll be a last smile,” Edberg said. “Tennis is a very strange game.”