Defeat Takes a Holiday : A Rested Edberg Hopes That L.A. Tournament Finally Will Lead to Success in the U.S. Open, Where He Has Gone Down in Smoke (and Noise)

Here’s how Stefan Edberg got ready to tear into the second half of the tennis calendar:

He swam.

He sat by the pool.

He played golf.

He got engaged.

In the South of France.

For two weeks.

Yes, it was a grueling schedule Edberg followed. He slept late, he took short drives, he did about anything he wanted just as long as one rule was obeyed.

“I didn’t want to think about tennis,” Edberg said.

But now the hard court season is upon him, which can only mean that vacation is over and he will soon make another visit to his personal Purgatory, the U.S. Open. Edberg hasn’t played a match since he was beaten at Wimbledon by eventual champion Michael Stich, a defeat that clearly took something out of Edberg.

Although he never dropped his serve to Stich, Edberg lost in three tiebreakers and eventually found himself in the South of France instead of in his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final.

Said Edberg: “It was one of those strange matches . . . you really need to get away after that.”

So he decided to hit the beach, where he lost his worries and found a fiancee. Edberg proposed to Annette Olsen, his girlfriend of nearly six years, and put a gold band on his finger. They haven’t set a date yet, Edberg said.

In the meantime, Edberg’s date with the U.S. Open looms as he prepares for the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament beginning Monday at UCLA.

With three of the four Grand Slams completed, Edberg is in position to equal his worst year since 1984. In every year since, except for 1986, Edberg either won a Grand Slam or played in a final, but he hasn’t made a Grand Slam final this year. All that is left is the U.S. Open, where Edberg’s best finishes were semifinal losses to Ivan Lendl in 1986 and Mats Wilander in 1987.

Last year, coming off his second Wimbledon championship, Edberg promptly went out and lost in the first round to Alexander Volkov, who was so buoyed by the victory that he got blind-sided by Todd Witsken in the second round.

“I see no reason why I shouldn’t do well at the U.S. Open,” Edberg said. “Last year, I went in as No. 1 and had won 21 matches in a row, so I lose in the first round and it was a big upset at the time. I don’t have very much pressure this year since I lost in the first round last year. Nothing can be worse than that.”

Edberg says that nothing can be worse than the U.S. Open site at Flushing Meadow, which he calls “just a big concrete place.”

Besides, Edberg said, he doesn’t like the hamburger smoke from the concession stand grills blowing across Court 3 and practice court 25. One positive change occurred last year when New York Mayor David Dinkins used his influence to have the airplanes from LaGuardia fly somewhere besides over the tennis complex, but Edberg couldn’t even enjoy that.

“I was out already,” Edberg said.

If Edberg really is going to change his luck in New York, it might begin for him this week at the Volvo/Los Angeles event. Last year, he beat Michael Chang in the final after a twisted ankle forced him to stay on the baseline. The next week, he won the Thriftway ATP Championship in Cincinnati and claimed the No. 1 ranking, which remained in his possession until he ran into Stich at Wimbledon.

After winning seven titles in 1990, Edberg has just three this year. To many players, three titles would be a career, but to someone of Edberg’s stature, it is a slump. Still, the prize money has been good--$900,710 this year and $9.5 million in his career. But for players such as Edberg and Boris Becker and Lendl and even John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, the only accepted gauge

for their greatness is not how much money they win, but how many Grand Slams they win.

Edberg has four--two at Wimbledon and two at the Australian Open. He also lost the 1989 Wimbledon final to Becker, the 1989 French Open final to Chang and the 1990 Australian Open final to Lendl. Even as the defending Wimbledon champion, Edberg slipped through the draw largely unnoticed, deflecting the spotlight, deferring to others.

“I usually do,” Edberg said. “It was Agassi all the time, wasn’t it? They had Becker. I only got pretty well noticed when I lost. Well, OK, I’m No. 2 now, so I’ve got something to play for.”

There are six weeks left before the U.S. Open, long enough for Edberg to stay close to Becker in the rankings, try to get through the Volvo/Los Angeles field for a second straight year, then close in on New York and worry about the grill smoke then. After all, he probably got his fill of fresh air in the South of France.

“It hasn’t been that great this year in the Slams, but I still have one more to go,” Edberg said.

“It’s not like I played that badly in the U.S. Open before. If you start thinking about it, it gets into your mind. But I believe I still have a chance to win it. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t play it.”