TENNIS / FRENCH OPEN : Grand Slam Hopes Fading For Edberg

Each time Stefan Edberg loses a match and reluctantly contemplates retirement, tennis moves closer to losing one of its last true gentlemen.

Edberg loses but endures, as do his celebrated good manners. His loss Thursday to Germany’s Michael Stich in the second round of the French Open was crisp and professional, marked by polite effort and minimum fuss.

The same can be said, increasingly, of Edberg’s dealings with the media. Stich’s 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2 victory was not unexpected--the German is seeded 12th and, for the first time since 1984, the Swede was unseeded at a Grand Slam event. Still, Edberg sits patiently as his news conferences evolve into a prolonged eulogy.

The inevitable question: When is he going to retire?

“Well, everybody keeps asking,” Edberg said, laughing.

“Obviously, it’s going to come to an end at some point. I am still playing out there. Things haven’t gone great, but at least for the last couple of weeks, I have been enjoying what I am doing and I am playing better tennis. I still have the hope of winning another Grand Slam [tournament]. It is not impossible.”

Tennis should not be so quick to get rid of Edberg, 29, holder of six Grand Slam titles. He’s such a relic that he still concedes opponents points on bad line calls. He’s a good sport.

For more than a decade, he has shown a steadfast loyalty to representing Sweden in the Davis Cup, while his peers are negotiating lucrative contracts or flatly refusing to play.

Edberg was one of four players here who, should he have won this title, would have completed a career Grand Slam. Of the four, two have been eliminated. Edberg and Pete Sampras are gone. Andre Agassi and Boris Becker are still hopeful.

All compete on clay only under duress. Edberg, for all of his all-court skills, is not fully comfortable on the slow red courts at Roland Garros.

“It is the absolute worst surface if you are not playing well,” he said.

He played well Thursday, but Stich played better. Edberg said he thought Stich made no mistakes, and, statistically, his assessment was borne out. Stich made 15 unforced errors and successfully passed Edberg with pinpoint shots.

Edberg was effective in the first set and very nearly pulled out the tiebreaker, but Stich was stronger on crucial points.

“I think that he, himself, still believes he can play really well, and he can,” Stich said. “It’s just that when it comes to the important moments, maybe he doesn’t believe in himself enough.”

Actually, Edberg has more faith in himself than others do. He reflected on the comeback of his countryman Mats Wilander, who says he is playing for the fun of it. Edberg says tennis is fun, but he plays to win. Unlike many top players, he always appears to be having fun, even during losses.

“Everybody has their bad days,” he said. “Maybe I’m a better actor. My main thing is that you should never throw in the towel. That is not the attitude I have. You should always try.

“There have been matches where I have been mentally gone, which could happen to anybody. It doesn’t matter who you are. It hasn’t happened many times to me, because I’m still a fighter out there. That is important to me.”

Edberg firmly insists upon his own timetable for retirement. He won’t allow others to dictate to him now, any more than he has allowed opponents to push him around on the court. Always fighting, but in the nicest possible way.

*

French Open Notes

The man who eliminated second-seeded Pete Sampras had less than a day to savor his upset before he, too, was sent home. Gilbert Schaller of Austria was defeated Thursday by 20-year-old Scott Draper, a qualifier from Australia. The match took 3 hours 48 minutes as Draper came back from two sets down to win, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 8-6. . . . In women’s play, seventh-seeded Lindsay Davenport and unseeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland will meet in the third round. Davenport defeated Sandrine Testud of France, 6-3, 7-5, and Hingis defeated Mariaan De Swardt of South Africa, 6-1, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, in a match delayed by rain.