Tony and Stefan, the Old pair is together again

by M. L. Liu, 8/15/03 (updated 8/1/04)

I really like this paragraph from a British news article entitled "Edberg in split with Pickard", which I found in the eLibrary:

You will note that Tony remembered the exact date of when Stefan achieved number one.

I always found the loyalty between Stefan and Tony very touching. As has been pointed out, there is something paternal between the two. On the official 1992 US Open video tape, there's a clip of Stefan in the "tunnel" where players exit when they get off the courts of Flushing Meadow, home of the U.S. Open. The clip was taken after that legendary epic five-set Edberg vs. Chang semi-final, a marathon of a match that took everything out of Stefan to outlast the ever determined Michael Chang. In the clip, Stefan has just stepped off the court, loaded down with racket bags as usual in spite of battle fatigue, and was greeted by Tony. We see the back of Tony while Stefan faces the camera. Although Tony's face is not shown, you can sense from the trembling in his shoulders that the long-time coach was seized with emotion. Stefan, Tony's protege, the young man who once was accused of not having enough heart to win the big ones, had overcome three consecutive five setters against, in succession, Richard Krajicek, Ivan Lendl, and Michael Chang. Stefan would go on to reward Tony with defending his U.S. Open title that year, the last shinning moment in his storybook career and their fairytale coach-pupil relation.

I don't know when Tony Pickard came into my consciousness. I think it was soon after I became obsessed with Edberg in 1992, when Mary Carillo called out "the silver fox" as the camera moved from his photogenic protege, Edberg, to show a handsome older gent, Pickard. On that day, Tony was seated in the stands, clad in a teal colored Adidas golf shirt, his silver hair neatly combed. He and Stefan made a striking pair. As I learned more about the two, I was intrigued by the contrast in their personalities, and by the unmistakble chemistry between the two.
According to an article by Mike Donovan entitled "Wimbledon Champions who won the Juniors" posted on the Wimbledon site , this was how it started:

When Stefan Edberg defeated John Frawley in the Wimbledon boys' singles final 18 years ago, he was watched from the stands by Tony Pickard: a man who would eventually loom large in his career.

It was Edberg's first coach Percy Rosberg who had convinced the player to switch from the double-handed backhand style developed by fellow countryman Bjorn Borg to single-handed because of a quicksilver volley.
But it was the practice facilities Pickard organised close to his Nottinghamshire home that laid the foundations of junior glory for Edberg on the lawns of the All England Club that summer.
Pickard went on to coach him to the senior crown in 1988 and 1990, besides the Australian (1985 and 1987) and the US Open (1991 and 1992), and the world No.1 spot, in one of tennis' more glittering careers.
But Edberg's tennis mentor was clearly already an influential advisor to the then 17-year-old from Vastervik.
The former British Davis Cup captain said: "I remember meeting up with Edberg at an event in Bournemouth. We talked about tennis and got on well and became friends.
"When he came to the grass court season that year he had won the French Junior Open in Paris and was expected to win at Wimbledon. He came up and stayed at my home with my family and practised his tennis. I gave him advice as a friend and he went on to win.
"I saw most of his games that year, I believe he defeated Patrick McEnroe on the way. It was a fabulous event.
"Even though winning Junior WimbIedon wasn't an enormous stepping stone for him, because he didn't win the senior title until five years later, it was a lovely thing for him to have won, a lovely way for him as a young player to come through.
"He went on to become the first player to win a Junior Grand Slam, since Butch Bucholz in 1958.
"But he wasn't going to play the juniors in Australia to complete it. I said to him 'hey, all the other tournaments are going to come around again but this one won't'. So he played it.
"I'm a great believer that champions are born and have to be coached to be champions. When I first started coaching Edberg, the same year he won Junior Wimbledon, he wasn't a tough guy on court, but in the end he ended up tough.

Wrote John Roberts in that 1994 article:

"A lot of young men with the talent Stefan had would be pretty arrogant, but he was a pretty insecure young man really. I could see what the problem was and never left it alone." Tony worked on Stefan's mentality by stressing positive thinking. The article went on to say:

According to Pickard, the breakthrough came in 1988. "Although Stefan had already won two Australian Opens, I think he really realised that the negatives had gone when Sweden played Czechoslovakia in the Davis Cup, and was 4-1 down to Miloslav Mecir in the fifth set and came back and won it. For me, that was when he realized, because I can remember him saying to me, 'That was positive, Pickard, wasn't it?"

In that dark period of 1994 when it was clear to me that Stefan's career was never to revive, a truly heart-wrenching moment was when he parted ways with Tony. The "split" - an amiable one - was elegantly written up in that John Roberts article that I mentioned. To U.S. broadcasters, Stefan explained that he wanted to let Tony "tend his own acres." But the truth was that Tony went on to take up coaching with Petr Korda, Stefan's good friend while on the ATP tour.
Even so, when asked if former coach Tony Pickard still called him, Stefan reportedly said:

"Yes, every other week or so. He's got one of those satellite dishes at home and watches tennis. If I play (badly), he will call me for sure. Believe me."

In 1996, the year that Stefan toured for the last time, he called on Tony's help for Wimbledon and then again for the U.S. Open. This paragraph in an article brought tears to my eyes:

Pickard did not need much time to think. "I took part at the beginning and I am going to take part in the end. You could say that the old pair is together again," Pickard said."

Wrote John Roberts in 1994: "Pickard, 57, declared that he and Edberg would be "pals for as long as we live". In year 2000, Sweden held a tennis exhibition where the country's three tennis greats: Bjorn Born, Mats Wilander, and Stefan played a mini championship in the presence of Swedish Royalty. Each player brought his coach to the event. Tony was there. Since then there has been no news about the two.

In my fantasy, I get to interview Tony and ask him question after question about Stefan and about their exciting time together. I will always remember the Tony who reached out to ruffle the sweaty hair of a triumphant Stefan who came to the stands at the U.S. National Tennis Center to embrace his Annette and to celebrate with his small entourage. The Silver Fox and his Prince Valiant. May they live happily ever after.

Postscript:
On July 11, 2004, Stefan Edberg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. (See photo at the top of this page.) I had the fortune of being in the stands when Stefan was introduced by none other than a silver-haired and very healthy-looking Tony Pickard. Though I did not get to see the two up close, I consider that moment to be the highlight of the ceremony. In his introductory speech, Tony referred to Stefan as "this young man" and told an endearing annecdote of Stefan and referred to their relationship as father-and-son like (which I completely agree).
In an interview taken a day or so after the induction, this is what Stefan said about the two's joint appearance at the event:

USTA.com: It also must have been really special to have your longtime friend and coach Tony Pickard give your induction lead-in.
Edberg: Yeah, I think he was the right person, and it was great for him to come over there. It was great that we could spend a weekend together. It made it quite an emotional event. There are a lot of thoughts and emotions passing through your mind.

Return to The Stefan Edberg Column.