Michael Stich wrote himself into Wimbledon history with a stunning triumph at the Championships and in doing so he shocked the pair of Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker. How did the German manage this stunning piece of daredevilry, here’s our latest piece in the series of some interesting history posts.
Although the sport of tennis has evolved over the decades, and tennis today looks very different in every way to what it did even at the turn of the millennium, what has remained constant is the existence of rivalries. The rivals have changed and understandably so, but what is timeless is the rivalries themselves.
Rivalries Blend Into New Rivalries
While the modern era (‘Open’ era) dates back to the likes of Rod Laver & Roy Emerson, the aging of the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors is clearly set in our minds as the end of what many consider as a unique chapter of the era.
The mid 1980s had seen the the retirement of Borg, and the impending retirement of Connors and McEnroe. With Ivan Lendl winning his first major at Roland Garros in 1984, followed by Stefan Edberg in Melbourne in 1985 and the teenaged Boris Becker winning Wimbledon the same year, tennis now had a strong new generation to add to the most consistent force at the time, i.e Mats Wilander.
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The late 1980s saw the Becker-Edberg rivalry blossom particularly on the coveted grass courts of Wimbledon.
The two were involved in three consecutive finals with Edberg winning in 1988 (four sets) and Becker 1989 (three sets), followed by a thrilling five setter in 1990, with Edberg taking the title.
Leading up to the Wimbledon 1991 Semi-Finals
Wimbledon 1991 saw Edberg and Becker as the top two seeds again, in the midst of a crowded field with veteran Ivan Lendl, and a number of upcoming players of the likes of Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Michael Stich among others.
Apart from Lendl’s surprising loss to American David Wheaton early (making it yet another elusive Wimbledon for him), the quarterfinalists were as per expectations, given the seedings.
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The top two seeds Edberg and Becker made the semi-finals with little to no trouble, and Michael Stich defeated American Jim Courier in a match of two players with plenty of promise. Courier had just won the French Open, his first major title.
David Wheaton continued his amazing run defeating number five seed Andre Agassi in a five-setter, and the semi-finals saw him play Becker and Edberg facing Stich. Another Edberg-Becker final, a fourth consecutive one was very much on the cards, some even reckoning it was a certainty.
First Major Semi-Final For Unheralded Stich
Having turned professional in 1988, Stich had been on the tour for about three years, and won his first ATP title in Memphis about a year ago.
With Becker and Steffi Graf leading the German tennis contingent on the global platform, despite being a top ten player at the time, Stich was very much in their shadow and understandably so, given what the other two had achieved at the time.
World number one and strong favorite Edberg took the first set 6-4 against Stich with one break of serve and another strong serving performance by Edberg looked sufficient to get him to a fourth consecutive Wimbledon final.
With no breaks of serve in the set, the second set went to a tiebreak won by the German 7-5 and suddenly the match was tied at one set all. The trend continued in the third set and another tie-break beckoned, which again went Stich’s way 7-5.
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Despite an excellent serving performance and no seeming flaws in his game, Edberg now had his back against the wall. Stich increased in confidence with every set, and every effort by the Swede to break was saved by the German as another tiebreak drew closer.
A third consecutive tiebreak was upon the shocked Wimbledon crowd, and the now-frustrated Edberg was no match for the quickly-confident Stich. The German won the tie-breaker 7-2.
Although Stich did not manage to break the smooth Edberg serve, he was in his first major final, at Wimbledon, of all places, against his (at the time) more established countryman Boris Becker, who had a comfortable semi-final win against David Wheaton.
And Edberg, it’s Becker’s Turn to Face the Music
A glorious summer day in July of 1991 saw an all-German final with the imperious Becker starting as a strong favorite in his sixth Wimbledon final.
Stich had been on the coveted Centre Court of Wimbledon only twice thus far, with Becker making his 27th appearance and the odds stacked heavily in his favor.
However, the three-time champion did not have it on the day and as he later confessed “I could not put four points together today. I stopped at two”.
The day belonged to the 6‘4”, 22-year old Michael Stich who prevailed in every department.
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Stich was ranked number 269 in the world less than three years ago, and had only one ATP title to his name, and was zero for four in 1991 ATP finals.
None of that mattered on the day.
The German picked up from where he left off against Edberg and with Becker off-color, there was no letting go. A straight sets win saw Stich deservedly win his first major title ending the Becker-Edberg dominance at SW19 (Wimbledon), and had the tennis world seen the birth of a future star on the circuit?
What Happened Next?
Stich never reached the final at Wimbledon again, although he did make it to the title-deciders of two other Grand Slam finals – the 1994 US Open where he lost to Andre Agassi and the 1996 French Open where he went down to Yevgeny Kafelnikov, both times in straight sets. He finished his career with that one Grand Slam win and would go on to win the 1992 Olympics doubles gold with Becker.
Edberg quickly regrouped and added two more Grand Slam titles – at the 1991 and 1992 US Open. He made the semifinal at Wimbledon once again in 1993 and coincidentally lost again after winning the first set 6-4, to Jim Courier.
Becker won a title at the 1996 Australian Open and made one other Grand Slam final – at the 1995 Wimbledon – but lost to Pete Sampras.
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