The tennis players Boris Becker

Boris Becker

Boris Franz Becker is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17...

 (Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

) and Stefan Edberg

Stefan Edberg

Stefan Bengt Edberg is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Sweden. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He also won one season ending championship title the Masters Grand Prix...

 (Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

) met 35 times between 1984 and 1996. Although Becker led their overall head-to-head series 25–10, Edberg won three of their four meetings in Grand Slams. The most defining aspect of their rivalry was the three successive Wimbledon finals that they played. In the 1988 meeting, Becker was the huge favorite, and stormed to the first set 6-4. The second set was to be the most memorable in this rivalry in the 1988 match, when in a fit of courage and fine tennis acumen Edberg won a tight set in a tiebreaker 7-2. Edberg went on to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-2 to win his first Wimbledon title and deny Becker his third title in four years. In the 1989 meeting, Becker, having lost to Edberg a month earlier in the French Open semifinals, raced to win the first set 6-0. The second set was closer, but won in a tiebreak by Becker 7-1. Becker went on to win the third set 6-4. This was Becker's third Wimbledon title, which would be his last Wimbledon crown. In the 1990 meeting, Edberg swept the first two sets 6-2, 6-2. However, Becker rallied to win the next two sets 6-3 6-3. Becker broke Edberg early in the fifth set, setting up the possibility of being the first Wimbledon champion to win the last three sets in a five-set match since Henri Cochet

Henri Cochet

Henri Jean Cochet was a champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s....

 in 1927. Yet, this was not to be as Edberg regained the break and then broke Becker in the ninth game of the set with a topspin lob winner, eventually serving it out for a second Wimbledon championship.

Following his 2009 Wimbledon final, Roger Federer

Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...

 in the post-match press conference cited the Edberg-Becker rivalry in Wimbledon finals as his inspiration for choosing to play tennis over soccer.

Becker 25–10 Edberg

Year	|Tournament	|Surface	|Round	|Winner	|Score
1984	Cologne	Hard	R32	Stefan Edberg	6-4, 6-4
1985	Philadelphia	Carpet	R32	Stefan Edberg	6-3, 6-1
1985	Las Vegas	Hard	R16	Boris Becker	6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2
1985	Germany v Sweden	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 8-6
1986	Dallas	Carpet	SF	Boris Becker	7-6(4), 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(2)
1986	Montreal/Toronto Canada Masters The Canada Masters , currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association tour...	Hard	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 3-6, 6-3
1986	Tokyo	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	7-6(5), 6-1
1986	New York City	Carpet	SF	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-4
1987	Indian Wells Indian Wells Masters The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....	Hard	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-4, 7-5
1987	Montreal/Toronto	Hard	SF	Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-4
1987	Cincinnati Cincinnati Masters The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...	Hard	F	Stefan Edberg	6-4, 6-1
1988	Dallas WCT	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2
1988	London (Queen's Club)	Grass	F	Boris Becker	6-1, 3-6, 6-3
1988	Wimbledon	Grass	F	Stefan Edberg	4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-2
1988	New York City	Carpet	RR	Stefan Edberg	7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4
1988	Germany v Sweden	Clay	F	Boris Becker	6-3, 6-1, 6-4
1989	French Open	Clay	SF	Stefan Edberg	6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2
1989	Wimbledon	Grass	F	Boris Becker	6-0, 7-6(1), 6-4
1989	Paris Paris Masters The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy. The event is part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour...	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-3, 6-3
1989	New York City	Carpet	RR	Boris Becker	6-1, 6-4
1989	New York City	Carpet	F	Stefan Edberg	4–6, 7–6(6), 6–3, 6–1
1989	Germany v Sweden	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	6-2, 6-2, 6-4
1990	London (Queen's Club)	Grass	SF	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-4
1990	Wimbledon	Grass	F	Stefan Edberg	6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4
1990	Sydney	Hard (i)	F	Boris Becker	7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4
1990	Stockholm	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-0, 6-3
1990	Paris	Carpet	F	Stefan Edberg	3-3, retired
1991	Stockholm	Carpet	F	Boris Becker	3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
1992	Brussels	Carpet	SF	Boris Becker	4-6, 6-4, 6-2
1992	Frankfurt	Carpet	RR	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-0
1993	Doha	Hard	SF	Boris Becker	6-4, 6-4
1994	Frankfurt	Carpet	RR	Boris Becker	6-7(3), 6-4, 7-5
1995	Basel	Hard	QF	Boris Becker	6-4, 3-6, 6-3
1996	Doha	Hard	R32	Boris Becker	6-2, 7-5
1996	London (Queen's Club)	Grass	F	Boris Becker	6-4, 7-6(3)