Earlier this week the groundbreaking ATP No. 1 Club was unveiled in Turin. Stefan Edberg, a member of the prestigious group, has been on site Thursday and Friday taking in the scenes.
The Swede has enjoyed being around the tournament, which he won in 1989 when it was held at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“It’s always been of great importance,” Edberg told ATPTour.com. “I think it’s even grown since the past. Everybody wants to play well here. Everybody wants to perform. You’re playing against the [seven] best players, so it’s super exciting I think for a lot of the players just to be here and challenge each other.
“I feel very good about the [Nitto] ATP Finals, the way it’s progressed since my time.”
The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings marvelled at the evolution of sport since his days at the top of tennis, when serve-and-volleying was prevalent.
“I played during the generation of McEnroe, Connors and Pete Sampras, who was the best player at the time that I’ve ever played,” Edberg said. “But I think what I call a golden generation with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic took it to another level from when we were playing and that’s where it took off.”
[ATP AWARDS]
Edberg mingled with fellow ATP alumni Thursday and was in the stands in the evening to watch World No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s win against Daniil Medvedev. The 41-time tour-level titlist has been impressed by the sport’s rising stars.
“Obviously now you’ve got a new generation coming up here with Sinner and Alcaraz taking over from Djokovic, Nadal, Federer era,” Edberg said. “They’re young. They play at a fascinating level already. They’ve already played a lot of great matches. They’re well-liked, they’ve got great games to watch and it’s very, very powerful and exciting. They’ve done really well so far.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]