Carlos Moya on idol Stefan Edberg: He gave me a free class at the Chatrier

Former World No. 1 Carlos Moya, of Spain, says that Swedish tennis legend Stefan Edberg, and later on Andre Agassi, were his idols while growing up, during an interview with El Pais. 

Carlos Moya says he was dazzled by Stefan Edberg's class

The 43 year old Moya, who is from Spain and is a clay-court specialist, spoke about his admiration for the serve-n-volley specialist Stefan Edberg in his interview. "When I started watching tennis on TV, they only showed Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Davis Cup. My earliest memories are of Borg, but very vague, and then I started to see Connors, McEnroe, Lendl, Wilander ... Later I followed Agassi. But the one that struck me the most and the one that was my idol when I was little was Edberg."

Moya says he loved watching Edberg's clashes against his German rival Boris Becker. "I loved seeing him and the style he had with the racket, especially the rivalry with Becker.. As for the game, we had completely different styles, but perhaps that difference was what most attracted me to him."

Moya also recalled his only encounter with Edberg - which was in the second round of the French Open in 1996. “At first, I was the favorite, because it was the year of his farewell and I was already 20th in the ranking.. it was my first Roland Garros and in the first round I had beaten Rafter.. He beat me 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1 and gave me a free class at the Chatrier. Having him in front awed me. It was not easy to assimilate it and, in fact, I played fatal, very self-conscious about the whole situation."

Moya says later on, he was also attracted by Andre Agassi's rebellious image. "Later, Agassi's rebellion caught me. It was a revolutionary appearance. I bought the jeans he was wearing, his sneakers ... It was groundbreaking. In a way, I felt identified with him but Edberg came first."

43 year old Carlos Moya won the French Open singles in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country to win the Davis Cup. He is currently on the coaching team of Rafael Nadal.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3dkVxCn