Edwards studied at Pepperdine University , where he played college tennis between 1977 and 1980 . He was three times champion of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and was named three times in a row in the top selection All-American from 1978 to 1980 .
After initially unsuccessful results in the late 1970s, Edwards was able to win his first double title at the side of the American Craig Edwards in 1980. At this tournament he was also successful in singles and made it to the semi-finals, which was his best individual result on the ATP Tour so far . With Craig Edwards he was also in the 1981 finals of Adelaide and Stuttgart . In Adelaide he also reached the semi-finals in singles. He had another respectable success with reaching the quarter-finals at the Queen's Club tournament. 1982 began quite well for him with the semi-finals at Hilton Head , but his other results on the ATP Tour that year were modest. 1983 began with the double title in Melbourne , which he won with the Briton Jonathan Smith . Also in 1983 he stood next to Danie Visser in the semifinals of the Canada Masters . With Visser, Edwards also won two more double titles; 1984 in Metz and 1985 in Bristol . This year Edwards and Visser were also in the finals of Livingston .
Edwards celebrated his greatest single success on the ATP Tour in December 1985 when he won the title at the Adelaide lawn tournament . In 1986 he played successfully with his new doubles partner Francisco González ; they reached the finals in Chicago and Newport that year . In singles, he was a local hero in the semi-finals of his home tournament in Johannesburg this year , but lost to Amos Mansdorf . In the course of his career he was able to win four double titles and one single title. He reached his highest score in the tennis world rankings in 1986 with position 42 in singles and in 1988 with position 40 in doubles.
He had his best individual result in a Grand Slam tournament at the Wimbledon Championships in 1986. On the way to the second round, he defeated Karel Nováček , Anders Järryd and Jakob Hlasek , but then failed against the American Tim Mayotte . In the doubles competition he was able to achieve respectable successes in all four Grand Slam tournaments: At the US Open 1986 he reached the second round with Francisco González and at the French Open 1982 he was next to Leo Palin in the quarter-finals. At the Australian Open in 1980 (with Craig Edwards) and at Wimbledon in 1988 (with Gary Muller ) he took part in the semifinals. In the mixed competition he played successfully with Elna Reinach in 1987 and 1988 , they reached the second round of Wimbledon and the quarter-finals of the US Open twice in a row.