The 20-time Grand Slam champion is almost the perfect tennis player
Stefan Edberg has trained Roger Federer for a couple of seasons, a luxury partnership that has helped to revive the Swiss phenomenon after the worst year of his career (2013). After separating from Paul Annacone, the former World number 1 had decided to rely on the care of the Swedish legend and to adopt a larger oval racket to be less vulnerable on the backhand side.
All of these factors have had the expected effects, as well as Edberg’s choice to entice Federer to seek the path of the network more frequently. Only a Novak Djokovic in a state of grace prevented Roger from returning to win a Grand Slam title, with the Serbian who imposed himself in the final at Wimbledon in 2014 and the following year and in the last act of the US Open again in 2015.
Edberg on Roger Federer
“Like I said to Roger Federer, he looks so easy when he plays, he floats around the court,” Stefan Edberg Eurosport’s Tennis Legends podcast. “He’s got grace, he’s got power, he’s got touch, he’s got everything you wish for.
He’s almost the perfect tennis player as I see it—both on and off-court. So he’s very special like we all know”. Stefan, who during his career has won Wimbledon twice, the Australian Open twice and as many as the US Open, has maintained an excellent relationship with Federer after the end of their collaboration, so much so that often he is seen in the Swiss box both to Wimbledon than to the ATP Finals in London.
This year Roger has only played in the Australian Open, before operating twice on his right knee and postponing his return to 2021. The Basel veteran, who will turn 39 in less than a month, has already targeted next edition of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Currently, Federer holds 103 ATP titles out of which 20 are Major titles. His longtime friend and foe Rafa sits on number 19 in terms of the Major count. With the US and French Open being scheduled in 2020, the Spaniard is expected to equal Roger’s record this year.
Swiss legend Roger Federer has called off his 2020 season due to two knee surgeries. He will be back in the 2021 season, hopefully for the Australian Open in Melbourne, Victoria. But the debate for the men’s tennis G.O.A.T.
will rage on in the first part of this decade because Djokovic and Nadal are young enough and well-positioned to win more Grand Slams than Federer.
