What is it like to coach a legend, a GOAT? Maybe we should ask Aristotle how he felt while teaching Alexander the Great. But if we do not want to travel that far in history, maybe in the ‘near present’ we should ask Messi’s Italian manager at Barcelona. But if we don’t want to travel that far away from tennis, maybe we should listen to Stefan Edberg speaking on a podcast about his time with Roger Federer.

Roger Federer’s former coach was honored with the ‘Golden Racket’ last week by the Italian association for his illustrious career with rainbow-like achievements. After that, he spoke to Ursin Caderas on the ATP Tennis Radio podcast on a range of topics, including his association with Federer.

Roger Federer: in the eyes of his coach

Maybe we want to know how he tried to model and chisel a legend. But former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho already warned us “You don’t teach great players how to kick a ball. You don’t teach them how to play. You teach them how to play in the team.”

Summarizing his two-year stint of coaching the tennis maestro, Stefan Edberg remarked, “Well, it was a fantastic opportunity. It was a great experience. It was a fantastic journey for two years.”

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He further opened up on the evolution of tennis since he left the game. “I never thought I’d be coach anyway ever, but I had the opportunity to get to know Roger and yes to see how much the tennis has actually changed since I stopped playing in the 1990’s. So, tennis has really progressed”, he added.

Edberg labels his partnership with Federer as ‘special’

And what was the chemistry like while being around the GOAT? Tennis great Stefan Edberg, had something heartwarming to answer, “It was very special to be around him and see how professional he is and see how things work nowadays to how it was back in my days.”
And being around Federer and watching him play was “special” for Edberg because Federer, according to him, was an “artist on court.”

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“We have a lot of respect for each other. I love the way Roger plays tennis like a lot of other people around the world do. He’s an artist on court and very special to watch,” Edberg said.

Edberg is a six time Grand Slam champion. He coached the 20 grand slam winner from December 2013 to December 2015. Both in 2014 and 2015, Wimbledon Federer reached the finals. He lost both times to Novak Djokovic. If Federer is an artist on court, Federer-Edberg partnership was not in any way less artistic. Federer won 11 titles at the time Edberg coached him.

Can you think of other player-coach partnerships who complemented each other like Federer and Edberg? Let us know in the comments.

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