Roger Federer announces Stefan Edberg’s inclusion in coaching team by 2014

World number six Roger Federer announced via his official website that his childhood idol Stefan Edberg will be joining his coaching team by 2014 and will run in a course of at least ten weeks. Edberg will join the Swiss star’s longtime coach Severin Luthi during the Australian Open which starts on January 13.

“I am happy to announce that beginning in Melbourne, Stefan Edberg will join Severin Lüthi on my coaching team,” Federer said. “Severin, who has been part of my team for the last seven years, will do most of the weeks and Stefan has agreed to work with us for at least 10 weeks starting at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Stefan was my childhood hero, and I am really looking forward to spending time and learning from him.”

Earlier in December, Federer trained with Edberg for a week in Dubai.

“I’m really excited to be part of Roger’s team and I hope together we can bring out his best tennis,” said Edberg, a former world number one who won six Grand Slam titles during his professional career.

Federer has parted ways with Paul Annacone in October after more than three years of coaching partnership.

“Roger will play a full schedule next year so we both wanted to make sure we had a solid team in place. I want to continue to improve and innovate Roger’s game and I really look forward to be working with Stefan. Like Roger, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Stefan and I am sure he will bring a lot to our team as Roger continues to chase titles in 2014,” Luthi said.

A number of top ATP stars have hired former ATP players as coaches in the past few weeks.

Novak Djokovic announced earlier this month that he’s hired Boris Becker as new head coach. French Open champion Michael Chang will coach Kei Nishikori while Marin Cilic will be overseen by Goran Ivanisevic. Milos Raonic is being coached by Ivan Ljubicic while Sergi Bruguera has been hired as coach by Frenchman Richard Gasquet.