Federer’s the ‘greatest’ yet he’s still in awe of the man guiding him to glory

Swiss is chasing his eighth title SW19 but finds it difficult to believe that boyhood hero Stefan Edberg is now his coach

ROGER FEDERER admits he is still star-struck around coach Stefan Edberg, who is masterminding the world No2’s bid for an historic eighth Wimbledon title.

Federer has 17 Grand Slam crowns and is arguably the greatest player to pick up a racket, so it is difficult to imagine him being nervous about anything to do with tennis.

However, the arrival of Edberg 18 months ago has created an unusual dynamic for the Swiss and he admits the process is still on-going.

Patently, working with Edberg has been very different to Federer’s three years with Paul Annacone, another former professional, who reached No12 in the world and made his name coaching with Pete Sampras.

This is Edberg’s first foray into topflight coaching after a playing career that brought him six Grand Slam singles titles, including two at Wimbledon with his sublime serve-volleying winning him a multitude of fans around the world.

Federer, who faces 20th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, of Spain, in today’s fourth round, has always described Edberg as his boyhood hero.

He said: “I don’t want to say I am less nervous but I am more comfortable around Stefan. When you spend time with someone you have looked up to your entire life, it’s a bit awkward in the beginning.

“You’re not quite sure what you’re allowed to ask, what you’re allowed to say, all these things. I think those fears are somewhat gone, even though every time he steps into the house, I am like I can’t believe it quite still, so it’s very cool.

“But clearly I am more comfortable and he knows the routines much better and all the tournaments, again, because he hasn’t been to this many tournaments for so many years. I had to show him around a little bit, ‘this is a locker room, this is a practice court again’ and it has actually been quite fun showing him how it’s done.”

The arrival of so many former greats to help the current leading players as a ‘supercoach’ has been one of the most interesting developments in recent years.

Andy Murray won two Grand Slams with Ivan Lendl before they parted

company and he now has Amelie Mauresmo in his team. Other collaborations include Magnus Norman in Stan Wawrinka’s corner, Boris Becker guiding Novak Djokovic, Michael Chang working with Kei Nishikori, Goran Ivanisevic providing motivation for Marin Cilic and Ivan Ljubicic helping Milos Raonic.

With Rafael Nadal having lost early, yet again, at Wimbledon and in danger of dropping out of the top 10, there are calls for the Spaniard to bring in a former top player to supplement his work with Uncle Toni, his coach from boyhood. Fellow Majorcan Carlos Moya is the obvious choice but someone such as Mats Wilander could work wonders with the nine-times French Open champion.

Federer believes you have to work hard to ensure your chosen ‘star’ coach can feel part of what is often an established back-up team.

The 33-year-old Swiss said: “For him it ’s important for him to be comfortable in the team, in the beginning getting to know everyone, my wife, my physio, my agent. It’s been go o d fun and now it ’s j us t ve r y straightforward.

“We know when to speak about it, when not. In the beginning, you force a little bit more and, maybe, he tries to say a little more than he should and I request more than I should. Eventually now he knows exactly when to say what, which is comfortable.”

Federer has looked impressive on his way to reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon. After negating the power serving of Sam Groth he now faces a very different challenge in 20th seed Agut, who has lost his previous two meetings against the Swiss — both on hard courts. The winner of the clash will face either sixth Tomas Berdych or Gilles Simon, the 12th seed.

Agut has equalled his best Grand Slam result by merely reaching the fourth round but his path has not brought him into contact with anyone remotely as adept on grass as Federer, the most successful active player on the surface with a 139-10 career winloss record.

Agut, 27, has only ever beaten players ranked as high as No5 — Juan Martin del Potro (Australian Open) and B e rdyc h (I n d i a n We ll s ) — bo t h achieved in 2014.