by Mauro Cappiello

Roger Federer won his opening round match at the Australian Open against Yen-Hsun Lu and, apparently, this was his only present for his coach Stefan Edberg, who turned 49 yesterday.

In the Center court interview that followed the Swiss' straight set win, Todd Woodbridge announced Stefan Edberg's birthday, urging a round of applause from the crowd. Federer looked a little embarassed at Woodbridge's question about a gift, while Stefan was smiling from his corner, where he was sitting next to Roger's wife Mirka and father Rob.

by Joanne Cox (from Melbourne, Australia)

On January 17th Stefan Edberg returned to where it all began for Team Fedberg in 2014.  His very successful partnership with World number two Roger Federer started at Melbourne Park on the first day of the Australian Open last year.  Until now speculation had been rife as to whether the duo would continue their working relationship.

Interest in the Super coach/Super Pupil pairing was keen when it was announced in December 2013, particularly among fans of the long retired Swede.  Federer went on to have a remarkably strong 2014 season featuring five titles in Dubai, Halle, Cincinnati, Shanghai, and Basel and six runner-up finishes, including Wimbledon. At the ATP Finals year end championships Federer had to withdraw with a back injury from the title match against Novak Djokovic. Federer finished the year as the oldest player to rank number two (at age 33) while also having the best win/loss record of any player in 2014 (73-12).

from RTS.ch
by Stéphane Altyzer 
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

The question on everyone's lips at the Australian Open is: "Can Roger Federer win an 18th Grand Slam title, two and a half years after his last consecration at Wimbledon?" The main interested, who owns a record of eleven (11!) semifinals in Melbourne, strongly believes he can.

Roger Federer talking to the media at the Australian Open

Wearing a bright yellow cap, Federer looked casual and relaxed Saturday before the media. Federer has addressed various topics with the calmness we have been used to.

Number 1 rank... why not

His goals in 2015: "If the World No. 1 spot is within my reach, I will try to reach it. But it's not something I really need. After the Australian Open we'll know more about my chances of achieving it. My priorities will be more accurately defined after the break I'll take in February. In the first 6 months, my 3 main targets are the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Wimbledon."

by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg watches Roger Federer practice at the Australian Open

Stefan Edberg arrived yesterday in Melbourne to follow Roger Federer in the first Grand Slam event of the year at the Australian Open. He appeared in Roger's corner, along with Mirka and the baby twins, during yesterday's Kids Day, a charity exhibition event, featuring among the others Roger himself, Azarenka, Kyrgios and Bouchard.

But the great news is that, in his first media conference at the Open, Federer talked about an extension of the contract between him and Edberg, that will go on at least for the first three months of 2015.

Here's the excerpt of the interview about the partnership.

from Expressen.se
by Linus Sunnervik
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Many thought of a repeat of last year's Australian Open when the draw was made up on Friday night. Novak Djokovic singled out as favourite, but authoritative expert Nick Bollettieri votes for Roger Federer. - God, thanks Stefan Edberg for his improvements, says Bollettieri.

Stanislas Wawrinka gets a tough task to defend last year's title. In order to succeed, the world number 4 needs to go through a similar path as last year: on Friday night, the Swisss was placed in the same half as top seed Novak Djokovic, the player he beat in a thriller quarter-final last year.

According to plans, they should meet in the semifinal this time. In the other half, just like last edition, there are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

It seems only yesterday that we were furiously speculating about the Federer - Wawrinka dustup and debating the spectacle that was the IPTL. Injuries, comebacks, coaching changes and season montages – all are history now. We could only just about wish everyone for the New Year when the 2015 season was already underway. And we are just a week away from the first major of the year. Yikes!

The 2015 Australian Open promises to be intriguing. And while this may sound like a clichéd thing to say, there are reasons that back it up. Last week was a delight for tennis fans. With tournaments running in parallel in Brisbane, Perth, Chennai and Doha, there was non-stop tennis from morning to night. All the top players were in action as they tried to accumulate match practice heading in to the Australian Open. So there was plenty to watch and observe.

The Swiss have started 2015 like they finished 2014 – with victories. Stanislas Wawrinka successfully defended his title in Chennai without breaking a sweat (metaphorically speaking; it is practically impossible to not sweat in Chennai). Roger Federer went one better in Brisbane, in comparison to last year, by defeating Milos Raonic in a 3 set final.

from OK Tennis
by Rossana Capobianco
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Roger Federer's thousand win milestone gave the ATP and his fans the opportunity to celebrate a champion who seems to be ageless: but the Swiss has not won a Major since 2012 and his main goal for 2015 is clearly to get his 18th. Then, number one. Through the technical changes Stefan Edberg has made... but will the Swede be there?

Those who had the opportunity to watch Federer play in Brisbane could not only admire the speed of his tennis, but also those small technical details that a player of such completeness continues to add to his repertoire: a slightly accelerated service action from the left, an earlier backhand swing, while the sliced backhand return, too conservative for a currently confident player like him, has almost vanished from his game.

Roger reached 1000 wins, a figure that perfectly proves his longevity and the quantity and quality of what Federer has done: interestingly, 737 of these thousand matches were won in straight sets. The umpteenth confirmation, in short, that the Swiss was born and established himself as a front-runner, a dominator, who has learned how to fight and carry off battles, but still prefers to win his own way: quick and safe.

from Sportskeeda.com
by Shankar Narayan

Roger Federer won the Brisbane International on Sunday, defeating Milos Raonic 6-4 6-7 6-4 in the final.The victory was significant for the Swiss for another reason, that was the 1000th victory of his career, and he joined two more players- Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl in the 1000 wins club.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony after the historic win, the 17-time Grand Slam champion said that it was an unforgettable moment for him and to achieve it in front of legends like Rod Laver made it even more special.

"To get to 1,000 wins in front of you two greats means a lot to me. I'll never forget this moment," Federer said.

by Mauro Cappiello

Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer shake hands in Wimbledon last year

Roger Federer had a conversation with Simon Häring of Swiss newspaper Blick on the New Year's eve. In his last interview of 2014 he also talked about Stefan Edberg.

The interviewer asked him what Stefan added to his tennis. "Stefan has been able to tell me some things clearer," Roger replied. "For example, how to look for my way to the net. When he speaks, I know someone is speaking who has achieved a lot himself as a player."

Federer also said that Stefan perfectly matched with Lüthi, the former number one's first coach.

"Severin is a friend of mine and has been here for years. We combine very well and that's great."

by Mauro Cappiello

This year, we want to wish you a Happy New Year in a special way: sharing again 10 of our most popular posts on the partnership between Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer that is now exactly one year old.

We have re-posted all these articles on our Facebook page in the last few days, as a sort of countdown to 2015. Now you can see them all in one article, just while Stefan Edberg has been spotted in Dubai training with Roger Federer.

So we can prepare to another exciting season of... Fedberg!

Happy New Year!