from India Times.com
by David Waldstein

Federer has stirred curiosity on the tour since he unveiled an unusual return of service last month in a tournament in Cincinnati.

Before returning an opponent's second serve, Federer, on a few occasions, darted forward to the edge of the service line and took the ball quickly with a little half­volley. [...]

He began using it in practice. His coach, Stefan Edberg, encouraged him to keep trying, even if it felt awkward, even if he felt a bit like a prisoner stepping forward to face a firing squad. [...]

"When you lose a point with it, you feel a bit ridiculous," Federer said Tuesday after employing it a handful of times in his 6­1, 6­2, 6­2 victory over Leonardo Mayer in the first round of the United States Open. "But when you win the point, it's a great feeling." [...] "Sometimes I stand there and I'm like, 'Should I or shouldn't I?' " Federer said. "And then it's like, 'OK, whatever, I'm going.' [...]

The first time the fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium saw it Tuesday, in the first game of the second set, many of them let out an "Oooohhhh." Mayer, under pressure, tried to hit a passing shot, but it went long. On another occasion, Federer's block backhand went into the net. On another, Mayer double­faulted, perhaps rattled to see Federer attacking again.

from CNN
by Ravi Ubha

Roger Federer's coach, Stefan Edberg, was known as an attacking player during his day.

Serving and volleying, as well as chipping and charging the net, helped the Swede amass six grand slam titles in the 1980s and '90s. But not even Edberg employed some of the audacious tactics Federer has used in the past month.

The Swiss approached the net at the Cincinnati Masters after half-volleying second-serve returns, and the unconventional ploy contributed to Federer ousting both top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, then the No. 2, en route to a seventh title.

All eyes were on Federer -- well, they usually are -- to see if the men's record 17-time grand slam winner would stick with it at the U.S. Open.

Like at Wimbledon, Roger Federer decided to start his US Open tuneup very early, so he was seen training at Flushing Meadows already yeasterday, five days before the start of the last Major event of the year.

Along with him, Severin Lüthi and Stefan Edberg, who is also already in New York!

Again, Team Fedberg had the first hitting session with Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who will play his last Grand Slam tournament next year at the Australian Open, before stepping away from the Tour. Federer also practiced with David Goffin on Friday and Stan Wawrinka on Saturday.

Here are some pictures of Federer's training sessions and of Stefan and Roger having a chillout walk around New York last Wednesday.

Below, you can also watch a couple of hd videos of the entire practice with Hewitt, under Stefan's eyes, that were filmed live and posted on Youtube by user Hugo Legend. (mc)

During the final days of the Cincinnati Western and Southern Open, many Twitter users dedicated their posts to Stefan Edberg, appreciating his influence on the new aggressive style of play Federer has been showing since the start of their partnership and that has been earning the Swiss great success in spite of the fact he is now one of the old guys of the Tour.

Below you can find a collection of the best Fedberg tweets posted in the last few days, that also prove how Stefan Edberg's status as coach is growing more and more. Let's hope this can help keep Stefan on the Tour, even beyond Federer, to start a revival of attacking tennis in the new generations of players. (mc).

In the media conference following his seventh title at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, Roger Federer paid homage to coach Stefan Edberg for the wonderful results of the last year and a half, but refused to relate his improvements on the backhand side to the  Swede's advise.

"Honestly, I think I would like to give Stefan a lot of credit and he has helped me in a big way, - said the Swiss. - But I think the backhand is better since I also have a bigger racquet head. I really think that was the change."

No doubt, instead, about Edberg's influence on his new offensive attitude: "Of course Stefan wants me to play up in the court and move in as much as possible but in a clever way," added the Swiss.

In Federer's words, Stefan Edberg will arrive in New York "in the next few days", which lets imagine the duo will have an early preparation to the last Major of the season, like in Wimbledon, where Edberg arrived on the Wednesday before the start of the tournament. (mc)

At the Cincinnati Masters, many fans were amazed seing Roger Federer return against hard servers like Kevin Anderson with his feet placed well inside the court.

Even though he clearly preferred the sliced backhand, his coach Stefan Edberg, whose forehand was not as good as Federer's, used the same strategy at times more than twenty years ago to anticipate the return and take control of the net. His position was not as advanced and his swing was more complete than Federer's, but the aim was the same: surprise the opponent in key situations of the match and close the rally quickly at the net.

In this short clip you can admire two examples of net rush following the forehand return, in two finals played by Stefan against Jim Courier, the first won at the 1991 US Open and the second lost at the 1993 Australian Open.(mc)

We all know Stefan Edberg wasn't with Roger Federer last week in Cincinnati. Nevertheless, many though the Swede was inside Federer, as the seven-time Wimbledon champion conquered his 7th crown in Ohio with a perfect week of tennis and straight set wins on both world number two, Andy Murray, and number one, Novak Djokovic.

The Swiss took the tournament in style, never losing his serve, without losing a set, with more than 70% of points won at the net and playing some unprecedented shots that reminded of his coach's lesson on how to shorten rallies.

Here's the "Edberg effect" in Cincinnati in three hot shots played by Federer. (mc)

from Tennis Now

Despite the fact that Stefan Edberg has been taking time off with family during the Swiss maestro’s post-Wimbledon training block, World No. 2 Roger Federer says that having the Swedish legend as a part of his team has been a major source of energy/inspiration for him.

Federer, who announced the hiring of Edberg prior to the start of his 2014 campaign, struggled through a 2013 that saw him go 45-17 and slump to his lowest winning percentage since 2002 while struggling with back issues for much of the season.

In 2014, he Federer adopted more aggressive tactics and returned to top form, notching 73 wins and coming within a game of winning Wimbledon for the eighth time. This week in Cincinnati he's taken it to another level, causing jaws to drop all over the grounds by intercepting second serves near the service line in order to chip-and-charge. It's yet another way that Federer has evolved over the course of the last several years, and his rejuvanated net game is a big reason that he's been able to keep gaining the upper hand on his elite foes.

Federer told reporters in Cincinnati this week that Edberg’s influence has helped him tremendously in that time, both tactically and emotionally.

from The Challenge (Arnesen-Tennis)
by Jonas Arnesen
translated into English by Mauro Cappiello

Elias Ymer will probably live the greatest adventure in his life. After the SkiStar Swedish Open tournament, the 19-year-old from Sweden will take part in a training camp with Roger Federer.

- It's great and it will be great to learn from the best of all time, says Elias.

During Wimbledon, the Swedish future hope had the chance to hit with Federer before a match and the 17-time Grand Slam champion liked what he saw in Elias, who will now be the sparring partner of the world number two in a three-day camp in Zurich.

- It was Stefan (Federer's coach, Stefan Edberg) who asked me, says Elias who obviously did not need thinking twice before saying yes.

- I have two weeks off after Båstad. Roger is the greatest in history and to have the opportunity to train with him is amazing. When Stefan texted me at Wimbledon and asked if I could hit with Roger the day after I felt both amused and nervous. When we stood there, I thought, "Hey, I am standing and hitting balls with Roger Federer that I saw on TV thousands of times."

by Mauro Cappiello

STE…fans celebrates its 14th anniversary today and like last year we didn’t receive the gift of seeing Stefan Edberg win another Wimbledon trophy, as Roger Federer’s coach, but we were rewarded hitting the amazing target of 50,000 fans on Facebook.