Lendl, Becker and now Edberg ... let ‘That ‘80s Show’ begin

Men's tennis seems to be going through an epidemic of hiring high-profile former players as coaches. But like Rafael Nadal says, it could make the game more exciting, writes Steve Elling.

Roger Federer, left, has hired Stevan Edberg to be on his coaching staff ahead of the 2014 season. Karim Jaafar / AFP

It is not unusual for strange strains to be making the rounds during the colder months, of course.

The symptoms are sniffles, elevated temperatures, and occasional aches and pains.

Rarely, if ever, has a winter contagion like this struck the top ranks of professional tennis. Talk about a fever pitch.

Like never before, top players are calling prominent game doctors, en masse.

Two years after Andy Murray overhauled his career by hiring former great Ivan Lendl as his coach – he won an Olympic gold and two grand slam titles since – his associates have fallen into lock step behind him, especially this month.

Over the past few weeks, top-10 fixtures Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet have hired players who won multiple slam titles, and late on Friday night, the greatest player in the game, Roger Federer, followed suit.

Federer, a 17-time grand slam winner, hired former Swedish great Stefan Edberg, a six-time slam winner, for at least the next 10 weeks. Edberg has been working with Federer in Dubai in the off-season before the gig was made official.

Early in the week, when the world No 1 was reeling off the names of the newest former stars to sign on as coaches, he mentioned Edberg and Federer, though at that point, it had not been made official, it was noted.

“That is what I heard,” Nadal said, shrugging.

Turns out he was right. Incredibly, of the players in the current world top nine, five are using former stars as their mentors, and four of them were added at some point in 2013.

You could almost see Murray smirking when he sent out a tweet when the Federer news broke overnight that read, “How great is it to have all these legends of the game coaching?! Absolutely loving it. #my coach is better than yours na na na na na.”

He might be right, but not by much. The coach Djokovic hired this month, former German sensation Boris Becker, has six grand slam titles, the same as Edberg. One wag on Twitter cracked that tennis is beginning to like That ‘80s Show.

That is hardly the end of it, either. Not long after Gasquet hired Sergi Brugera, a two-time grand slam winner, last month, Michael Chang signed on to work with Kei Nishikori. Magnus Norman, who made it to world No 2, started working with world No 8 Stanislas Wawrinka earlier in the year. Marin Cilic, No 37 in the world, is coached by former No 2 Goran Ivanisevic.

That is not a trend, that is a tsunami.

Andy Murray, trailblazer? Djokovic suggested otherwise, but the Scotsman’s play over the last two years has clearly been an inspiration in some fashion.

“Look, for Andy, Ivan Lendl did a great job,” Djokovic said before the Federer decision was announced. “Since Ivan came on board he won two grand slams and an Olympic gold medal. From my point of view, it affected him in a very positive way, of course.

“But my decision to start working with Boris hasn’t been inspired by the fact that Ivan is working with him.”

Federer, in Brisbane this week for the ATP season opener, said he discussed with his team whether they needed to add a new face in the off-season, “and if so, who?”

Edberg was his childhood hero, and they offered him the gig.

Then they waited.

“He actually needed some time to think about it,” Federer said in Australia, a smile crossing his face.

Nadal, who not only is still coached by the same guy, but by a family member, uncle Toni Nadal, said the addition of the old-school star power cannot possibly hurt in at least one regard.

“It adds charisma to the tour,” Nadal said.