Former coach explains how Novak Djokovic delayed Roger Federer's bid to win another Grand Slam

Roger Federer's former coach Stefan Edberg has revealed that the only reason the Swiss ace did not win another Grand Slam during his time with the 36-year-old was because how Novak Djokovic was performing at that period. Edberg was of the opinion that Federer needed some luck to see him through but it was not to be during their time together.

Federer failed to add to his haul of 17 grand slam titles while working with Edberg but had managed to reach three finals and two semi-finals and was also runner-up at the World Tour Finals in both of their seasons together. The Swiss maestro lost all three finals to Djokovic, who was in his prime during the period and was markedly better than Federer.

Edberg had been personally contacted by Federer to add to his coaching staff in 2013 and a decision was made on a year by year basis after a meeting in Dubai. The duo came close to ending Federer's barren run a few times and Edberg believes that he was unlucky to not win atleast one Grand Slam from the opportunities he had during the period.

However, Federer was finally rewarded for his persistence, as he came back from a knee injury in 2017 and won the Australian Open and followed that up by winning two more Grand Slams, taking his tally to 20, four more than Nadal. He also became the oldest player to top the ATP rankings after winning the Rotterdam Open, ousting Rafael Nadal in the process.

"When I started working with Federer, I thought he may have a chance to win a Grand Slam or two with a little bit of luck," Edberg said, as quoted by the Express. "I had a telephone call from him that following October asking whether I was prepared to help him for some time and I said I need to think about it because it would be a change to my life as well because of the travelling.

"So we decided to spend a week in Dubai, and after that I decided to do one year at a time. The great thing about Roger is that he wanted to still go out there. He had the motivation to work hard and usually, it takes time to get back.

"He started to get some momentum, he started to get better and he started to get more confident. He had a couple of chances to win a Grand Slam. He probably deserved to win one.

"He didn't because Djokovic was playing some great tennis at the time. But he kept on going and look what has happened now."