New Year , new coach and now a new racket , Roger Federer has been ringing the changes in his bid to top the tennis rankings again and made a winning start with his new equipment Tuesday night in Brisbane . Using a larger 98-inch racket head , the Swiss maestro paired with Nicolas Mahut of France to beat top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in a men 's doubles match at the ATP tournament in Brisbane . Federer practiced with the new frame in Dubai during his off-season and will now use it for a title at the opening grand slam in Australia in two weeks time . His big test with the new model will come in his opening singles match against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Wednesday , but he showed it off to good effect in a 7-5 7-5 doubles victory . 17-time grand slam champion Federer used a 90-inch racket head for those triumphs , but did dabble with a larger racket last summer after losing early at Wimbledon . Having made some minor changes , he has pledged to stick with the experiment in Australia . `` I have the feeling that this is the right time for a change in the racket . I 've played through two and a half weeks with the new model and am confident , '' Federer told the Swiss-German daily Basler Zeitung . `` The racket is very good in the hand . But the truth will come out on the court . We 'll see how it affects me in the tournaments in Australia . '' Federer has also hired former six-time grand slam champion Stefan Edberg to his coaching team , having slipped to No.7 in the rankings last year and failing to make a grand slam final for the first time since 2002 . He is favorite and top seed to land the singles title in Brisbane , playing in the tournament for the first time before he heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open . Britain 's Andy Murray will likely be one of Federer 's main rivals in 2014 and he is on the comeback trail after undergoing back surgery in the autumn . Wimbledon champion Murray returned to competitive singles action on the ATP Tour Tuesday with a 6-0 6-0 thrashing of local wild card entry Mousa Zayed in the first round of the Qatar Open . The third seed said after his easy win that he could be set to take his game to a new level having sorted out a niggling problem with his back . `` I guess with most surgeries you are trying to be better than you were before -- and so far the results have been good , '' he claimed . Murray is third seed in Qatar behind top-ranked Rafael Nadal , who avenged his 2012 Wimbledon loss to Lukas Rosol with a 6-2 7-6 win over the Czech in Doha . Second seed David Ferrer was extended by Alexandr Dolgopolov before winning in three sets , 6-3 5-7 6-3 .
Roger Federer trials new racket in doubles win in France . Federer using a 98-inch racket head against 90-inch previously . Top seed also has new coach in Roger Federer . Roger Federer wins third competitive match since surgery No.7 -0 6 -0 .