Magnus Norman: Swedish Tennis Needs More Fight to Return to the Top

Norman calls for more competitive edge in Swedish Tennis 

Good to Great academy founder Magnus Norman says Swedish youngsters avoid competition. He explains what needs to change to produce future Top 20 players.

With Elias Ymer at No. 175, Magnus Norman says Swedish tennis must rebuild a culture of competition and resilience to produce new stars...

Magnus Norman, a former Grand Slam finalist, believes Swedish young players must embrace competition if Sweden wants to produce new talents capable of making an impact on the WTA and ATP Tours.

Sweden once ruled men’s tennis with legends like Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg, and Stefan Edberg leading the way. Now, Elias Ymer sits highest among Swedish men at world No. 175.

On the women’s side, Sweden’s top-ranked player is Kajsa Rinaldo Persson, who sits at world No. 253.

The bigger question is whether Sweden can recapture the era when it had multiple men ranked inside the Top 20.

Magnus Norman, the former star who now coaches and runs the Good to Great tennis academy, is clear on what’s needed to develop the next generation of Swedish players.

“Competition can sometimes appear as a dirty word,” Norman wrote in his newsletter earlier this year about how he experiences Swedish sports culture today.

And Norman has a clear message. “Children and young people must compete more. Play a lot of matches and compete for points to understand the game.”

"We have had good juniors, but we have not done a good enough job in the transition phase between juniors and seniors,” he says to Expressen.se. “When I'm out and about, I talk to many international coaches and, generally speaking, many people there learn to compete quite early.”

Norman, who was a French Open finalist in 2000, stresses that it’s not only about learning how to win. He argues that learning to handle defeat is just as crucial, if not more so.

“If you lose, there is often a new tournament around the corner. So you don't have to be too broken or depressed. You have to learn to be able to take something with you from the losses. What can I do better next time? What did I do well? And then you go home and work on it. Hopefully, it will be better in the next game.”