The Joy of Padel podcast with Jonas Bjorkman

In this episode of the Joy of Padel, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jonas Bjorkman, a renowned tennis player who has embraced the world of padel. Jonas shares his personal journey from tennis to padel, which began in Portugal, and highlights what makes the sport so appealing both socially and competitively. As the manager of the Swedish men’s padel team, he opens up about the challenges and strategies involved in transitioning from tennis to padel, stressing the importance of teamwork and adapting to the sport’s unique dynamics. Jonas also delves into the cultural aspects of padel, the essence of leadership, and the pride of representing one’s country. With his insights into the growth of padel in Sweden and its global impact, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the passion and community that define this exciting sport.

To find out more about Jonas Bjorkman:

• Find or follow on Instagram: @Bjorkmantennis
• Check out Jonas Bjorkman’s eponymous site

To listen to the show:

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Send in your questions or reactions:

Please send me your questions — as an audio file if you’d like — to nminterdial@gmail.com. Otherwise, below, you’ll find the show notes and, of course, you are invited to comment. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to review and/or rate it! ¡VAMOS!

Further resources for The Joy of Padel:

Jonas Bjorkman | joy of padel | padel aficionado | padel ambassadors | Padel Coaching | padel competition | padel Culture | padel development | padel doubles | padel future | padel growth | Padel In Sweden | padel juniors | padel mindset | padel Partnerships | padel podcast | padel pressure | padel social sport | padel Strategy | padel Tactics | padel teamwork | padel Tournaments | Padel Training | PDL Sweden | Peak Tennis Academy | Swedish men's team

This transcription comes courtesy of Flowsend.ai, an AI service for podcasters.

Minter Dial: Jonas Bjorkman, I am just delighted to have you on the Joy of Padel. I followed your career, the many great victories you had, partnerships, doubles, singles. In your own words, how do you describe Jonas today?

Jonas Bjorkman: Well, that’s a good question. Still enjoying tennis and of course a new passion in Padel, but still doing a lot of commentating in tennis, all the Grand Slams. So, I’m still involved in the game that I love, but do a lot of other things today, which is something that I really enjoy, and not traveling as much, which is also something I was looking forward to after my tennis career.

Minter Dial: Well, you say that, but we’re in Doha, Qatar, and you are training. You’re the manager of the Swedish men’s team. Let’s go back to your arrival in Padel. I mean, I would love for you just to say the first time someone said, hey, Jonas, let’s play this other game.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yes, 2011, maybe. In Portugal, me and Thomas Johansson was having a tennis camp for happy amateurs who wanted to improve. So, we call it Peak Tennis Academy. They lived like a pro for four and a half days.

Minter Dial: I’m jealous already.

Jonas Bjorkman: And that was a lot of fun. And then we played in Cascais, and the coaches there told us we need to try a paddle. And, of course, it wasn’t that sexy at the moment because it was a concrete behind, so the old fashioned one. Yeah. But we had a day off in between two camps. So, we went up and played two hours after lunch. And then we organized everything for the next camp. And then in the evening we felt like it was pretty fun. Then let’s maybe go up and play again. And then we played another two hours. And I think that was from that day. From that day I always wanted to play. And then of course, I was one of the four who started PDL in Sweden. We had about 75 centers at one point. And then of course, we went a bit crazy in Sweden and we lost the whole company, unfortunately. But since 2015, since we opened up, I’ve been playing more and more and started to compete a little bit as well, which I enjoy.

Minter Dial: Love it. The thing about Padel is a lot of tennis players seem to use it more like a distraction. On the side there’d be tennis centers. We have a swimming pool. You go swim and relax, you play some paddle, just to have a fun time. What makes paddle the fun time?

Jonas Bjorkman: Well, I think back in the days when I Played on the tour. You know, I was trying to go out and play maybe 9, 12 holes of golf for your relaxation, for relaxing, and also for get away from everything. And once you focus on a ball, you know, you don’t think so much about, you know, the loss of a win or what’s coming up next. You know, you’re sort of just out there at that time. And I think it’s a little bit with Padel as well. You know, it’s such a great social sport. And of course, the more you play and you get better, of course, you can compete different type of levels as well. But, you know, it’s a unique sport in that way. And I think maybe the only racket sport where you can have it a little bit more like golf, but it could be very social. You can have two phenomenal players, and then you can have two who’s not that good. But we can still have fun together as friends. Same like in golf. And you can hit that drive better than the pro. And the same in Padel, maybe you hit one shot better than sort of a pro. Yes, but in the end, of course, it’s a big difference. But I think that’s a key because I don’t think any of our other rackets have that. So, that’s something that I enjoy a lot.

Minter Dial: I suppose it does mean you have to have two good players, two of the even good players, because if you have one who’s supremely different, much worse, so much better of the four, then it’s not quite as good.

Jonas Bjorkman: No, but it’s. I mean, if I play with three good friends, of course I will be way better than all of them. But still, it’s nice to get together sometimes. It’s all about. I think the tempo in life now compared to 15 years ago, is, you know, everyone’s working hard. You know, everyone is doing. Everyone is so busy these days, and everything is hectic. So, you know, if you are good mates, you know, it’s not easy sometimes to just get together. But if you put in an hour paddle or an hour and a half, and then maybe have a lunch after that is sort of a date with your friends, which is great. So, I think it’s something that can add on.

Minter Dial: I love that idea. Date with your friends. My rule number five in Padel, which I’ve been living for 40 years, is after Padel, beer, always socialize. So, one of the big challenges for people who are coming into Padel, many of them come from another sport, typically tennis. And tennis brings a lot, but not everything, no. And it feels like some tennis players really struggle to unwire. What kind of tips could you have or you give to tennis players who really want to switch into paddle?

Jonas Bjorkman: Well, you got to take lessons. You got to listen to the people who know how to play paddle. It’s like you say, you know, in the beginning you play. Can you say tennis paddle?

Minter Dial: Tennessee paddle?

Jonas Bjorkman: Yeah, yeah. You’re scared of letting the ball go by you because you’re so used to lose the point. But the more you can get used to the glass and the more you can start hitting the overheads slower. Use bandejas instead of just going full all the time, because that’s, of course, something you have back in your head. It’s something that. Just natural. But with that, it’s all about training. You just got to put the hours into to get used to it. And once you do that, I think, you know, volleys and things like that, it’s about the same, but it’s just a few adjustments in the technique.

Minter Dial: Right? Well, I mean, in terms of the volleys, but there’s a lot of other things, which, I mean, everything above your head, it requires rethinking because not only do you have different tempos, different strokes, different positions and different ways of hitting the ball, so. But I mean, just putting in the hours. But what about, like, getting the mindset into paddle? Is there. I mean, I also think about the culture of paddle. How do you adapt into paddle? I mean, going to Spain, playing with Spaniards feels like the only way that I know how to adapt into the culture.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yeah, but I think. I mean, I think that’s a way, if you look to the youngsters, you know, young, promising in Sweden, you know, you can get to a certain level in Sweden, but in the end you got to go down to Spain or Argentina, of course, but it’s too far. So, Spain will be the ideal just to get used to the training and the way and the strategies and tactics they use. That is something that you just got to learn from the best.

Minter Dial: Right. It’s so hard. And so you’re managing the Swedish national team, which presumably is a lot of stress and pressure, because obviously you like performing and you have a lot of people who are interested in Padel in Sweden. How are you? How do you manage the stress and how do you manage with the team, their stress of representing Sweden?

Jonas Bjorkman: Well, I think my experience helps me a lot, playing on the tour for 18 years and I think maybe 14 years of Davis Cup. So, it’s, of course different. I mean, here you have, of course, some crowd as well, but it’s not the same. Playing Davis cup final with 10, 12,000 people in Italy. I mean, people expect it. Yes, yes. So, I mean, of course I have such an advantage in that, with my experience and knowing how it is to lose, knowing how it is to win. And once I started four years ago, it was mainly because the guys didn’t really have it, have a team, you know, so they wanted me to come in because I think they respected me. They all come from tennis, but also they know that was a strength in the Swedish Davis cup team. You know, we were such a good team and sometimes we won a lot of matches with that. So, for me, in the beginning, it was all about making sure that all the players understood, you know, we’re going to train together. Even if we got to be opponents the next day, we got to sort of help each other to become better. And then it’s all about building a team as well. You know, you’ve got to do fun things around, you know, so you don’t see your opponents as enemies. You know, you’re going to see them and respect them as opponents, but still you can help each other. So, that’s been my main key. And then of course, you know, the pressure is something that I also can add a lot of experience to, you know, how to, how to think out there and what to do in certain moments. I think sometimes, which is easy, like you got to play with the score sometimes, if you have an idea, give a break.

Minter Dial: Yeah.

Jonas Bjorkman: But if you’re up a break, you know, you maybe don’t have to go for the big shots. You don’t have to be creative. You maybe could just make sure that your opponents have to play a lot. And I think sometimes, you know, it gets to the point where my guys getting a little tentative because they want to create too much. And instead of maybe hitting that high, high perfect lob like today, you know, if it’s 15 all and you up a break, maybe just hit a normal lob or just hit better margins through the middle, you know, you got to make sure that you don’t give away any arm force, you know, so the other guys have a pressure, right? So, you’ve got to make sure that you give them a pressure, keep it on them. Yeah. But if you all of a sudden give them a few unforced arrows, then of course they will feel that it’s possible to come, maybe turn around the match or whatever. Like today we were in such control. Four, one, two breaks.

Minter Dial: I mean, in the third match, in.

Jonas Bjorkman: The third match, in the second set. And it’s all about just closing that last game to 5 1, because then it’s over mentally for the other guys. But then you do a few maybe strategy, strategic shots wrong, and all of a sudden you sort of give them to 42 and 4 3, and then the momentum is just right there. And I think that that is something that is different in Padel than in tennis. In tennis, I could, even if I play really, really bad, I could somehow play what I normally say, like shitty tennis, high loops, slice. I can grind my way into a match. But it’s much harder in Padel. If you play someone who’s really good in the strategies, they don’t allow you to sort of fight your way into the match. I think so. I think that is a big difference in it.

Minter Dial: And why is that? Is that really the wall that makes that happen?

Jonas Bjorkman: I think so, but I think it’s just a completely different strategy here. But of course, the rebounds behind you and the side, of course, it’s a big effect, too, that it’s much harder to maybe win the point against a good defense. So, you got to be smart in finding the way. And I think that sometimes is, of course, the difference. I mean, now we cannot even talk about Argentina and Spain because they play on a different level. We all know they’re going to play the final. They could have had 10 teams each, but, I mean, by the way, they.

Minter Dial: Almost did with UAE.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yes, yes. But, like, if you look to our progress for the last four years, you know, we’ve been very close to beat Brazil, Portugal, France, Italy, we’ve been right there. And I think the experience we’re lacking a little bit. We got to just get a little bit better in those situations where we have a break point against Brazil, 43 in the third in deciding match, you know, if Brazil gets that chance, they take it, and we don’t take it really yet. So, we just. You got to be in a situation where you enjoy the moment. Doesn’t matter if it’s 2, 2 or 5, 5, you’re going to play the same way. Right. And I think that sometimes with experience, you can get better.

Minter Dial: Right. Well, I did notice. I was watching, I think the United States and the coach was saying, let’s just have fun. I want to talk about the fact, I mean, you won so many Grand Slams in doubles with the fact that Padel is doubles, tennis, doubles, your experience, how is it different? How do you qualify the difference of the pairing in Padel versus Tennis, well.

Jonas Bjorkman: Here is mainly more one sided players who play on the forehand or the right side. And then you have some players who only play on the left side or backhand. I mean in my case I played both sides in tennis, depending who I sometimes find. And if I had, I was of course looking for someone, maybe I think I preferred back end towards the end. But it was all about, you know, who I teamed up with. If I had a partner for the year, of course. But all of a sudden if I had one tournament, you know, if I ended up with someone who just say I prefer backhand, I can move over, then of course the top players can do that. But you don’t see it as much. But I think the only difference from back in the days when I played is I’m so surprised how even now in tennis, but especially in Padel, that you win as a team but you don’t lose as a team. Because I feel often that a lot of players, it’s like we won, he lost. So, they’re focusing a lot on their partners fault when they’re losing. And you can see some players even on the Premier league paddle now that they play two, three tournaments. And if I don’t play well, okay, we stopped. You got to allow yourself to get better as a team. Sometimes you connect straight away with someone and sometimes you don’t connect. I mean I was playing once with Kafelnikov. We both were top five singles and doubles and everyone said we will be unbeaten to play against. But he had a completely different personality than me and a different strategy how to play doubles than me that we couldn’t play. So, then you can understand. But most of the time you find who’s going to be the tactical man and who’s going to be the positive one who’s pushing the team up.

Minter Dial: Chingotto style.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yeah, exactly. So, you know, sometimes I think they give up too fast when they start playing with a player partner, Sanyo Gutierrez.

Minter Dial: He said that it’s a game of two, but it’s individuals, two individuals playing the game. And I like your point. You need to learn how to win together and lose together and own the responsibility. Some of this idea of leadership in Padel is interesting because you can so clearly push the ball to one person and make that person in the fridge, you know, the other person in the fridge.

Jonas Bjorkman: Not as easy to do in tennis.

Minter Dial: Not as easy. I think it’s not as easy. Exactly. And therefore you have to be really supportive even if they fuck up.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. I mean if you play bad, it’s not going to help if your partner shows frustration. I mean, of course you’re just going to play worse. But if you have a partner, just come and say, sorry, next one, next one, whatever. Of course, sooner or later you’re going to feel. I played with Max Mirny and he could hit 20 returns in the fence almost, but he would always come, you know, and say, sorry, beast, next one, next one. And I knew that he was going to be there. And for me, we had different strength. You know, my serve was not as good as his, but my returns were much better than his. So, for me it was just to focus on giving the returns in and he can be the big man at the net. So, it’s like you got to find that, you know.

Minter Dial: Complementarity.

Jonas Bjorkman: Exactly. So, it’s all about being positive together.

Minter Dial: Alright, what about. So, you’re on the court and you are not playing well. Just the touch isn’t there. You’ve hit a few easy volleys on top of the net, maybe a return of serve out easily. What does Jonas do in those moments?

Jonas Bjorkman: For me, it’s all about energy. Try to jump around, start to move my feet a lot more. I think most of the time when I’m not playing well, you know, I put my position in too early, so I’m not perfect at the ball. And I think it’s a little bit the same in paddle especially high lobs with the wind. It’s so easy that you stop. Yeah. You put your feet down too early and you’ve got to be. Yeah. So, it’s all about getting the intensity up. I mean, it’s often you can start, it’s easy when you start great, of course, but if you don’t start great, it’s still a long way. So, for me it’s all about intensity, energy and getting positive. And don’t think about the unforced errors.

Minter Dial: Or the last point. Move on, move forward. I want to get back just to the last part about managing a Swedish team. Looking around here, I see how clearly there are different cultures, different ways of team building and Sweden is a country in evolution is the way I would describe it. How do you pull on the Swedishness to galvanize, to mobilize in a way that’s more powerful than maybe other countries because, you know, whether it’s Peru or Chile, Paraguay, they all have their pride. What do you pull on in the Swedish heritage that helps?

Jonas Bjorkman: I think it’s important, you know, from the start that you got to be so proud of yourself. You have one chance in your life, if you have a sport to play that represent your country and it’s nothing better. I mean, to put on the yellow and blue jersey, you just got to, I think, talk a lot about the opportunity you get and a lot of people never get. So, they understand the situation. Yeah, the privilege of being in the national team. So, I think that is the biggest key for me to speak to everyone, newcomers. I have two guys coming in here now, and for me it’s all about explaining for them what it takes and be proud in the moment. And then if you win or lose, as long as you give 100%, you know, some days it’s going to be good and some days not. And also you have someone on the other side who maybe play better, you got to accept that as well.

Minter Dial: That’s exactly right. That’s part of it. I love it.

Jonas Bjorkman: But no one is going to be disappointed at you because you gave your best, but you gave your best, but you got to feel like this is special. And I think that’s if you start a national team now, since this is and young sport in Sweden, you know, it’s so important to grow it down to the juniors to understand the privilege of representing your country. For me, going back with all my victories, Grand Slams or singles titles, double styles, but if something stands out, being part and winning Davis cup for Sweden, that was my biggest dream since I was 12.

Minter Dial: Well, there’s always that comes with that, the pressure, though, as well. And one of the things I like to think, and I think it’s important for most of us, you know, playing at this level, you guys are, is also representing Padel, not just your country, but to think that what is paddle giving to you? I mean, I’ve talked to Danne Windahl about how much paddle is given to him and paddle can give to others. And so we need to also keep promoting paddle to the juniors, getting them excited. Not just you have to win, but also keep them getting excited.

Jonas Bjorkman: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, first of all, pressure is a privilege. It’s something you have to enjoy, otherwise it’s going to be very hard. And when it comes to being what Padel is for you, it’s important. I mean, everyone has a role as an ambassador, right? And you know, some people don’t understand that role. I think going back to tennis, I think we never had such a good ambassadors like Nadal, Federer, Djokovic. Absolutely unique. No offense to some other past former ones, if I say no names, but some have never really been maybe more focusing on themselves. And it’s Nothing wrong. But what they have done for the sport of tennis, these three, is just unique. And that’s the same in Padel now, like, you know, the best players out there, they have such a responsibility to grow the sport, you know, to be role models for the new generation coming up. And that goes from sort of the best in the world to each nation’s best players.

Minter Dial: Exactly.

Jonas Bjorkman: You know, you got to behave correctly. I mean, of course, you can do some bad stuff sometimes. You’re only human. But it’s important, you know, if you lose a match, if you see some kids there and they want to take a photo or sign an autograph, you.

Minter Dial: Got to put in the time, you got to.

Jonas Bjorkman: Do that, and then you can go in and smash your act in the locker room. But you got to do. You got to be the same when you win or lose. You cannot be a bad loser, you know, so everyone has a big, big role in that.

Minter Dial: I love that. Thank you. Jonas, last question for you. Managing on the, on the bench, you have basically 90 seconds in between every two games. How do you approach those 90 seconds?

Jonas Bjorkman: Well, I always try to start with a positive. If the boys hold their serve and then lose the returning game, I always focus to say that it was a great service game. You know, I really played it well, you know, because it’s always nicer to hear the positive things first and then maybe two, three things, strategy, but not too much. It’s all about giving them positive energy. But if I can see that, you know, the opponents are better in reflexing backhands, you know, I would try to tell them, you know, to maybe look for the forehand or. Yeah. Making sure that now with a return of serve, they started to hit up very, very high lobs. But then you cannot, you cannot hit your serve short because then it’s going to be easy for them. So, you’re going to make sure. Even go maybe straight body. So, there would be a few things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that’s the main thing for me, you know, but also to be positive out there. So. Yeah, no, it’s been fun. I’ve done it now for four years. This is my last year. But, you know, I think at the time when we, when I came in, you know, it’s been a great, great progress. I mean, my team now, compared to my first, you know, everyone was 30 plus. Yeah. Now I have two teenagers more or less 18 years old, and then a couple of them between 20 and 25. So, you know, it’s been fantastic to see the development in Sweden and how everyone is getting better. And you know that the young generation is coming up and challenging the best ones.

Minter Dial: How many years before we see a Sweden or another beat Spain or Argentina?

Jonas Bjorkman: Long, long, long. I think, you know, I think any team would love to. I think Portugal is maybe the closest. They have three really, really strong teams. But still, you know, they’re getting beaten badly. Italy as well. I mean, we were close to beat Italy in the European set in a breakout, but, you know, so I don’t know, it’s probably another 10 years. It’s going to take some time. I mean, like you said, I mean, started in 70s, 80s in South America and then 80s in Spain. You know, it’s a big advantage from maybe 10 years in Sweden. And I would say probably the same in France and Italy about 10 years. So, you know, we are behind, but, you know, we’re going to learn from the best. We got to make sure we take advantage of great coaches from Argentina and Spain. That would be the fastest way to develop and get better.

Minter Dial: It makes me think of some countries that maybe didn’t get a technology. Then they can leapfrog the technology and just quickly get into the digital world. However, it’s just not that way.

Jonas Bjorkman: No. And you know, in a way, I think, you know, with the success we had in Sweden, 80s of course, Bjorn first, but then in the 80s and the 90s, Mads, Mads, Stefan, I mean, you can name so many of them. Which was my idol as well. But, you know, after that era, I mean, you know, I still have a request of getting back on the tour as a coach purely because we had so many good coaches in our program. So, the standard for coaching. It’s almost like everyone on the tennis tour now, you know, they prefer to have a Swedish coach purely because of back in the days, what we had. Well, there wasn’t any success. No, no.

Minter Dial: I think it was a lot of the impression of Bjorn Borg’s mindset on the court. He might be furious and raging inside, but that ability to stay calm is something that is part of the Swedish heritage. I don’t know if you agree.

Jonas Bjorkman: I agree. I mean, I was different. I wanted to show more emotions on the court. But in the end it’s all about the strategy. I mean, you know, if you run out after five hours, of course the other guy is going to think that you are so fit and not tired at all. So, it’s a mental game. I think a lot of people miss that a bit. I think you can do so much in the mental game. How to prepare yourself, but also how to get in under the skin of.

Minter Dial: Your opponent without being ugly.

Jonas Bjorkman: Exactly. That’s where I was going, say without being ugly. So, you know, I think that’s. That’s the next step to. To take advantage of Jonas.

Minter Dial: Beautiful. Pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. Great word. What’s the last word for paddle?

Jonas Bjorkman: Last word for paddle. Love it. Excellent.

Minter Dial: Thank you, Jonas.

Jonas Bjorkman: Vamos.