Post by lau on Aug 27, 2005 20:23:03 GMT 3
If you plan on posting this somewhere else please be sure to give credit to the persons we give credit here for the translation and the images. Thank you.
Thank you GWH from MTF for translating this from Swedish!!!
Thank you Mary for your images of Peter in Wimbledon 1989!!
The interview was done when Peter was in Sweden this year after Marat won the AO.
The number 1 star coach catches up at home in Hunnebostrand
Peter Lundgren
Born: 1965 i Gudmundrå, outside Sollefteå.
Height/weight: 185 cm/100 kg.
Residence: Switzerland, other family live in the Hunnebostrand region.
Family: wife Eva Hallgren, teacher at Hunnebostrands school, kids Julia, 9 yrs old, Lucas, 6 yrs old.
Current: personal trainer and for newly crowned Australian Open winner Marat Safin (4th in the world, Roger Federer’s trainer for 8 years.
Prefered drink: ramlösa (a mineral water), tea, beer and wine
Smoke/Snus: No
Last book read: Rarely reads books, mostly reads newspapers and magazines.
Last fiilm seen: Time Out. I have seen it many times on my laptop on the plane.
Favouite Sports: Tennis, Ice hockey, Fotboll.
Favourite Team in hockey: Timrå och Djurgården. I fotboll: GIF Sundsvall.
Car: Audi A8, Volvo 850.
Role Model: Björn Borg
Peter Lundgren knows how to reach the worlds elite.
He was himself ranked # 25 in the world. As the coach for superstars Marcelo Rios, Roger Federer and Marat Safin, he has reached the absolute elite of the tennis world.
“It has been really cool to work with tennis at this level” says Peter Lundgren as LP met him at home in Hunnebostrand, as he has just come from the ATP tournament in Dubai.
It isn’t so often that Peter Lundgren is at home in Hunnebostrand, but it has become more regular in the last year. “Marat Safin and I came to an agreement to travel around for 25 weeks of the year. With Roger Federer I was out for 40 weeks of the year and in the long run it became really strenuous.” Lundgren said. Especially now with a lady, two kids and a house to take care of. One misses it a lot”, tells Lundgren.
A big name
Peter Lundgren is a very big name through the tennis world. Everyone he meets has great respect for his incomparable success with Marcelo Rios, Roger Federer. Now he has also worked wonders with Marat Safin, as for over a month since he won the Australian Open against Lleyton Hewitt and against Roger Federer in the semi ( correct info).
When Eurosport showed the match Peter Lundgren was in the limelight the whole time. “The whole match was a torment, it went back and forth the whole time. The players drove each other to the edge of breaking. It was an immensely good tennis match, but it was strenuous for me to watch it. But now I work with Marat and then I am the one to give tips about the few weaknesses Roger Federer has”, said Lundgren.
Believe in yourself
What was it that Safin did to knock out Federer?
“ For that he believed in himself. I have attempted to build up his self confidence for a fairly long time, I have gnawed and nagged to him, that he is good, talented and what he can do. He has said himself in the press that he is got to find his feet again, because earlier he was really out of balance. I told Safin before the Federer match, that Federer knows he could interrupt him in his game. Federer has respect for few players, but Safin he has respect for. I got Marat to play his game and not fall into Federers and it was went this way.
He was # 25 in the world himself
Peter was also a great player himself when he set out to be.
It was for 15 years ago, then Lundgren was 20kg lighter. The tall northerner from Sundsvall at 185cm tall was ranked 25th at his best in singles and won a total of 3 titles in singles and doubles.
“It was quite unbelieveable really, in spite of being 25th in the world, I was 7th in Sweden. Sweden was the worlds nation in tennis. It was incomparable. After me it was really a pack of players. We had at most 14 players in the top 100. ( Don’t forget the size of the Swedish population, it makes it even better this achievement). “ Lundgren said.
Peter Lundgren born in Sollefteå, but moved to Kramfors in his early years and then to Sundsvall afterwards. “ My mum was busy with jazz ballet and dad played minigolf and saxophone. It was rather funny actually that it was tennis for my part, it was football and ice hockey that interested me the most when I was young.” Lundgren says.
Started as a 10 year old
Peter was 10 years old when he strode out onto the tennis court for the first time. He followed his father and played against an older man.
“I began fairly late, but had no demands on me from the surroundings to succeed, without playing only for that it was cool” says Lundgren.
Lundgren continues “ We had a tennis court in our detached house “Njurnuda” the same residential area as hockey players Modin and Zetterberg grew up. I began training quite diligently and when I won the Opel Cup as a 15 year old I determined to committed myself to tennis. It was my first big success. Quite suddenly I was in the Swedish elite and then got called the “new Björn Borg”. He was my big role model.”
From having been a second-rater Peter noticed that he was going quite well in Sweden. “I followed up with national team camps and then went to tournaments overseas. It was tough in the beginning as the step from juniors to seniors was unbelievably big.”
Tough Beginning
The first big tournament was a satellite tournament in Portugal in 1983. At the time he was ranked around # 300 in the wiorld and traveled around to a large amount of small tournaments in Europe.
“I didn’t have so much money, and it was fairly tough to travel around and earning a living in tennis. “ says Lundgren. In 1985 things took off for then 20 year old Peter Lundgren. He went from 180th to 25th in the world rankings and received a distinction Master Pro Player, for the years meteoric rise on the pro tour.
Beating the World Number 1s
”As a matter of fact it was fairly impressive. Suddenly I became hunted by the media after the Stockholm Open where I have taken out Tomas Smid and Scott Davis. I beat most of the world number ones in that time Wilander, Lendl, Chang, Courier, Muster and even a young talent by the name of Pete Sampras, but I was a little up and down. Sometimes I could lose motivation and then suddenly get thrashed against lower ranked players.”
Peter Lundgren had difficulties to play on small outside courts and with little or no fans. Lundgren says “ When one played at the big arenas with plenty of people, then I thought it was great.” 1986 was an in-between year for Lundgren, but 87 he came again and took home some ATP titles. In total he played in 6 ATP singles final and won three of them and he also played in 10 doubles finals winning three of them.
Lost the motivation
When 1993 started he lost too many ranking points and it became tough to continue on.
“I played quite well, won 14 first round, but always got trashed in the second round. It was often against players such as Becker and Edberg who knocked me out in the second match. Received nasty draws and my self-confidence sunk, so I went down to 120th and had to qualify again. It is tough when you have been in top tournaments for 8 years. I also had a slight problem with my health at the end. I put the racquet on the self after I had won 3 out of 4 Swedish satellite tournaments in 1985, then I was 30 years old. I had gone down to 250th in the world and it was too long a way to come back.
Will do something else
Peter Lundgren sensed that he will do something else, besides waiting on his wife Eva Hallgren from Hunnebostrand, their first child. In 1997 the pair moved to Switzerland and Peter began working for the Swiss tennis federation.
“They concentrated on foreign trainers and I got the benefit of working with Roger Federer. He was 16 years old and already in the European elite. The problem was that he was lazy and difficult to motivate. It was really tough in the beginning, but it got better and better the whole time.” Lundgren said.
Up until 2004 Peter Lundgren and Roger Federer worked side by side. Federer took home 10 ATP titles, among those Wimbledon, but since then decided that he would go his own way. The Basel superstar was then the world number two.
No ”hard feelings”
”There were no hard feelings, but it was a natural step. We had worked together intensively for so long and we decided ourselves to separate as friends, while he was on top. Being a former player, I understood that. We had worked together for so long, so we sensed that it was best to finish our work together at the top and depart as friends.”
For Eva and I it suited us as well, because earlier in the year we bought a summer house I Hunnebostrand, which should have a complete renovation and became a house for the whole year for Eva and the kids. She longed for her roots and has her relatives here and today works as a teacher in the Hunnebostrands school.
I felt fatigued
“I also felt fatigued, on the verge of burnout, after having been out and travelled heaps for nearly 40 weeks of the year with Roger Federer. I was away from my family too much. Now I don’t travel as much, Marat and I have come to an agreement, where I am traveling for 25 weeks of the year, it is just right.”
Almost immediately after Lundgren and Federer went their separate ways, Marat Safins manager rang him. After a time out of some months Lundgren stepped into the coaching role again.
Became the number 4 again
Marat Safin was the world number 1 for a short period, but in 2003 he slipped down to the 80s. Now he is # 4 again.
“Marat has had an awful lot of coaches before me, but with me he feels that it works well and feels good as a player.” Lundgren said. The last year Lundgren has made Marat Safin into a winner. “Marat is tremendously strong physically, he has tremendously strong groundstrokes and can put pressure on the opponents. Since we have worked a lot on his volley and slice, so he can become much better.” said Lundgren.
How do you work as a coach and trainer?
“I always stand on the side. I never use statistics, and go more on feelings. One day it is the backhand that is not in tune, another day the smash, it is always the small details with these guys that they can improve the whole time. There is plenty of psychology and feeling in this job. The big advantage is that I have been a player and I know what I am talking about. Sometimes you need not say anything.”
Longing for Hunnebo
The house is on Axbergsgatan in central Hunnebostrand is the oasis for Peter Lundgren. Even in the middle of winter, when he is on the other side of the world, he often longs for her.
“Firstly we had it as a summerhouse, but gradually I will be able to live her permanently. It is a cosy little village for the kids to grow up in, it is beautiful to come to from the bigger cities. I get on terribly well here as well.”
“Here it’s near the bank, shop, fishmongers and the pizzeria. It is really cosy and wonderful to be together with Eva, Julia and Lucas.”
Have Federer and Safin visited you in Hunnebo?
“No, Federer has never been here, but Marat would like to come here. He really likes fishing and to be out in the nature.
Have you the dream job?
“It’s a good job, but you have a terrible pressure on you as well. It is about being like our national football manager. If it goes bad, then often the trainer goes first, “said Lundgren.
What had done when you were young and do today?
“At the time I wished I made more in music. Electric guitar is my favourite instrument. I collect guitars, but should play an instrument. It would have been really cool to play an instrument. Otherwise I had enough to concentrate on with tennis. I had glasses when I was little and it was tough when I played hockey. So I got tackled quickly and then my glasses got smashed. If I was young today and had contact lenses, perhaps it would have been hockey for the whole time. Who knows?”
Now on Monday Peter Lundgren flies to Indian Wells in the US with Marat Safin for the hardcourt tournament outside of Los Angeles with the ten best players in the world in the starting field.
“The goal is for Safin to become the number 2 in the world. I know he can do it. I am hectic when satisfied with him. He has a chance to become the number 1 in the world and can beat Roger Federer at regular intervals.” Lundgren said.
original source: www.tennisfest.se/news050304.htm
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