"Staying in the moment" is helping Sweden's Mikael Ymer make inroads

Speaking with Mikael Ymer the other night, I found myself reflecting frequently on the young Swede’s remarkable wisdom. He is 21 going on 35. He carefully weighs every question thrown his way in an interview, and his responses are well measured, thoughtful and highly intelligent. His answers do not follow the predictable patterns of many other players, who sometimes say what they believe others want to hear rather than conveying how they really feel. Ymer is refreshingly original. His sense of self is unmistakable.

Ymer was exhausted but exhilarated when I reached him on the telephone for a compelling interview. Hours earlier, he had captured the Open d’Orleans title in France, taking his third Challenger of a productive 2019 season in his fifth final at that level. He did not drop a set in five matches, was not broken in his last two matches—saved five break points in the process—and climbed to a personal high at No. 83 in the world, rising from No. 105 the previous week. Taking that title was no mean feat with seven players ranked among the Top 100 in the field. With the win, he established himself as the first Swede since Robin Soderling in June of 2012 to reside among the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings. His older brother, Elias, is currently ranked No. 119 in the world and reached No. 105 in the middle of 2018.

Asked how gratified he was by displaying such consistency all week long in Orleans after accepting a wildcard at the last minute—recording victories over defending champion Aljaz Bedene (who was riding the wave of a 27-match Challenger winning streak), world No. 39 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and world No. 89 Gregoire Barrere—Ymer said, “It was a very successful week and one hundred percent consistent. What made it even more special was the players I beat along the way. I don’t think it gets much tougher than this in a Challenger 125 so I am very, very proud of that. It was very special to play Jo in the semis. He was a childhood idol of mine. It all makes me very happy and I need to take time to appreciate it and celebrate it.”

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What Ymer valued the most about that week was his win over Tsonga. He avenged a loss to the flamboyant Frenchman a few weeks earlier at a Challenger in Cassie, France. Tsonga was victorious, 7-5, 7-6 (7), on that occasion but in Orleans Ymer turned the tables, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

“I had kind of a different mindset for this match,” says Ymer. “I had some bad losses during the year against higher ranked players, so I was thinking about how I had to do some kind of adjustment. When I lost to Jo in Cassie, I called my coaches afterwards and said, ‘I am happy and not too disappointed. I got pretty close.’ In that match I had three set points in the second set and it could have gone my way. So I felt pretty positive going into the match with Jo in Orleans. But playing against a champion like him you always need a little bit of luck. One or two points in a match can change everything. It could be a break point or a game point. Not only against Jo but all week I handled those situations really well. In the big moments I did not get too stressed.”

When asked about the importance of breaking into the Top 100, Ymer responded, “To be honest with you, I never set goals results wise or with rankings. To me that is not interesting. But I have to admit that when I got close to making the Top 100, it got to me a little bit. In the end I just wanted to get it done. Some Swedish people were talking about it. To me it is a step on the way but not much more than that. I can move on now and just get back to the tennis.’”

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Having said that, Ymer realizes that being inside the Top 100 will afford him opportunities in terms of where he plays, and that is a luxury. Will he change his schedule now and take advantage of his more exalted status?

“One hundred percent, “ he replies. “But some of my interest in being in the Top 100 went away a little bit when someone told me the Top 75 is where you need to be to make it into ATP 250 tournaments. So I am more interested in going to the Top 75 so I can be in the main draw of the 250 tournaments.”

But the ramifications of being No. 83 in the ATP Rankings are larger than his own personal objectives. His rising status in the game might make a significant difference to young players in Sweden who have been waiting a long time for a player from their nation to be among The top 100 again. Does he agree?

“One hundred percent. Inspiring kids is something I prioritize. If I can make a kid pick up a racket in Sweden, that makes me super happy. At the same time, I don’t feel I owe Sweden anything. I always get the feeling from people in Sweden that they want to bring back the time when Swedish players were doing so well and I understand that. But is not my problem. I am just a 21-year-old doing my best to reach my goals, whether I can bring something back to Swedish tennis or not. Still, if I can inspire anyone in the younger generation in Sweden to get involved in tennis, I am very happy for that.”

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These days, Ymer is achieving on such a scale that he is content in many other ways as well. He has a reasonably good chance now of claiming a place for himself in the elite eight-player field at the season-ending event Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan for players 21 years old and under. How does he feel about that prospect?

“That would be great for sure. I have been thinking about it lately. I am very close to it. I think it is a super cool event both tennis wise and other parts of it. I would bring my whole team there if I make it as a celebration for a great season. If I were to make that tournament it would be a very nice way to end my season.”

It has been a season of steady growth for Ymer, which is why he is in ninth place in the race for Milan. He is particularly prideful about playing well all through the 2019 campaign, winning tournaments on not only clay but also indoors and outdoors on hard courts. No one had done that in the Challengers since Maximilian Marterer in 2017. How does he feel about his consistency in winning 34 of 44 matches at the Challengers, not to mention capturing tournaments early in the year, during the middle of the season and now late in the calendar?

“That is the beauty of it,” he answers. “Some people don’t understand what it actually took for me to do what I did this year. They see three good titles that I won, but behind the scenes it is months of hard work during the whole season that managed to get me here. It has been such a hectic year. I am looking forward to a vacation, but my whole team is proud of the year I am having, especially at all of those Challengers. You have to be consistent over the whole year to do well. To take the path I have taken through the Challengers is very long and difficult. I did a lot of work to put myself in the situation I am in.”

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He also had to endure some difficulties across the season, as all young players do. He will surely be better for it. At the French Open, he made it through qualifying, won a round in the main draw, and then lost in the second round to Alexander Zverev. But at Wimbledon he was beaten in the last round of qualifying by Dennis Novak, and he met the same fate at the US Open, falling against Hyeon Chung.

“The Grand Slams were tough, “ he says. “I have to say that if we are talking about improving my ranking, if there is something I would look forward to it would be not having to face the qualies for the Grand Slams. It is so hard winning three matches to get into the main draw.. Everyone is dying for that main draw spot. The qualies for those Grand Slams are like a war zone where everyone is chasing it like crazy. Those Grand Slams took a lot of energy out of me this year, and on the mental side as well. It was a good experience playing Zverev in Paris. I learned from that match to trust my game more and do what I do best.”

So where does Ymer go from here? He has a wildcard into the Stockholm Open for instance. He should have some good openings to win matches in other ATP Tour events, to make that push into the Top 75, to perhaps make even more progress than that. Where does he see himself a year from now—or three to five years into the future?

“To be honest,” he says, “sometimes, of course, you can get carried away, but I am getting much better at staying in the moment. I don’t know what is around the corner. I can get injured tomorrow. I can lose what I have now. I don’t see a point for me to try to live in the future or predict what is going to happen. What I think is important for me is to take time to appreciate where I am now. I will not take what I have for granted and will think only one or two days ahead about what I can do best. If I think that way, good things will happen. If I start thinking that three weeks from now I can make the semis of the Stockholm Open, it is very easy then to get carried away. I can’t look too far into the future but I am very happy with how hard I have worked to be where I am now.”