For Peter, the passion for tennis sparked early in life and as he started commuting to Gothenburg for daily training at the age of 16, he also decided to put school on hold to focus wholeheartedly on the sport.
“On the first day of high school, they didn’t seem to have gotten the memo, and my name was called out in the Aula with everyone else’s. When there was no answer, someone apparently just shouted, in a thick local accent: “He’s playing tennis!” as an explanation to my absence”, Peter recalls, clearly amused.
The statement “He’s playing tennis. Period.” then set the tone for what Peter’s life was going to look like for a long period of time after that. What was originally thought to be a sabbatical year later turned into a more definite decision as he realized after a year at a dedicated tennis high school in Båstad, that the studying would simply have to wait. He was going to give tennis everything he had.
Said and done, Peter went all in for a career in tennis and left Sweden on what he recalls as not so glamorous terms initially, but it paid off. After going by train to Italy and staying at shabby hotel rooms, he ended up playing 15 years on the ATP tour and competing in Wimbledon as well as the French, -US -and Australian Open. He lived in USA, Barcelona, and Belgium and spent 30-35 weeks a year traveling. As he talks about this, we jokingly compare it to a healthy version of a rock star life.
Peter humbly states that it’s a major privilege to have been able to practice the sport you love for a living and travel the world thanks to it. He also looks back on a time of memorable experiences, thanks to a determination to seize the opportunity to really explore all the countries and places he got to visit.
“I think you’ll find that a lot of professional athletes find themselves remembering mostly airports and hotels because they haven’t focused on anything but the game. Of course, that is the first priority and it’s important to stay focused in order to deliver at your maximum potential. There might have been times when I should perhaps have been training when I rather choose to explore, but I always felt that I wanted to get something more out of it as well and I’m glad I decided to create that balance.”
Peter also reflects how the way he spent his time around the world might have led him to feel content in a fairly stationary environment today. After his 15 years on the ATP tour, he wasn’t however entirely ready to give up either working in tennis or traveling just yet. He started as a captain for the junior national team of Sweden and then, just as he and his wife had bought a house to finally settle down, the plan changed yet again.
“I was standing on the court in Mölndal one day, when I got a call from a friend asking me if I wanted to come work in Kuwait”, He recalls with a laugh.
The proposal was to take on the role of captain for the national team in Kuwait, and Peter and his wife decided to take the chance. They ended up living four years in Kuwait and one year in Qatar, in between which they flew home for summer vacations and to deliver their two daughters at home on the Swedish west coast.
Today, nine years after arriving back home with two children and too many suitcases, Peter has landed at MATCHi. Before getting here, he was in charge of organizing events and sports activities for clients at a finance firm. This included coaching in both tennis and padel, and once again he was spending a lot of time at the same tennis club where he used to train as a 16-year old. About a year ago, this was also where he met MATCHi’s founder and CEO Daniel since the venue also held MATCHi’s office at the time.
After some meetings and planning, Peter was asked aboard MATCHi as Key Account Manager just at the end of summer and now, two months in, he’s excited to continue to grow into his role. He will mainly be managing the relationships with existing clients and will also be playing an important part in the ongoing internationalization of the MATCHi platform. He describes it as a whole new way of working with racket sports and aims to be a reliable and trustworthy resource for the customers.
“From my time in racket sports, I have gained knowledge that I think gives me an understanding of what an enormous potential the MATCHi platform holds as a tool for the venues.”
From his career in tennis, Peter has also built a large international network, which he hopes will serve as an asset. “Of course, many of my contacts are in tennis, but then they know someone who knows someone, and I see it as one big playing field of opportunities out there.”- he says and adds that he aspires to give as much care and consideration to every type of venue. “Even though the padel hype creates a lot of buzz and momentum that it’s hard not to get caught up in, MATCHi is a platform for all racket sports and for example, a lot of features are perfect for tennis clubs.”, He says and emphasizes the value of each and every type of racket sports venue in the MATCHi network.
Speaking of momentum, Peter says that perhaps the most important challenge ahead lies in keeping focus and really working as a unified team towards one common goal, considering the rate at which MATCHi is growing.
“It has quickly become clear that there’s a lot of requests and ideas coming from all around, and it would be easy to get carried away by all of it. It will for sure be a balancing act, but it is one that I am very excited to take on!”
We have no doubts that he will do a spectacular job and we are very happy to have him on the team!