Jonas Bjorkman, Andy Murray’s Coach: 5 Fast Facts

Bjorkman and Murray at Queens (Getty)

Now, who’s that vaguely familiar Swedish chap sitting in Andy Murray’s player’s box? Why it’s former professional player, doubles specialist and dancing enthusiast Jonas Bjorkman. With Amelie Mauresmo due to give birth to her first child in August, Bjorkman will become Andy Murray’s principal coach for the entire hard court season through to the US Open, and potentially beyond.

1. He’s Replacing Amelie Mauresmo After Wimbledon

Amelie Maursemo is due to give birth in August

Murray announced in March that 43-year-old Bjorkman would be joining his coaching team as an assistant to work alongside current coach Amelie Mauresmo. A month later, however, his role escalated somewhat when the former Wimbledon Ladies Champion announced she was pregnant. While Bjorkman will continue to work alongside Mauresmo until the end of Wimbledon, he will then take sole charge of Murray’s coaching until at least after the US Open.

Murray said shortly after Mauresmo’s news was made public that “I’m going to spend the whole of the hard-court stretch through to the end of the US Open with Jonas. Then I’ll see what happens with Amelie because I don’t now, and I don’t think she knows, what her priorities are going to be and how she wants to deal with things.”

2. He Wants Murray to be More Like Tim Henman. Sort of.

Tiger Tim (Getty)

A quite terrifying headline appeared in the Daily Telegraph during Queen’s stating that Bjorkman insists Murray needs “more Tim Henman in his game”.

But fear not, Murray fans. Big Jonas has no intention of turning the Scot into a frightfully nice loser who bombs out of Wimbledon year after rain-soaked year in the Semi-Finals. No, he just wants him to serve and volley a bit more.

“He wants to be a little bit more aggressive, and try to come into the net a bit more”, said Bjorkman. “Hopefully, together with Amelie, we can work our way to a position where he will feel more comfortable.”

3. He Won $14.6 Million in Prize Money During His Playing Career

Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi win the 2006 French Open Doubles title (Getty)

Bjorkman enjoyed a solid if unremarkable singles career, winning six tournaments (no grand slams) and climbing to a career high fourth in the World Rankings back in November 1997. During the relatively brief period when their careers overlapped, a young Murray beat Bjorkman twice.

In doubles, however, the Swede was a phenomenon. Whereas his win ratio in singles was 53%, in doubles he won fully 70% of matches played. He can boast a Career Grand Slam in the doubles format, and won nine Grand Slam titles in total (fifth on the all-time list), as well as two ATP Finals.

While $14.6 million career prize money is a relatively modest amount for tennis (while not accounting for inflation, Novak Djokovic won nearly as much in 2014 alone), it’s still enough to warrant a residence in Monte Carlo to keep those pesky tax men at bay.

4. He’s Just One of Many Swedes Currently Dominating Men’s Tennis Coaching

Roger Federer with coach Stefan Edberg (Getty)

Former Swedish pros are currently dominating the upper echelons of the men’s game, at least in coaching terms. While there may not be a single Swede currently inside the top 100 of the ATP Tour rankings, three of the world’s top four male tennis players are now coached by Sweden’s finest: Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg, Stan Wawrinka and Magnus Norman, and Murray and Bjorkman.

Bjorkman has already enjoyed a stellar start to his coaching role with Murray: since his appointment, the Scot has won two clay court titles (Munich and Madrid) and made the semi-finals at Roland Garros. Murray commented prior to Bjorkman’s appointment that “a lot of Swedes turn out to be good coaches. They’ve got a good mindset, they’re very calm individuals and extremely hard workers.”

5. He Danced on the Swedish Version of Strictly

Jonas, with flowers (Getty)

Prior to starting his new role with Murray, Bjorkman was strutting his stuff on “Let’s Dance”, the Swedish version of Strictly Come Dancing. With depressing predictability the British tabloids bombarded readers with a barrage of terrible headlines involving Bjorkman “finding his feet” and making “all the right steps” upon his appointment as Murray’s coach.

Partnered by Veera Kinnunen, Bjorkman made it to the semi-finals of the competition. Which means he must have danced a darn sight better than Judy Murray managed on Strictly.