Former tennis player and coach Peter Lundgren has passed away aged 59. The Swede reached a career-high of world No. 25 in his playing career before hanging up his own racket.
He enjoyed more success as a mentor to the next generation – including one Roger Federer, who he coached to his first Grand Slam triumph at Wimbledon in 2003. Just last year in October, Lundgren was forced to have his left foot and lower leg amputated after breaking it.
Having suffered from diabetes, his son Lukas and daughter Julia confirmed his death earlier today (August 23). Posting on Facebook, they wrote: “Rest in peace Dad. One of the best has unfortunately left us far too soon.
“A coach, player, friend and father. An inspiration and helping hand for many, both on and off the court. The imprint you made and the memories will always live on.”
Lundgren was part of his country’s golden generation of tennis talent. When he reached his peak ranking, he was only the seventh-best Swede behind Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Anders Järryd, Joakim Nyström, Henrik Sundström and Jan Gunnarsson.
He first made an impression as a coach by making the eccentric Marcelo Rios a top-10 player. After parting ways with him, Lundgren began working for the Swiss Tennis Federation, where he first met a young Federer.
“It wasn’t easy with him at first,” he admitted to Blick in May 2023. “He had a lot of temper and showed it too often in matches. But he quickly realised that he had to change.
“He learned extremely quickly and always found a way to solve problems. When he won Wimbledon for the first time in 2003, I was incredibly happy for him. It was nice to see him take that step. I enjoyed the time with him.”
The first of Federer’s 20 majors wasn’t Lundgren’s only Grand Slam triumph as a coach, as he also guided Marat Safin to the 2005 Australian Open. Among the other players he coached were Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov.
He continued to be involved in tennis for much of his later years, living between Switzerland and Houston, Texas while he coached before returning home in 2020. It was there that he was hospitalised 10 months ago, writing on social media at the time: “Unfortunately, I had to amputate my foot and a bit up because of the infection I had.
“My broken ankle did not heal because of my type two diabetes, you get bad circulation. But now I feel well again and soon my rehab will begin. I want to thank everyone for the nice words I got from all of you on FB! It really helps now for me to recover and to go through the rehabilitation and more! Time to fight.”
Tributes have begun pouring in from the tennis community, including from the legendary Björn Borg. He told Sportbladet: “Peter Lundgren was a wonderful person with a big heart and a lot of humour. He was a really good friend. He was loved by all. He will be missed in the tennis world.”
