This week I’m joined once again by Dutch ATP player Jesper de Jong, who has continued his steady rise on the professional circuit.

Since our last chat, Jesper has broken into the top 100, reached his first ATP final at the Swedish Open, and played a key role for the Netherlands in Davis Cup. We talk about what feels different now that he’s inside the top 100, the lessons he’s learned from the tour grind, and how he balances results with enjoying the process. Jesper also shares insights from training blocks in Bali, the unforgettable match that sealed his top 100 spot, and what he’s learned from his girlfriend, a professional speed skater.

If you’re curious about the mindset and habits behind steady, sustainable progress, this episode is a great listen.

Fabio

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Welcome to the functional tennis podcast brought to you by ASIC's Tennis. I'm your host Fabio Malle and I bring you insights and lessons from players, coaches, parents and experts who are ingrained in the world of high level tennis. This week on the functional tennis podcast I welcome back Dutch player Jesper De Jong.

Jesper also shares insights from his team, his relationship with his pro speed skater girlfriend and his goals moving forward. It's a great catch up on a year of progress and consistency for one of tennis rising stars. Before we kick off, a big thanks for our podcast sponsor ASIC's.

If you're looking for a new pair of tennis shoes, check out their line up. Their main shoe you will see pros wear are the Solution Speed FF3, Court Novak FF3 and the Resolution X. They also recently updated their Challenger shoe which is the Challenger 15 and it's been getting great reviews. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Solution Speed FF3 and that's what you see me wear on court.

Okay, here's Jesper. Jesper, welcome back to the Functional Tennis Podcast, how are you? I'm great, thanks for inviting me again. Well look, Davis Cup weekend, I know the result probably wasn't what you were looking for but how did it go in general? Amazing, if I look back on it, it was amazing.

Obviously, the tide didn't go as we hoped to. But for me, in my perspective, making my debut at home. For me, it's not home, it was like two hours away.

But at home, to play in front of such a crowd, it's a dream come true. It probably doesn't get much better, does it? Apart from maybe winning locally, like winning like a local Rotterdam. Yeah, I live a little bit more.

I live in Ogma, it's above Amsterdam. But Groningen is always known for its atmosphere. The five they have there, everyone is just, it's a different five.

It's a different mood. You have the students who give everyone so much energy and so it's incredible to play. And it was even heavier than I expected.

What do you mean by heavier? The noise, the crowd, enthusiasm of everyone. It was so much. And it was tough to handle even for a Dutch player because I've never played.

Because you don't have any quiet moment. Only if you start bouncing and then the crowd goes silent and then, okay, we can start. But the rest, you are in such a rush every time and so much noise.

But it's amazing, it's amazing. The adrenaline must be up here. Was it up there all weekend? How do you control? Are you tired? I know you said you played Friday, Saturday.

But were you dead yesterday or today? Like two days later, were you flat today? Yeah, we had a party with the Argentinians actually. So I was pretty dead yesterday. But days because weeks are always tough.

You are with a team. Normally, we are with our own team. But it's way smaller now.

We are with a team of like 10, 12 persons. And days was always a lot. It always takes a lot of energy.

The matches take a lot of energy. Even if you're like, I was on the bench a couple of times. Those moments on the bench, they take a lot of energy.

I spoke with Guy and with Sam. They spent a lot of time cheering for us, for the guys who played. And it takes so much energy.

They were dead. It's just something extra. You give so much extra energy.

And of course, you are so tired after. Funny, I was actually conscious of your match this weekend because one of the Argentinian photographers who's always with the Davis Cup team to send me footage. And I was posting.

I kind of felt bad. I was like, I'm interviewing Jesper on Monday. Was there I'm posting like Argentinian content.

But look, I know from the Netherlands sending me content. He sends me some great content from time to time, which is awesome. So congrats on a great year.

We spoke last year. One of your big goals was breaking the top 100. You did that, congrats.

I think I saw you in Melbourne in January. But you've managed to, with other players on who broke in but is now back out. You've managed to stay in there more or less for the year.

So that's really interesting. And tell me, has anything changed? What's changed now that you're top 100 players? Everything the exact same? Well, there's some relief from my side. It was a big goal to break into the top 100.

But then I thought the Dutch newspapers were in an interview. And now I want to maintain it. I don't want to go there, go to the big tournaments.

From that time, there was like in March and April, and you had like Rome Madrid. And I said, okay, I don't want to be the guy that comes there and lose easily in the bigger tournaments. And then we go out and we come from the challenges.

We go in again. I don't want to be that guy. And I did well.

I managed to win some matches in the bigger tournaments. And now my ranking is based on ATPs, on slams, and on challengers. And that combination is great to have and not only challengers.

Because then you always kind of feel like, okay, my level is like good for challenger. And I'm one of the best challenger players on there. But it's not good enough for ATPs.

And I don't have that. So that's a good sign. Probably I will fall back out of the top 100 at some point.

But I know that my level is there to go higher. And that's a good thing. And has anything changed? Train and change? Team got bigger? Yeah, my team got a little bit bigger.

I'm still with the same guys. Last time we had a podcast. I was in pre-season in Bali.

And I was with Timo de Boca, my tennis coach. And Bas van Bentem, he's my fitness coach. And we are still at the same team.

And we are going to keep working together for the next year. We agreed to make the next step. I like my team.

Nothing can be better, in my opinion. And we are doing an amazing job. So it's a tough loss.

We're just like 1% better every day. Just small constant improvements are going to get you. Yeah, and we were discussing, especially with Timo, we can discuss things that weren't even possible in Bali, last December.

Like how I'm playing. I'm not going to give out my whole plan or the weaknesses. Yeah, the things we were talking about in Bali that were not even possible, where we had to go to, are happening sometimes.

And not often enough, but we went from 10% to 50, 60. And to make it to the next step, to make it to the 50, we need to get it to 80, 90%. And that's going in the right way.

And I can't believe for that 80 to 90% to be happening. Yeah, I think you mentioned before, you thought your career was quite linear. You were hit year by year, there was constant improvement.

So it's great to see that. And your mentality seems to be like that. Look, bit by bit, we're getting there, and you're just doing all the right things.

Which is quite impressive, because we're too often, we see the big jumps. Somebody just appears out of nowhere. And then they sort of go backwards for a while.

But you've just been slowly building. Yeah, it's all about building. And I'm on my career high.

But my level is not where I want it to be. And that's a good sign that my level is not on my peak, and I'm still on my peak ranking. And that's what I say is a good sign for the future.

Yeah. And tell me, finally, Bashdad, what was that feeling like? Yeah, great. I mean, obviously, when you're winning a tour, or when you're doing well in a tournament, everyone says, yeah, it's the best tournament on there.

But this is one of the best tournaments on tour, especially on the 250 level. My hotel room, I posted on TikTok, my hotel room was literally 10-meter walking, and you were on the center court. And everything was around.

There were a lot of parties. Like it was a summer thing going on there. And it was such a good vibe there.

And so many nice people. The people did an amazing job there. And then making the final there, it's one of the best experiences you can have, especially doing well on such a nice tournament.

Is the white party still on there? I don't know. We had a pink party the first night, because the ladies tournament was finished. But I didn't go, because the tournament had to start.

I only went to party after the final with Luciano Dardari. So it was fun. And it's an unbelievable tournament.

What was your thought process that week? Like, day one, did you think you were going to be there finals day? Like, was it one match at a time? Or when did you actually feel? No, absolutely not. Because it was funny. I came back from holiday.

Oh, no, no. I came back from Wimbledon. And then I had some days off.

So I had four or five weeks on grass. And then we said, okay, let's play two-time club matches. Then I did those matches.

And I played Komesanya. And I played so, so, so bad that I talked to my coach. I'm like, oh, my God.

What are we doing? We had to practice more because we came from grass. And then my coach said, okay, don't worry. We're going to Boston.

Let's see. And then my first match, I played a wildcard from Sweden. I was like, okay, it could be worse.

Obviously, you don't know the guys, so you have to be cautious. But there were worse draws, obviously. But it was a tough junior.

But I managed to play well. And from there, it started to keep going against Coprifar. I played an amazing battle.

I was 7'6", 7'5", or something. And it was a good battle. And match by match, it went on.

And suddenly, I'm in the final. But it was so unexpected, yeah. Is that something now, when you play other tournaments, you're thinking, okay, you know, now you say, I can get to these finals.

So is that something that enters your mind early on now? Has that changed? Yeah, sometimes with tennis, it can change. You can be in a great vibe, being two times in a final or something, and then six-match losing streak, if you have bad draws. And you have six-match losing streak and make a final.

It can change so quickly with tennis. And that's the good and the bad thing with tennis, your next challenge or your next opportunity is never far away. And when you're doing well, when I made the final in Bostad, I had one day of traveling, and then the next day, I had to play in Umag again.

Yeah, and that was quite tough. But you were in such a great mood. So, yeah, you go.

And yeah, I still made quarters there, and Darderri won even two times, but he had one more day off because he had to buy. And I had to play straight away. So that was very tough.

And it was a week before my holiday, so I had to push everything. But I'm happy I still got 50 points there. And did you learn anything from playing Darderri in the final that next time you'd do differently? Yeah, I mean, I won the first 12 points in the match.

That was pretty crazy. And I think I kind of play like that all the time. No, yeah, it was a great match.

Luciano is someone who gives a lot of energy, a lot of intensity in the match. And, yeah, if he hits the ball very well, he's now a Darderri player. So, yeah, he hits the ball well, and he's a very tough opponent.

But it's a level that I'm looking to there that I want to go there as well. If he can do it, he has an amazing gift from himself from the intensity that he gives. It's not a gift, he's working that hard to be able to put him in that kind of situation.

But it's a level that I want to go. And I feel like I can go there, and then you can beat top 30. So you're looking for intensity.

Yeah, wind yourself up more. With my game and with my style, that's a very important thing. And early this year, you played Fonseca.

You dismantled them, from what I remember. A lot of people talk about his forehand. How big is his forehand? It is big, it is big.

Yeah, so many great things happened this year. Sometimes I forget that part as well. Yeah, that was a great match.

I got him out of his rhythm. I played a lot of third volleys on drop shots. He was not very sharp.

But I played the best match I could. And then I won, and I was very, very happy with that win. And then I had a follow-up week in Rome, which was amazing as well.

Breaking the top 100, did you know what match that was? Yeah, it was in Girona. I played Sebastian Offner in the quarterfinals. And I was already, because the week before I made Murcia, I made finals.

And I was live, I was 99. So people started to congratulate me already. Yeah, well done, well done.

But Monday, there was no new ranking, because it was Miami. It was in between with Miami. So I said, no, I'm not top 100 yet.

And there was a whole week of challenges left. And 95 to 110, everyone was playing. So I said, no way.

If I lose first round in Girona, I make it. And I was following everyone, everyone. I said, and that guy was losing.

That guy was losing behind it. I was like, okay, this is going well. And then I made the quarterfinals.

And still four people could pass me, and I was 97. So yeah, I had a good chance of doing it. And then I lost 40 down-tree match points down in the third against Offner.

And I still won that match, 75 in the third. And then I saw on X that I made finals. Wow, I was checking it every day.

But still, I didn't know that that was the match I broke into the tournament. And then in the semi-final, I played Silic. And Silic was incredible that week.

He won the tournament with every match. It was a very good win. But that was quite a funny story.

Yeah, so it's mad. You didn't know what match it was, but you're still on it. Normally, you hear players.

I was on it. And everyone is obviously saying, yeah, you don't have to delete the app and delete the rankings. Just focus on winning by that.

If you ask that to anybody who is almost breaking the top 100, I was talking to Tristan Skulke, and he said the same. I was checking everything, everything. And yeah, it's normal.

Live rankings are dangerous. You could be top 100, but never officially top 100. You could get unlucky.

Is there any match that sticks out so far this year that you're the most happy about? What was your one match you're going to talk about this year? Davi Dovice in a row. He was not 100% fit. He mentioned after on his social media.

But I beat him 6-0-6-2, and he played an amazing first part of the season, still playing amazing tennis. Maybe it was because he was not fit. But I played very well.

And then I had to play. I had a chance to play senior in Rome after his comeback. So yeah, that was quite a stunning win.

And yeah, I was able to do that. And Wimbledon was very, very special. That I had a lot of special matches this year.

Roland Garros, like the French, was very special because it was the first time I came back from 0-2 in sets. And Wimbledon, I won 7-6 in the fifth. While I was not playing very great on grass, but still won that match.

I was happy about that. You loved the pain cave, those deep five setters. Yeah, it was.

And now in New York, I lost 7-6 in the fifth. So the slabs, I always play the five setters. So I'm making my coaches a little bit to work for the money.

It must be a hard thing. You can't win them all. If you get to 10-5 setters next year, you know you're not going to win them all.

So you must get confidence as well, saying you're going to win some of them. Yeah, in New York was the first time I lost a five setter. So that was a brutal match.

But I'm happy to go to five sets. I know I'm fit. I know I'm stable there.

I'm doing a good job with both my physical coach. So yeah, let's bring it on with the fifth set. I'm more than happy to play that.

All day. And from being outside the top 100, anything you know now, you didn't know before. That you're not even satisfied.

I'm like 79 now. It's like, OK, nice. I'm looking for 75.

I'm looking for 50. And that's with every ranking. Because now I want to be in the main draw of every 250.

And still, you're not in every main draw. You want to be in the main draws in the Masters. And you have to be top 75 for that.

So you have always these steps where you want to be. But top 100, you make the main draws of the slams, which is great. But if you are there, you want to make the main draws of the Masters.

And it's always the next step. So that's tough. And if I get to 50, I know I'm going to be for a week.

I'm going to be, yes, for sure. And then I want to go to top 30 or whatever. But it's tough to be satisfied for very long with tennis.

Because the next challenge is very close. Yeah. When you look at quality draws at Masters, you're like, they're crazy, aren't they? Like, the level is a joke.

And you forget, you know, you got to be what? You got to be top 50 for Masters? Depends which Masters it is. If it's Rome and Madrid and Shanghai, they are mandatory. But they are 96 draws.

So the top 75, 76, they get into the main draw. But if you play Paris or Monte Carlo, then it's 32 or something. It's small.

It's like small draw. You have to be very high to be in a main draw. I used to be very high to make qualities as well.

You know, maybe. Do you feel more like the Hunted now rather than Hunted? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, the tournaments, I played a lot of big tournaments. It depends. If I go to challenge the tournaments now, I'm like being Hunted.

But I still feel if I'm on the higher tournaments, I'm Hunting. Because I'm new to the tour. So I'm still Hunting.

And that's a good position. But at some point, being Hunted is like a privilege, obviously. No, it is.

It is. And tell me, your girlfriend's a professional speed skater. Yeah.

Tell me, have you learned anything from her? Well, we have similar lifestyles. Like we have speed skating and tennis. They are very different sports in how we approach things.

She can't. She can't take it. How I'm still like 20 minutes before my match with Davis Cup.

I said, do you want to still come say hi to me? Because I'm still chill. I can say hi to her, to her mom. She brought a friend who's also a speed skater.

And I just give him a hug. I just say hi. But she can't comprehend how that's possible.

And they can't understand how I'm still doing a photo shoot five days before I'm playing in SLAM. And yeah, it's a total different approach to certain things. And it's quite funny.

What do you not understand that she does? Well, she's already pretty nervous or like excited. She's like, oh, my God. The Nationals are in eight weeks.

Eight weeks. If we have eight weeks, we can go on holiday for four weeks. Yeah.

How is that? How is it? Eight weeks. That feels so far away from me. Like, Shanghai still feels so far away.

And it's in one and a half week. And yeah, that's because we have such a big schedule. And they have quite small.

Do you compare notes on like pressure or anything? Like, you know, do you chat about competition? Yeah. Competition, more like how you handle it. And that's good to discuss about how she does things her way, how I do it my way.

She is a little bit younger than me. She's 21. So yeah, when I was 21, I was like, she's mentally maybe even better than me at 21.

But it's always a little bit with the girl and guy. They're a little bit more mature already earlier. But it's good to chat about how you handle things.

And that's the most important thing. And her dad is an ex-Olympian as well in speed skating. And yeah, he's a good coach in that kind of situation as well.

He helps her a lot and me. Yeah, it's good to have somebody that understands, you know, your life, which can be quite hard for some people. And it's nice to have like both lifestyle.

Obviously, it's tough when you're both traveling a lot. But she is not traveling that much during the summer or whatever. And during her off-season, she can come with me.

And tell me, so this time last year you were in Bali. Are you going back to Bali? I know we were a bit later speaking last year, but preseason you did in Bali. Will you be in preseason in Bali or have things changed now? I think my girlfriend's leaving me if I didn't go to Bali again.

As in, no, I'm already away for so long. And last time I did like six weeks away from home. But I was still single at that time.

We made that decision. So I had no one to stay at home for. And it's nice to have this time together when you're so long away from each other.

And now I can come to her matches like her races and support her. And that's going to be very exciting. And we have a great national training center at the Federation.

So that's going to be a no-brainer. I think last year you also mentioned about you like watches or car or watches. Maybe I'm getting you mixed up.

But did you treat yourself at all? Yeah, but I don't know if we talked about that. But obviously, if you're doing good results, you treat yourself. You just bought a new car and those things are nice.

It's not little, but those are nice things to do to yourself. Yeah, it's good to award yourself the hard work. Not go crazy.

But just a couple more questions. Racket, what Racket are you using in string setup? A lot of people ask us. Why don't you ask him what Racket he uses? Yeah, the Babalot Pure Arrow and the RPM Bloss 1.3. Already for like a long, long time.

The same setup. The stock Racket? No, I just get it from Babalot. Every six months we change.

We have a very nice partnership and I'm still very happy with him. And if we sit down and talk in a year's time, what would you be happy with? That's a very good question because every goal of mine already is reached. I want to enter the 75.

That was for this year. I wanted to enter the 75 and stay in the top 100. To stay in the top 100 is already reached.

So that's very nice. Already, yeah. Like secured.

So that's good relief as well. But for next year, I want to make the push to top 50. Let's see how I maintain a full year on that ATP tour.

And if I can stay around the top 75 for a whole year, it would be great. It would be a great achievement and from there we are building and it starts with my level. Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? Every year is new now because you're reaching new heights so everything's totally different again.

Yeah, and it's tough to maintain your ranking based on ATP tournaments. Because you get very far in an ATP tournament to get points. And yeah, it's getting tougher and tougher.

But yeah, if your level is there, the ranking will come. And when's your last day of work this year? The tournament work, not... My last day of work is going to be in meds or Athens, I think. When's Athens on? Is it October? No, November.

I think the week before the ATP Tour finals. I think it's the first week of November or something. Okay, so you get a good pre-season in.

It's going to be a good length pre-season. Were you going to take a small holiday with your girlfriend? No, because she's in season so now I'm going to have a little holiday with my friends and then maybe going to travel with her to some races. Okay, well, best of luck to the rest of this year.

I look forward to maybe seeing Australia. I won't see you in Europe, I'll see you in Australia. I'll see you a little bit better there this year.

You will, you will. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.

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