It would’ve been easy to panic.
In the final of the 2023 US Open Boys Doubles Championship, Max Dahlin and his partner, Texas’ Oliver Ojakaar, were down two match points in a deciding tiebreaker. It was their last year of eligibility and last chance to win a junior Grand Slam title.
Going into the tournament, Dahlin wasn’t expecting to win it. He only played one junior Grand Slam before — Wimbledon, just a few months prior. For Dahlin, being there was a dream, and he carried that experience through the US Open draw.
Staying calm and focused, he and Ojakaar saved the match points and leveled the tiebreaker at 9-9. From there, they gained a championship point of their own.
Ojakaar fired back a return, forcing a shallow forehand from their opponents. Dahlin was ready at the net, putting away a volley down the middle to seal the win.
“It was just pure emotion, pure joy,” Dahlin, now a redshirt freshman on the Michigan men’s tennis team, told The Michigan Daily. “It was almost too good to be true.”
In just his second junior Grand Slam appearance, Dahlin persevered through the tough moments with composure and skill to eventually succeed. It wasn’t the first time, and it certainly wasn’t the last.
***
For Dahlin, tennis ran in the family. Growing up, Dahlin watched three of his four older siblings play tennis, and he was quick to follow them onto the court. With that much tennis talent among Dahlin and his siblings, intense competition was a given. Being the youngest, Dahlin initially struggled to keep up with them. But he stayed patient, and as he got older, Dahlin improved and found the game that worked for him to compete. Eventually, it wasn’t just his siblings he was playing against, but the entire tennis community in his hometown of Karlstad, Sweden.
“There was always one guy from the same tennis club as me,” Dahlin said. “We always played in the final, usually. … The first match, first competition ever, you were very nervous, not really sure what to expect. I started very early playing competition, which I think helped me, getting used to that pressure long term.”
Dahlin’s upbringing prepared him for the next step in competition, but he wasn’t beating his hometown rival at first. He had to adjust and improve to eventually get wins, and as he got older, the rivalry turned in his favor. He didn’t change his game to win — he just adapted it, and that was enough.
At the age of 12, Dahlin started to branch out from his hometown, playing in tournaments and national competitions. It wasn’t a lot at first, but Dahlin continued to play more and more, completely immersing himself in tennis and adjusting to the higher level.
“I was always a guy that wanted to play pretty aggressive,” Dahlin said. “I wanted to do some cool and difficult shots, and that really didn’t benefit me from a young age. The younger players usually just put the ball in the court and made me miss. But I just stuck to my game all throughout all these years, and it finally paid off.”
As the wins started to pour in, Dahlin’s tennis world expanded. Soon he was not only playing junior and ITF tournaments, but winning them too. He participated in his high school’s Elite Tennis Program, which allowed him to pursue tennis while also getting an education. The hard work and patience was paying off, and the pieces were falling into place.
***
On the court, one of Dahlin’s biggest strengths is his mentality. Win or loss, he stays calm and collected, competing the best he can. But there is always room for improvement.
Back in 2022, Dahlin started working with mental coach Gregor Schill. Although it wasn’t an absolute necessity, Dahlin understood the importance of cultivating his mental game and was curious about how he could adjust it. With Schill, Dahlin’s ability to better his game and figure out his opponents became a real advantage.
“I’ve seen so many tennis players and other players in other sports that look too much into results and statistics, and it’s building up a tremendous stress,” Schill told The Daily. “I think it’s much better to focus on what you can control: yourself, your game, your thoughts, your attitude, your skills. So we focus mainly on the process. … We measure that. We do not measure against anyone else.”
Mentality is just as much a part of Dahlin’s game as his forehand or his volleys. His ability to stay calm even under immense pressure sets him apart from his competitors. When things aren’t going his way on court, Dahlin won’t yell or destroy a racket like many other players would. Instead, Dahlin’s on-court attitude is a microcosm of his game as a whole. With rationality and levelheadedness, Dahlin figures out what he needs to do to win, adapting accordingly.
At times, Dahlin’s calm can even be his weapon.
“When (Dahlin’s opponents) are really feeling the tension and you can see that they are stressed and then Max is very calm, that makes them more un-secure,” Schill said. “I’ve seen that many times.”
It’s difficult to compete across the net from Dahlin. He’s frustrating to play against, with strong serves, big groundstrokes and unpredictable variety. But it’s his demeanor that can make a quality opponent blast errors and lose control of the match. Dahlin isn’t one to celebrate outwardly much when he’s doing well and hides his frustration when he isn’t. Many players simply don’t know what to do with that.
Oftentimes, Dahlin was told that he was too calm. While both he and Schill agree that he could always benefit from more energy, that’s just how Dahlin’s game is: quiet, precise and deadly.
“I don’t think Max should try to behave like anyone else,” Schill said. “He has to keep his own style.”
***
For a while, college tennis wasn’t something Dahlin even considered, wanting to go pro right out of high school. But after his victory at the US Open, Dahlin was sidelined by a back injury that affected him for nearly two years. During his recovery, Dahlin stayed involved in tennis, leading him to connect with Michigan men’s tennis coach Sean Maymi.
After trying to play through injury in November of 2023, Dahlin stepped back from the court. But that didn’t deter Maymi — just like Dahlin, he was willing to be patient.
“I don’t think you see that a lot from other coaches when you’re going through a tough time with one-and-a-half years of a back injury, no playing,” Dahlin said. “He has always been very helpful, very supportive, which I really appreciate because that has made the process a lot easier, not feeling the pressure of having someone just wanting to get you on the court, that you could take the time you want.”
Maymi’s patience, coupled with Dahlin’s adherence to the healing process, paid off the moment Dahlin started playing tennis for the Wolverines.
When Dahlin arrived at his first official college tournament, the ITA Midwest Regional Championships, he didn’t really know most of his competitors — and they didn’t know him.
“I was very new to all of this,” Dahlin said. “I just felt very in the wrong place, kind of just felt like I didn’t belong. But it went pretty quick, I would say, until I eased into it. Especially after Regionals and doing pretty well there, I’ve been easing into it a little more, getting more into the college environment.”
Adjusting to college tennis was a speedy process for Dahlin once healthy, and accomplishments immediately followed for him. He made a statement run at Regionals, qualifying for the NCAA Singles Championships by making the final. Along the way, he defeated Notre Dame’s Sebastian Dominko, the preseason No. 10, in a third-set tiebreaker, showcasing his ability to stay in competitive matches in the closest of moments.
A few weeks later, Dahlin made the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles at the NCAA Individual Championships. It was his first ever appearance at the tournament, but Dahlin handled it like it was any other event, just wanting to play his game. In his singles run, Dahlin defeated two seeded players: No. 9-16 Jack Loutit of Kentucky and No. 4 Matthew Forbes of Michigan State.
The round of 16 match against Forbes was tough, but Dahlin, as he always has, stayed calm and just kept playing his game. He saved every break point he faced in the third set, and took the match to a deciding tiebreaker.
At 5-3 in the tiebreaker, Dahlin took a risk: After a strong serve and a powerful forehand, he rushed to the net, picking up Forbes’ return for a drop volley — one that Forbes had no chance of reaching. The difficult, flashy shots that Dahlin’s opponents once took advantage of in juniors ended up winning him the match.
“I would call (my tennis) more controlled,” Dahlin said. “My gamestyle since I was small is always to just go for some good shots here and there and try to maybe surprise an opponent with a drop shot here and there. And that’s just a part of me. So I just can’t drop that, but I can do it in different ways than I did when I was younger. So I would say I learned a lot from that, playing safer, and then made my own version of it and playing it more controlled.”
When Dahlin sealed his match point, winning a close and turbulent match, he celebrated calmly and quietly. He stayed true to his style through the very end, and as always, it paid off.
