Super Swede with 53 national titles and 124 caps
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

Sweden’s greatest squash ambassador, Fredrik Johnson, has begun his sixth decade of playing the game competitively. Starting in 1979, he recently competed in a national league match for his home-town club Linköping and beat an opponent who was 41 years younger!

Fredrik began playing for Linköping Squash Klubb in 1979 and has continued to represent them through the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and just recently made it into the 2020s, still impressing spectators and overcoming opponents at the age of 56, playing two matches in one weekend in the top division in Swedish squash.

He said: “Making it extra special was that in one of the matches I played against the best under-17 player here in Sweden, Karl Bundy from Malmö SRC. The age difference was 41 years! But I still managed to scrape a 3-0 win.”

Fredrik has accumulated a massive collection of titles and records in his homeland. He has represented Sweden 124 times and has amassed an astonishing 53 national titles at various levels including junior, senior, masters, individual and team events.

With his beloved Linköping, he has won 17 Swedish national team triumphs and twice the European Team Championship title.

I caught up with Freddy last week and discussed his experiences in squash down the years.

Sadly, he is taking a break from running the hugely successful Swedish Open. However, by removing that workload he has freed up more time to train and play competitively, so perhaps he will one day be in line to overhaul the joint male record held by James Willstrop and Gregory Gaultier of 186 caps each for England and France.

But it will be a long slog before he catches up with Nicol David’s phenomenal record of 291 official appearances for Malaysia, but, according to stats guru Howard Harding from SquashInfo, that figure may well be a little higher!

SQUASH MAD INTERVIEW: 11 POINTS WITH FREDRIK JOHNSON

1: Freddy, a few questions on your remarkable squash career. Firstly, what’s your date of birth. We need to get that out there!

A: 31st of May 1963.

2: Where and when did you first start playing? Who were the inspirational figures during your junior days?

A: I started to play here in Linköping at a hotel named the Hotel Ekoxen (also the official hotel for the Swedish Open for 15 years). My parents played squash there and after they have played I practised for a while on the court as well. I was around nine years old then.

Of course I have my parents to thank a lot. But also Linköping was a very good place to be at in Sweden because the owner of the Squashclub was a “squash fanatic” so he made sure to bring the best Swedish players to the club and also some very big international stars. Swedish squash players from the generation before me here in Linköping included brilliant guys like Mikael Hellström, Bo Boström and Clas Ericsson.

3: What was it about these characters that fired up your enthusiasm for squash?

A. I saw how much they trained and also many of them won a lot of tournaments, so I was growing up in an environment where winning was a “natural thing”. I have been proud to represent the same club during all my squash years, Linköping Squash Klubb.

Early on, when I was young I was grateful to have the opportunity to practice with these top players. Fortunately, I have never had any problems finding motivation for my training.

4: At what age did you start thinking that squash might develop into a professional career?

A: I played for Sweden in the Junior World Championships in Singapore and Malaysia in 1982 and that was really the first time I spent a long time abroad playing tournaments. I was 18 by then and I did quite well there, so after that I was on my way to the professional career. Also one important tournament for me was the British Open under-23. Almost all the top under-23 players in the world took part and one year I reached the final. That gave me a lot of hope!

5: What was the reaction of your parents?

A: They have supported me very well right from the start. No “pushing”, but very good support “in the background”.

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6: What were your favourite performances as a professional?

A: As for tournaments, I have always enjoyed playing in England. Also to mention is all the times I played in Pakistan. I have been there around 10 times. That was during Jahangir and Jansher’s big days. Squash was almost a national sport there by then.

As for my best results I won a number of professional international titles, including the Spanish Open, Swiss Open, Swedish Open, Norwegian Open, Brazil Open, Paraguay Open and Argentina Open. Plus being runner-up in the British Open Under-23s.

I won the European Champion of Champions once (like the individual European Championships, but only the champion from every European country could enter).

In international team events, I was in the Swedish team who beat England in the final of the European Team Championships (in Münich 1983). Also twice European Club Champions with my team Linköping Squash Klubb (1996 and 1999). Plus all those domestic titles in Sweden.

7: Since playing in Masters events, can you list all of the major titles you have won in various age groups?

A: In the European Championships I have won six official straight titles. Starting 2009 and then every second year. I have never lost in this tournament (the tournament started to be official from 2009). The most recent title was in Vienna in August 2019. The titles I have won have been in the Over-40, Over-45, Over-50 and Over-55 categories. I have won seven titles in the British Open Masters and won the World Masters in 1999.

8: Please tell us about your current training regime, your diet and lifestyle.

A: I practice around eight times a week. Squash around five times and fitness around three times. I used to do a lot of running, but for the last year I have cut down a lot on the running and instead spend more time in the gym.

Regarding the diet I try to eat various, healthy foods. But as a naughty treat I have to admit that I like cookies and ice cream!

Regarding lifestyle I work quite a lot. I have my own events company, ActiPro Event, which employs six people full-time and many extra workers when needed. I also do a lot of work for the Linköping Ice Hockey Club, working with sponsorships and different aspects of marketing and sales. Ice hockey is almost a national sport here in Sweden.

I have been married to my wife Louise since 1993 and we have three fantastic daughters, who are 19, 23 and 25 years old.

I try to spend some time in the forest and get some quiet, relaxing and harmonious time. I also do quite a lot of social biking with my wife.

9: Alongside playing in Masters events, you also developed the Swedish Open in Linköping into one of the most popular tournaments on the PSA World Tour. That must have made you incredibly proud.

A: Yes, indeed. Fantastic to have organised this big professional tournament in my hometown where the city works with the slogan “Where ideas become reality”.

And this project really was a bigger dream for me than playing professional squash myself. For 15 years we have arranged this big event here in Linköping and every year I have been responsible for the Swedish Open.

A lot of people said in the beginning that “you can’t establish such a big event here…….”. But we proved they were wrong. For sure I had a lot of advantages as a tournament promotor that I had been professional myself and knew what the players would appreciate. For many years the tournament was the second biggest in Europe, after the British Open.

It was a very difficult decision to step away. Right now, for 2020, I will not organise the Swedish Open so hopefully someone else will do the tournament instead. I think it’s so important for squash in Sweden to have this kind of tournament. 

But looking at the amount of work I have put in, together with all my other work, in the end it was probably the level of work that made me take the decision.

Also, in terms of prize money, the Swedish Krona has lost quite a lot of value compared to the US dollar, and that made it difficult to stay at the level I want to have for the tournament. But, who knows, I might organise the tournament in a couple of years here in Linköping again.

10: How do you compare the standard of today’s professionals to your own pro days? What has changed the most?

A: A lot of things have changed. The pace is much quicker on the court, a little bit of course thanks to the development in racket technology. Faster rallies, but most of the time the rallies and matches could be longer before. The depth on the tour is much better and more spread out around the world.

But, maybe, looking at the very top level, when you compare different eras it was just as competitive when I was professional as it is now. I’m happy to see that a lot of positive things are happening around the professional squash scene. All the professional squash players are really worth their rewards, because squash is a very hard sport.

For myself, when I was professional I relied a lot on my fitness and speed. I would say that I have better technique now than I was number 16 in the professional rankings. Also, I think I use better tactics now!

11: I love giving people the opportunity to talk about relationships and partnerships, because they are so important both to individual athletes and to tournament promoters. Who are the people and the sponsors who have helped you both as a player and as a promoter?

A: A lot of people have been very supportive during all of my squash years. I have been based in my hometown Linköping during my whole career and here I have had a lot of different companies who have supported me a lot.

During my professional years, and also after my playing career, I have organised all of my sponsorship contracts myself. From this I learnt a lot. I really worked a lot with this when I was professional. And I got some good contracts because I really paid attention to providing value and recognition for my sponsors. I played quite a lot of squash with them, organised tournaments and of course exposed them on my shirts etc. And I always reported to the Swedish media when I was playing tournaments. In that way my sponsors got a lot of coverage in the media.

Another thing I did when I was professional and was travelling a lot was that I sent a postcard to my different sponsors from all these different places all around the world. And it’s nice to hear now when I talk to these companies and they say: “Yes, Fredrik it was very good that you won some tournaments, but we appreciate at least as much that you sent those postcards”.

That showed that I thought of them, but also that I appreciated our cooperation.

I must mention the different title sponsors we have had for the Swedish Open and the 15 years I have organised the tournament we have enjoyed phenomenal support from companies including Catella, Case and UCS.

The city of Linköping has been very important for the Swedish Open as well, and then of course a lot of other companies and a fantastic event staff.

AT: Thank you, Freddy. Here’s to the next six decades!

FJ: Thank you very much to you too, Alan!

Pictures courtesy of  Fredrik Johnson

England have got to dust themselves off pretty quickly after Sunday's defeat in Paris and get stuck into their game against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

I do not think they helped themselves in the build-up to the France game. Head coach Eddie Jones was talking about them being the greatest team.

England are a mile away from greatness. It is the wrong strap-line to have. It detracts from what you need to be doing day-to-day to win these kinds of games.

You cannot lose sight of what it is like to be an England rugby player. Everybody hates you. It is not a normal existence as a sportsperson.

It does not matter who you play against. They all hate England and want to beat England so they will welcome any minute motivation.

France's English defence coach Shaun Edwards would have been stomping around the changing rooms saying: "They're going to be more brutal than you boys, they're going to put you in a box, they want to be the greatest team in the world."

I know what I would feel like if I was sat in that dressing room in a French shirt and the opposition were saying that. I would think, 'you utter fools.' I would do whatever I could possibly do to get myself in the frame of mind to shove that down your neck.

I cannot get my head around why you would say it. It is not a problem if you keep it in house, but you do not wind up the opposition by being arrogant in any way.

This week it is time to not do any talking: let's see the action at the weekend. You would like to think there is going to be a bit of bounce back from England.

They have the physical edge over Scotland, but maybe Eddie just keep it to yourself. Show a bit of humility, go up to Murrayfield hurting and somehow put a damp blanket over that Scottish fire that is going to be burning as a result of not winning in Dublin.

Scotland probably walked away desperately disappointed, thinking they should have had that win against Ireland, and will be fired up.

But England know how to win away from home. They have got motivation from last year when they did not get it right against the Scots.

England kicking that goal at the end to get a losing bonus point against France was a statement of admission that they did not play well on Sunday but that they want to take every point and feel they can regroup and get stuck into Scotland next week.

If they win all four games now, it gives them a huge amount of momentum and the ball will be in France's court, but they can only affect next week. They can't get too far ahead of themselves.

'A confusing England performance'

I was confused by how England tried to play against France and the lack of direction from the senior players under pressure in adversity away from home.

I get confused by them making the wrong decisions under pressure because they are such great players - they have won loads of Premiership and European trophies.

England's team strategy and execution has got to be worked on. They had too many opportunities close to the line which they did not convert.

Unfortunately there appeared to be a World Cup hangover which I did not envisage at all. I thought England would be stepping forward and learning from their mistakes.

There are things you should have in your armoury for the next time a game like the World Cup final comes around. It came around in the next game and England did not have an answer.

I do not know what was going on with Owen Farrell. You are not going to drop Owen Farrell but he definitely was not his normal self. There was something not quite right.

He did not show the leadership skills that we have come to expect. There is definitely something that needs to be solved there.

I thought Ben Youngs played all right but at this stage in the cycle, Eddie's going to be looking for people to be stepping up and running the game.

If we are not winning those games and putting ourselves under undue pressure, unfortunately the scrum-half tends to get the axe for that. I would not be surprised if Willi Heinz came in for the Scotland game.

Selection errors 'cost England dearly'

I do not think Eddie's selection was right. I am reluctant to fire the majority of the team, they have got a really talented squad, but too many of the players did not click and made too many mistakes.

Not having a regular number eight cost England dearly. It fundamentally changed the balance of how England played. You did not have a Tom Curry and Sam Underhill combination because Tom had a lot of number eight duties to fulfil.

You know it is not quite right when the referee is coaching the number eight halfway through the first half as to where he can and cannot bind on the scrum. I laughed to myself.

I am not a huge fan of playing people out of position when you have got other players who play that position week in week out.

I would like to see Curry and Underhill play at six and seven and see Harlequins' Alex Dombrandt or Exeter's Sam Simmonds play at eight.

And given the strength in depth in the second row, Charlie Ewels did not do enough to show he was head and shoulders above Courtney Lawes or George Kruis.

It was a tough night for full-back George Furbank, who was making his debut. I hope he does not get judged on one game on a wet evening in Paris.

He had a couple of opportunities and maybe did not do what he would have liked to have done. I hope he does get another opportunity.

'France are favourites to win the Six Nations'

France are Grand Slam contenders. Edwards is incredibly special. He has been embraced and is going to be a huge influence on that squad.

It angers me that he has never coached England. He is one of the greatest English coaches there has ever been and we have never had him in the international set-up. It is a shambles.

But France are in really good shape. We are all waxing lyrical about how exciting this new generation of French rugby players is.

There is no reason why France should not be maintaining the sort of confidence we saw against England and building on that performance.

After round one I would say they are favourites to win the Championship.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.

Finn Russell has been omitted from Scotland's squad for Saturday's Calcutta Cup match at home to England.

The fly-half, 27, had left the squad prior to the 19-12 defeat by Ireland for "breaching team protocol" during a drinking session.

Defence coach Steve Tandy says he has "no idea" whether Russell will feature in this year's Six Nations.

But Tandy confirmed head coach Gregor Townsend "is in dialogue" with the Racing 92 player.

"Throughout this period we've been after cohesion with as many players doing as many training sessions as we can," said Tandy. "We're looking for cohesion across these first two games."

Adam Hastings started at 10 for Scotland in Dublin and successfully kicked four of his five penalties. Hastings and Duncan Weir have been listed as the fly-half options in Townsend's Calcutta Cup squad.

Fourteen players who were not in Scotland's matchday squad in Dublin are in the 37-man pool for Saturday's match at Murrayfield, including uncapped quintet Alex Craig, Luke Crosbie, Tom Gordon, Kyle Steyn and Ratu Tagive. However, Darcy Graham is injured.

England also opened the Six Nations with defeat, 24-17 against hosts France.

Russell played in Racing 92's win over Castres the weekend prior to the opening Six Nations fixtures.

When discussing the Russell situation last week, Townsend gave no indication whether the fly-half would play any part in this year's Six Nations, saying: "Let's see what happens over the next few weeks.

"Every individual has to align himself to what's to the benefit of the team. If their actions are against that there will be consequences.

"Nothing is more important in sport than playing for your national team, even more than club level. To be with the team, to promote that team culture of togetherness, of high standards and responsibility for what you have when you're wearing that thistle.

"Every player is reminded of that every time when they come into camp. Every player works hard to be given that opportunity to play for Scotland and that will always be the case."

'Russell may need to show contrition' - analysis

BBC Scotland rugby reporter Andy Burke

As one of their few genuine world class talents, Scotland can ill afford to have a player of Finn Russell's quality sitting in his Paris home while they try to overcome the Six Nations heavyweights. But the composed performance of Adam Hastings in Dublin demonstrated they can function without him.

Gregor Townsend looks to have limited the potential for disruption to the team by leaving Russell out for Saturday's meeting with England, even if it's a team the fly-half has thrived against in recent years. Russell may have to demonstrate some contrition for the behaviour that led to him being dropped in the first place if he is to have any international future under Townsend.

Scotland squad

Forwards: Simon Berghan, Jamie Bhatti, Magnus Bradbury (all Edinburgh), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Alex Craig (Gloucester), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors), Allan Dell (London Irish), Cornell du Preez (Worcester Warriors), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Tom Gordon, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Nick Haining, Stuart McInally, Willem Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Sutherland, Ben Toolis (all Edinburgh), George Turner (Glasgow Warriors), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh)

Backs: Chris Harris (Gloucester), Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors), Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs), George Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints), Sam Johnson, Huw Jones (both Glasgow Warriors), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh), Sean Maitland (Saracens), Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks), Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors), Henry Pyrgos, Matt Scott (both Edinburgh), Kyle Steyn, Ratu Tagive (both Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Weir (Worcester Warriors)

STATESVILLE, N.C. – GMS Racing has announced that CMR Construction & Roofing will continue its partnership with the team this year.

CMR will sponsor Brett Moffitt’s No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado for three NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races, beginning at Daytona Int’l Speedway next week.

“I’m excited to have CMR back on board with us for a few races this season,” said Moffitt. “They’ve been great to work with in the past and we were able to get them to victory lane once last year. Hopefully we’ll be able to build on that this season with them on board.”

CMR Construction and Roofing began its relationship with Moffitt and GMS Racing in August of 2019, where Moffitt won the race from the pole at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Moffitt’s Silverado sported CMR colors for four of the last five races of the 2019 season.

“CMR is proud to renew our sponsorship of Brett Moffitt in the Gander Trucks Series for key races in 2020, starting with Daytona,” said Steve Soule, CEO of CMR Construction & Roofing. “Brett and the GMS Racing team are strong, dedicated and prepared to earn big wins on the track. These values matter to us at CMR Construction & Roofing and represent our name well. We look forward to our continued partnership and to cheering on the No. 23. See you at the finish line.”