1984 began well for him. at the european championships, he won silver in the doubles. he did not play in singles, team and mixed play because of physical problems. that year, he placed fifth at the world cup after losing to joo se-hyuk. at the world cup in 1985, waldner lost to norwegian òlaf lundquist. this caused waldner to fall to 43rd place in the world rankings. at the world championships (wttc), he reached the 2nd place with the swedish team. in singles play, he lost in the round of 32. at the europe-top-12, he reached 5th place. in 1986, waldner took part in the european championships. he won gold in doubles and the team event. the swedish team beat germany in the finals. in the singles, he lost in the round of the sixteen. in 1987, waldner was 2ndat the europe-top-12 tournament. he also placed second at the world championships. he lost a very close match in the finals (3 games to 4) to ma lin. because of that strong performance, he moved from number 43 to number 22 in the world rankings. he had become the highest rated swedish player over jörgen persson.