When Waldner was five years old he started a career as a Table tennis player because his older brother and his parents were players, too. At the beginning he was too small, so Waldner was standing on pedestals or buckets. With six years Jan-Ove began to play in the Swedish club "Spåvägens BTK". Very fast he got a talent and very fast he was trainied from different coaches and, of course, from his brother and parents. When he was nine years old he won for the first time the Swedish National Championships in his age group. But in his young years he doesn't played only Table tennis, he loved football and tennis, too. With thirteen he only played Table tennis. After ending school with the middle matury Jan-Ove started a career as a pro-player. One year later he played his first tournament, where Waldner won a car.