By viewing coopetition as a paradox, this paper provides a conceptual model for examining the mediating role of managers’ ambidextrous orientation in linking coopetition tensions with firm’s performance. With a focus on two kinds of tensions that managers usually experience in the coopetition relationship (i.e., external tensions) as well as perceive inside the organization (i.e., internal tensions), we conceptualize their materialization from the coopetition paradox and how ambidextrous managers can mitigate their potential destructive effects on performance. This conceptual model is tested on a representative sample of 1,532 firms in Sweden. The results show that coopetition paradox associates with external tensions but weakly relates to internal tensions. A key contribution is that there is no significant direct relation between coopetition tensions and performance but that an ambidextrous orientation of managers provides a strong mediating effect between the two.