At Loughborough

Hey all

Finally I have arrived at Loughborough University, after quite a journey.
I started off flying from Aarhus at around 10 in the morning, and then landed in Stansted an hour and 15 mins later. Then I had to go from Stansted to London, and go to Kings Cross, to catch an East Midlands train to Loughborough.
When I got there I took a cab to the University, and had to start off getting my key to my room. It was a pretty stressful arrival, because I had so much luggage and I didn´t know the place at all - besides that it was already dark when I arrived, so it made it a bit harder than it already was.

I settled in, and unpacked, and could finally relax a bit.

Today I had my first practice at 11 this morning, where I practiced for an hour with other performance players, and then played around an hour with a perfomance guy, who´s a really nice guy.
It´s nice already getting to know people around here, so you can ask for help and chat etc. It makes it a bit easier to adjust, which has been very very hard to be honest.

Else I went to town to get a heck of a lot of stuff - everything from plates and forks to soap and towels. When I was about to pay my card suddenly didn´t work - not even for withdrawing cash. So I had to leave everything I bought at the store,a dn come back tomorrow and get it. Really really annoying.

Also I got my first match tomorrow. We are facing Nottingham University at 10 am, so it´s gonna be really exciting, and ´m really excited that I´m already getting to play matches this early on.

Anyway, it´s nice to be here, but it´s gonna take some time to settle in - but I´ll be ok.
That´s all for now, I´ll be back tomorrow with news about the match and maybe some pics

Cheers

Done with Danish tournaments

So, reaching the end of this past weekend, I´m done playing Danish tournaments for quite a while. As I wrote earlier I will be going to Britain for 6 months to study and play tennis at Loughborough University.

The weekend went pretty well, regarding tennis. I was up against no. 4 seed in singles. Though he´s only seeded 4, he was probably the best player in the draw, so it wasn´t really a great draw for me to be honest.
Anyway I knew I just had to get out there and do the best I could. It wasn´t impossible, and as long as I remembered the things I wrote down as preparation to the match, I should be okay.
One of the most important things for me in this match was to keep cool, even if I came really close to winning the match.
I started extremely well, and broke his serve in the very first game of the match. I don´t know if he needed to get used to the surface or he just started really slow, but suddenly I was up 5-1. I broke his serve at 5-1 to win the set.
In the second I got broken in the first game, which wasn´t really the best thing that could happen. I just tried to hang in there for the rest of the set, to see if I got the chance to break back. And I did. At 5-4 to him, I played a really good game, and suddenly I was at 5-5.

Then it happend. The only thing I told myself not to let happen. The first thing I thought was, wow, now I´m at 5-5 serving. If I can just get this service game, I´ll get a tiebreak at least, and be really close to make a huge upset.
The second thing I thought was, damned, this is exactly what I can´t think right now. I need to stick to what I have done for the entire match so far.
I started out making to more or less unforced errors with my forehand, which I haven´t missed for the entire match up until then. Suddenly it was 0-30, and I was under severe pressure. I doublefaulted, and facing 3 break points it looked really tough. He broke me straight back. even though I was up 30-15 in the next game he managed to hold his serve and win the set 7-5.

I kinda expected myself to have a hard time staying positive after this. But in the beginning of the third set I broke him to get a 2-0 lead. Then again, the same thing happend, and instead of a 3-0 lead, it was only 2-1, on serve. I´m pretty convinced that if I had gotten the 3-0 lead, I would have closed the deal....but I couldn´t. I lost 5 straight games. Even though I got back on 4-5, he played a good game to close out the match winning 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

In doubles we had a bye in the first round, and in the quarters we faced a good team. We started out well, and won the first set 6-3, without beingin trouble. In the second I think we lost a great deal of focuse, and we managed to throw the break we got early away. We went into a tiebreak, but got an early minibreak and never looked back. We won the match 6-3, 7-6 (3).

On Sunday, it was time for the semifinal in doubles. We faced the 2nd seeded team, from my own club. I guess you could name them favorites. I started out really badly. I made 5 doublefaults in the first two of my service games. We lost the set 6-4. Only positive thing from the first set was that we started dominating the match at the end of the set and could bring that to the second. We started well, and up 3-1, we had the chance of getting on 4-1 if we could keep my partners serve. After a crazy point my partner missed an easy overhead at 40-40, and it prooved to deciding. They broke us back. even though we got on 4-3, keeping my serve, my partner got broken again, and we lost the match 6-4, 6-4. A match tiebreak decision had been fair in my opinion as we clearly dominated the second set. But that´s tennis. If you don´t take advantage when you need to, you can´t win.

All in all I´m pretty satisfied with the weekend. I played really well in my singles match, even though it would have been amazing to win it, I´m pretty glad that I played well.
In doubles we got to the semis, which is pretty good. I´m pretty sure we could have gone all the way, if we got past the semi, but it wasn´t meant to be I guess.

Focus is now on my to final exams tomorrow and on the 22nd - when I´m done with those I´ll more or less be off to Britian, which is gonna be fantastic.

I´ll be back shortly, when there is more to tell


Till then

A new year

So back with news.

As some might know, Manchester United lost in the FA Cup to Leeds. I was furious that it could happen - and it frustrated me that they could not put Leeds under pressure, and had a really bad attitude!

I spent the weekend practicing, and today I have a day off due to my exam paper, which I need to finish before Wednesday at noon.

I also got the draw to the Regionals, where I will play seeded 4 in singles, who just won a national tournament - so it´s a prety tough draw to be honest. Not impossible though and it should be a good match.
In doubles we are seeded 4 as I have mentioned earlier. We have a bye in the 1st round and are facing an unseeded team in the 2nd. In a potential semifinal we meet the 2nd seeded team from my club. With some good matches and a bit of luck we can definitely reach the final!

I think that´s all from me for now - I really need to get on with the paper, which is about multiculturalism in Britain, if it means anything to anyone - probably not :)

Till next time then!

Happy New Year

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a fantastic night and a good entry into 2010.
I celebrated New Years with my family and some of their friends, with whom I had dinner. Afterwards I went to a party with my girlfriend and some of her friends another place in town. It was a really good night and some really nice people I got to know.

On the 1st of Janaury I took the liberty of taking a day off :)
Else I continued with practice on the 2nd, and today is about the same. There is less than a week now till my last Danish tournament, which is the Regionals, held at my club. I´m seeded 14 in singles and seeded 4 in doubles, where I´m partnering a team mate.

Else I´m just excited that the ATP Tour is finally starting up again with tourneys in Doha, Chennai and Brisbane, and it´s gonna be amazing with the AO 2010.

This coming Wedensday I´m scheduled to pass in an exam paper, so that´s what the most of my time is spent on at the moment. When it´s done I have two exams before I´m done with my 3rd semester. I have to oral defences of two papers. The first one is on the 12th and the second one is on the 22nd, which is a defence of the above mentioned paper. I´m really looking forward to get it overwith, so I can focuse entirely on tennis before I leave to Britain.
About Britain I have got my LTA membership, and I´m now ready to compete in British tournaments. It´s gonna be really great to try and compete against players I don´t know at all.

Besides working on my exam paper I´m going to watch my favorite international football team, Manchester United, on TV today. Danish television is showing their FA Cup match against Leeds, which is gonna be really great to watch.

I think that´s all for now, and I will return with news in the coming week

Cheers

Video

Hi again

I forgot to tell that I have made a little video of my game I thought I would share if it has any interest.

http://vimeo.com/8427520

Enjoy

Back....again

Hi guys

It´s been really long since I updated here. I have had much to do and sometimes I just forget about it. Well, I thought this was a good time to start up the blogging again.

There is pretty much to tell if I was to tell everything that happend since I last updated, so I´ll try making it short.

It´s been quite a quiet semester at school. Fewer courses mean less time at school, but still much reading back home - but a good opportunity to plan your day, so you got time for it all. Personally I like it that way, as it is much easier for me to practice as much as I need to, including all the fitness work.

The summer has been alright tennis wise - I played a lot of tournaments with mixed success, but all in all I guess I´m pretty satisfied.

As usual there haven´t been many tournaments to play indoors. I haven´t played a tournament since late October, where I lost in the first round. Else I have won a lot of matches in the team competition, where I have been playing really well. Unfirtunately I was forced to pull out of the Nationals because of my exams, which were placed at the very same time.

At the end of November I was in London to watch the ATP World tour finals at the O2 Arena. It was a great experience, and it´s really something special to watch the world´s best players live. It was a great venue, and there was absolutely packed every day out there. I also got to practice a bit with my good friend Alexander.

From the end of January I will be going to Britain for 6 months to study at Loughborough University. It´s not far from Nottingham, right in the middle of England. It´s quite a university when it comes to sport. That´s of course why I chose it. I will be playing tennis every day. I look forward to going, but it´s gonna be a bit wierd to leave home for that long.

The last tournament I will play is the Regionals on the 9th and 10th of January. Then the next tournament is the BUCS Challenge in Birmingham on the 30th and 31st of January. it´s gonna

be really exciting to play competitive tennis outside Denmark.

The first picture in the blog is from a national tournament this summer, and the following one is from London, where we watched Fulham - Blackburn.

I will return with news in the new year.

So a happy new year to everyone out there!

End of a long season

Hi guys

Once again it has been a while since I updated last.

Has been very busy with school, and my computer broke down not once, but twice during the last month.

Since I posted last we promoted to Landesliga with our German team, Suchsdorfer SV, which was a very good thing. Now focus is on the Landesliga outdoors, which is going to be a very tough run. Promotion seems very tough, so I think the goal is to stay where we are.

I have been suffering from a shoulder injury for the last month more or less. It has made me unable to serve, so I haven´t been playing many matches for a while now. I´m taking a break from serving in order to be ready for the claycourt season. Though it is not my favorite surface, I still look forward to get outdoors on the red clay.

At the end of April, more specifically on thr 27th of April, I will be going to Rome to watch the Masters Series Tournament there - and hopefully get to play some claycourt tennis myself too.

I´m looking very much forward to the trip - it´s going to be amazing.

Back home in Aarhus the first team promoted to the best division, while the second team stayed in the third best division. They had hoped for a promotion, but they lost the deciding match unfortunately.

Until the start of the outdoor season I´m just going to be practicing, without serving that is. And then hopefulyl be ready for team matches and tournaments outdoors

It´s been a while

I´m sorry it has been quite a while since I have updated.
I have had pretty much to do with school, but now I finally have some more time.

After the bad day in Germany, it was finally time to play some individual tournaments. I like them better mostly, as I only have myself to focuse on, and not worry about team mates and what the other guys think etc.
I went to Copenhagen on the 6th of February with my girlfriend. We went to Vanløse to stay at my cousin´s place, which was really nice, as he always welcome me when I need it.

On Saturday we went downtown to shop and just walk around the city, and we had brunch at this great place called "Stella", which is in a street just behind the main shopping street.
I think we just stayed there for 2 hours eating - and I wasn´t complaining :)
Afterwards we did some more shopping, and then it was time to go to Hørsholm, which takes a while from the central station.
As in Gemany, the tournament is played on carpet, which I can´t say is my favorite surface. The only advantage for me, is that my serve is pretty good, which is a good weapon on carpet.
I was up against a guy named Timm, which I have never played before. But he has been one of the biggest talents in Danish tennis, and is my age.
I didn´t feel like I have had the best preparations for this match, arriving not long before the match, and I had been walking around the whole day. If that was the reason why I started as bad as I did, I don´t really know. But I went down 0-5 way too fast.

In the second I broke him early, and I kept my serve, and won the second set 6-3.
In the third I had 5 break points in the two first of his service games, but did not manage to take advantage of any of them. Afterwards I began to feel extremely tired, and I felt like I had no more energy. Every game was close, but he took the deciding points, and won the match 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
If I had taken the break points early in the third I think I would have won, but of course you can always say "if and if".
I was of course dissapointed, but satisfied with the secnd set, where I played really well.

Back in Aarhus the next tournament was coming up.
I had an okay draw, facing a guy I have never played before from RLTC.
He´s not a bad player, but he hasn´t really ny weapons, besidesfrom volleying really well, and I gave him too much to work with at the net.
I won the first set 6-0 fairly easy.
In the second he began to play better, and won many points at the net. I got the deciding break at 5-5, and then kept my serve without any problems.
An okay 1st round win, without feeling that I played well.

In the second round I faced a guy named Emil Jespersen, from a club in Copenhagen called B93.
I had never met him neither. I started out going down 0-40 in my own service game, but saved all break points and broke him afterwards.
Unfortunately the deciding thing in this match was the fact that I did not manage to keep my serve when I broke him. At 5-6 I got broken for him to win the first set, and in the second I was up 2-0, 3-1 and had to ads to go up 4-1.
Unfortunately it was the same story, and the same thing happend again at 5-6 - and I lost the match 5-7, 5-7.
ll in all dissapointing result, but satisfying that I played well throughout the match.

Next up is a team match for Aarhus 1900 on next Saturday, before going to Farum the following weekend.

"Oh crappy day"

Well usually it´s "oh happy day", but the title above makes much more sense concerning what happend yesterday in Kiel.

It was probably the most important match of the indoor season, as our opponents, whose name I have forgotten, is our biggest rivals concerning promotion.

There had been some issues concering who was going to play today. Originally I was to play on Sunday, and not Saturday, as that would mean I would be ineligible for the rest of the season for the 2nd team.

But the one who was going to play instead of me, Lasse, was injuried, and said some days ago that he could not play. Søren, one of my brothers, is also injuried, and the coach wouldn´t gamble with his health.

To sum up, if our opponents had their original line up, with no replacing of their singles in order to "cheat" with their lineup, then I was going to play 4th single, while Esben was no. 3, Mathias no. 2, and our new player, Milos, no. 1.

If they did "cheat", Søren was meant to go in as no. 1 and play 1 point, and then scratch, in order to try and win the 3 other singles. Then I was going to play doubles or not play at all.

They did lineup regularly, which meant I was going to play.

I don´t know if it was the whole mess about the lineup and stuff, which made me nervus or at least made me feel that there was a lot of pressure on me. I had already been told, that the 4th single was good, and probably better than no. 3, so it was not my match we had to rely on.

Anyway I started really well, serving extremely well, and held serve without dropping a point the 2 first service games.

Then it all started to go wrong. I did not return well, and found it very hard to read his serve, which caused me so much trouble.

I got broken, and suddenly I had lost the set 6-3, evn though I got off to a good start.

In the second I was frustrated, and things just didn´t go my way. I had 9 breakpoints to get back into the match. Some of them he was lucky, some of them I wasn´t sharp enough. I lost the second set 6-3 as well.

It was pretty much the same story in the double with Esben. We started well, but then we just couldn´t when we had to.

It was a weird feeling, winning the team match 4-2, but haven´t been able to contribute to it at all, by loosing both matches. I felt bad, and even though I was told by everyone that they knew I was much better than today, it was just a big big lack of confidence.

As said we won 4-2. Milos played extremely well in his single, he´s going to be very important for us. Besides that he´s such a nice guy. He´s swedish, so we can speak danish to him, and he can speak swedish to us, and we can understand each other most of the time. Else English is the universal language in the squad now.

The most important thing was that we won the match, but still, I feel like I kind of let the team down, even though I know I shouldn´t feel that way.

Next weekend is competitive-free, and in two weeks, 2 individual tournaments are coming up, which is going to be nice for a change.

Update

So, closing in on next weekend, and I´m going to Germany again.
This time I´ll only play on Sunday, and then have a break next weekend, before 2 tournaments in week 7, one in Copenhagen (Horsholm) and one in my club in Aarhus.

I have uploaded a video from my practice today on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyv1tl4zUDk

So take a look if you feel like it :)

I´ll practice again tomorrow evening, and Friday evening as well, before we leave to Germany on Saturday morning.
Hopefully I´ll get to practice a bit on Saturday, before the matches on Sunday. I´ll bring my amazing camera again, and see if I can take some more pics

A good weekend in Germany

Back in Aarhus after a good weekend in Germany.

We left for Hamburg Saturday morning, as one of my brothers, Esben, had to sign-in for the qualification draw of the ITF junior tournament there.

After signing in, and fixing some details at the hotel, where we were supposed to stay from Saturday till Sunday, we headed to a town called Bad Schwartau, close to Lübeck, where we Saturday´s team match was held.

We started at 3pm, and Esben and our 4th single Christoph were up first.

Esben won easily 6-0, 6-0 against a player who could actually play pretty well, but Esben was just too good.

Christoph also won in 2 sets, I think it was 6-2, 6-3, so no real problems there.

In the second round of matches me and our 1. single Mathias were up. Mathias won easily as well, and so did I - 6-0, 6-0 - so today the team we played against were not that good.

We won our doubles easy as well, and won the match 6-0 - so a good day.

After dinner we went straight back to the hotel in Hamburg, where we just relaxed and watched some TV, before we went to bed.

This morning my brothers and my dad went up at 6.40 to go to the club where the ITF´s is played to practice for half an hour. Neither Esben or Søren were playing for Suchsdorfer today. Esben played 1st round of the qualies, and won in 2 sets, and Søren has to rest, because of injuries, before he´s entering the main draw on Tuesday.

When they came back we had breakfast, and me and my dad took off to Kiel, as we played at home today.

The team we met is named Eikendorfer. It was our second team, and theirs too, but both of our teams had 1st team players included, so I was up against one of their 1st team players.

We started well, and won the two first singles, both in two sets. Afterwards I was up and unfortunately lost 5-7, 5-7. I kind of feel that I should have won. At 4-4 in the first set I have a breakpoint after a close game. He doubefaults, and even though I made the return on the second serve, and it was a good one, he refused to let me have the point as he was sure it was in.

I couldn´t believe he wanted to discuss it and we discussed back and forth for 15 minutes. I tried to explain to him in English that there would be no reason for me to call it out if it wasn´t out as I easily made the return. I was in a good position to call it, and besides that I´m calling the points on my court - anyway it ended up with a replay. Don´t ask me why I gave in, but I did - and of course I lost the game. Extremely frustrating. I felt like it ruined the match for me. I know you are not supposed to get affected by situations like that, but I just couldn´t help it.

I started badly in the second set, and I still had that situation in the back of my mind. I went down 3-0, and then started to fight back. We ended up at 5-5 again, and then I had 2 chances to break him, but missed them, and then I got broken to 7-5.

Probably one of the most frustrating matches ever, and I felt like he didn´t deserve to win a match in that way. But well nothing to do about it.

Luckely Christoph won his single in 3 sets, which was really important, as we had 3-1 before the doubles.

I played with our 2nd single, Lasse, and we won 6-4, 6-4. We both played well and served extremely well. The other guys won the other double, and we won the match 5-1. So all in all a good weekend.

I got back home at 9 pm, and now I´m looking forward to watch the Aussie Open tonight, which is gonna be amaing.

I´m going back to Germany next weekend, where I´m playing on Sunday, together with Søren, while both Søren, Esben and a new player, Milos, is playing on Saturday in an important match.

Just an update

I thought I just wanted to give an update.
Tomorrow I have my last exam on the 1st semester, so I´m really looking forward to get it overwith.
Else I have been practising, but not as much as usual, because of exams and a cold, so I hope it´s getting better before we leave to Germany Saturday morning.

Else not much is happening - I´m really looking forward to Australian Open. It´s perfect, as my small break from school starts from after the exam tomorrow, and lasts til the 26th, so that´s the entire first week of the Aussie Open.
It´s weird to think back - exactly one year ago, I was preparing to leave to Australia, and it feels like it was almost yesterday - I miss it a lot thinking back, and I really hope to get back before too long.

Else I´m starting the search for an American university to attend and play for, when I have my semester abroad from January 2010 - but ít´s really hard, so it´s a tough job...

I finally got a new camera, so I´ll bring it to Germany, and hopefully get some pictures from the days there, and post them when I get back.

That´s pretty much for now, I´ll be back before too long

Germany...

I thought I was supposed to play the regional champiosnhips this coming weekend.
But as clever as I am, I have mistaken the dates, and it appeared to me that the RC is in the same weekend as my team match in Suchsdorfer.
So I have been forced to withdraw from the RC, which is not too fortunate, as it is a good opportunity to collect some ranking points, and furthermore I have to withdraw from doubles as well, which is quite a pitty for my doubles partner

But well I had to choose, and it´s important matches in Germany, trying to promote just as we did in the summer.

Not much has been going on since I returned from Naestved.
New Year´s Eve was paeceful and quiet, as I had one of my 7 exams this semester on the 2nd of January.
I have been practicing every day since the 31st, so tomorrow will be a day off, and only fitness is on the programme, as well as planning a trip to Rome with my girlfriend in the middle of January.

That´s pretty much it for now
I wish all a little late happy new year!

1st round defeat..

I only got one match in Tengo Cup in Naestved.
It was a really close encounter against a guy I have previously lost to, a couple of years ago.
He´s a very solid player, with good results and a good game, so I knew it was gonna be tough, and I had to rely on my serve and being aggressive from the first point.

It seemed to work well in the beginning, and I wass up 40-0 in his service game, which was also the very first game of the match. I did not break him though, but did twice later in the set, and won it 6-3.
In the second set he started to play much better, and when his game is working it´s really tough to do anything. He won the set 6-2, and I just had to accept that he played very well in the set, and I needed to restart from the beginning of the final set.
I started well again, and had my chance at 2-1 in the second, and triple break point. I missed a big big chance with a forehand in a rally where I was in absolute control, and afterwards he played to good points, and he held his serve. And then a classic example of what happens so often after you miss an opportunity like that. I got broken at 5-40, after a bad service game, and I never got the chance to break back, though I had a couple of chances as far as I remember :=)

Anyway, I lost the final set 6-4, and was, with every reason I think, very bitter afterwards. A frustrating feeling to lose a match like that - where I felt I was the better player that specific day - but well that´s tennis - and that´s also the beauty of the game.

Next up is the regional championships in one and a half week - the draw is not yet out, but there is also double, where I´m teaming up with a guy whu used to play in the same club as me, so that´s gonna be fun.

Sorry that there are no pics - thanks for reading, hope it´s enjoyable :=)

Wellington Future

As I haven´t found out yet how to create a web album, and link to that I thought I´d post some pictures from the Future event in Wellington in February

I better start finding out how to find and create a good looking online album, else it will be a hell of a work to post so many pics each time.

Anyway hope you´ll enjoy

First post

So here we go with the first post of the blog.
First of all, I hope you guys visiting will have a good time - as I have written elsewhere, it´s purpose is to give the option to people to be able to follow the tennis life of a non-professional tennis player.

I thought it would be fun, maybe for you, and definetely for myself.
Around the blog I will try to update my tournament schedule and ther info as well.

Else I´ll keep the blog updates with relevant posts about the tennis life. Mostly with tournaments and matches, but also some other things like physical training and practice, if it has any interest.
I thought I´d start with some info about myself.
As you might already have found out, my name is Asger Hess-Olesen. I´m 22 years old, and is born and raised in Aarhus, Denmark, which is the second biggest city of Denmark.
I´m currently attending the Aarhus School of Business, where I´m studying English and communication, and is soon done with my first semester.

I started fairly late playing tennis, and didn´t really start playing competitive until I was 15. My inspiration to start was my dad (he´s the one in the pic above). He played a lot of tennis, and made great results, despite starting even later than me. He has done so much for me, and my brothers, who also play tennis on a high level. They are both in the 18-under national sqaud.
Taking me to tournaments, making sure I had everything I needed, scheduling, arranging, you name it. And at the same time, he hasn´t been anything like pushy, but have always let me decide how much I wanted to play.

I´m really grateful that he gave me this opportunity, and my goal since, has always been to reach my maximum potential, and get to play on an international level and to play college tennis in the States.

My greatest experiences so far in tennis must be to get to play in the Future events in New Zealand in February this year, and when I won promotion with my German team this summer, by winning the final playoff match in front of lots of spectators - that was amazing.





The picture above is from the promotion day. Next to me is to of the german players, and in between them, one of my brothers.
My first posts from a tournament will be coming up soon, as I´m leaving on Sunday morning for a tournament in Copenhagen.
Else, there´s just to say, enjoy, and feel free to comment or ask questions