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.