It’s quite some time ago that I played my last Super Series Tournament but finally our Association granted us once again. Of course this is a kind of reward for the good results we scored in the Badminton Europe circuit this past year. With our ranking we are now directly admitted to the main draw of these tournaments in which the best players of the world make their appearance.
The atmosphere around these Super Series is not comparable to other tournaments. Just take the hotel. We stayed in one of the designated tournament hotels. Small rooms, rather poor breakfast, nothing special. Yet, you stay in this hotel together with the top players of Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea. Everything and everyone runs through each other in a very relaxed atmosphere. The entire hotel smells of fried noodles, eggrolls and all kind of other Oriental dishes. I suspect them of secretly having dozens of rice cookers in their rooms preparing their own meals. I saw Lee Chong Wei just have a few rolls with marmalade at breakfast. I don’t think you can always play that well in the morning on just a few rolls.
Also in the warming up room the atmosphere is not tensed. Quite peculiar indeed when you think about it. It’s a Premier Super Series event and the interests are high for the top countries. Here too everything runs into each other. Chong Wei plays a single against a teammate, Lee Yong Dae challenges his new partner Ko in a “ boxing match”, the Chinese play 3 versus 2 and the Danes are constantly followed by a camera team. One thing strikes you most: there is a lot of laughter and people are having great fun!!!
Wednesday afternoon it was our turn. We played against the Malaysian runners-up of the Yonex Dutch Open. In the first game we couldn’t cope with their way of playing and we had trouble with their net game. So we lost this first game. In the second game we adjusted our tactics and we succeeded to dominate the rallies. We played compactly and kept the court “small” for our opponents and we won this game. In the third game we successfully maintained this strategy and we won this first round. I was hoping for a second round match versus the Olympic Champions Fu and Cai but the latter had to give up in the first round because of a shoulder injury. This meant that we would meet the Koreans Shin and Yoo the next day.
Wednesday evening I went back to the hall to watch some matches and then I also witnessed the very last match of Peter Gade at his home tournament. Bothered by a migraine attack he unfortunately wasn’t able to get the best out of himself and he lost from a relatively unknown Indian but then he got a standing ovation from the spectators which was very impressive. Farewell to a badminton icon and I definitely intend to read his autobiography.
On Thursday we met the Koreans. It’s a new pair. After an Olympic cycle many countries start with new pairs because some players quit or because coaches want to try other combinations which they think will perform better than the previous ones. In the first game we played well. We kept up with them till the end of the first game and managed to stick to flat rallies. But then the Koreans scored a number of points in a row and we lost. The second game was considerably worse. In the rallies we came under a lot more pressure and we were forced to defend and play higher lifts creating scoring opportunities for our opponents. Our defence is not solid enough so we had to switch tactics and try to keep the shuttle lower. Still we frequently made the wrong choices and were immediately punished. Altogether the second game came to an end much too quickly. I was disappointed about that because I would have liked to play 10 minutes more than the 33 the match lasted.
Still I have a positive feeling about this tournament because we were able to play 2 matches and test ourselves against Asians which is very important. In general they have a completely different style of playing than the Europeans and only these experiences can bring us closer to the Asians. In the mean time I am back home again and via the Live stream I saw “our” Koreans win the quarter and semi finals in 2 games and qualify for the final in which they’ll meet the Malaysians Koo and Tan. So this Korean pair is very promising.
Next week we have a break in-between two tournaments. While the whole Super Series circus relocates to Paris (a missed opportunity that we won’t be participating) we will prepare ourselves for the Bitburger Open which is scheduled for the week after.  I will also play a League match with my team versus Refrath. I will keep you informed!!!