This year at the Dutch National Championships I only played the mixed doubles together with my partner Samantha Barning. My men’s doubles partner, Dave Khodabux, got a knee injury during one of the matches of the Dutch Premier League play offs. Reason why we had to withdraw ourselves from this competition.
Samantha and I were first seeded. In the first two rounds we did not meet much resistance so in fact the tournament could really start on Sunday with the semi finals. There we met Jacco Arends and Ilse Vaessen, a pair we train and exercise with almost every day. Last December we played them in the final of the Irish Open and then we performed very well. We won in two games. Yesterday we did not perform at all and we lost in three games.
The first game was easy. We won it convincingly and also in the second game we initially had little trouble. We arrived at 20-18, we wasted two match points but in the extension we got two match points again. Also this time we didn’t manage to finish it off and we lost this game. In the third game we were soon facing an arrear and the whole game we didn’t even get close to winning. So over and out and no final!
Nevertheless little reason to grieve because there are 4 nice events coming up soon. To start with the European Championships for mixed teams next week in Moscow. Samantha and I have been selected to play the mixed doubles which we consider an honour. Playing for your country in a national team has always something special and I am really looking forward to this event. I really hope that our small team will be able to get a good result.
Soon after the Championships we will play the German Open Grand Prix which is hosted by my Club MĂĽlheim. Another great event is the All England. Samantha and I have decided to go there at our own expense. After our victories in the European circuit we like to see where we stand when meeting the best players of the world. To conclude this series of tournaments we will most probably go to Basel for the Swiss Open. In short, we have a nice period ahead of us which is full of new challenges!