Stephan The Man

Prep Work In Greve,Denmark

Yesterday I decided to play in a Danish Domestic Grand Prix tournament. It was the first time since I have been in Denmark that I have played a Danish tournament. The purpose of me playing was to get some good tournament matches in before I fly off to Winnipeg,Canada for our National Championships.
In my first round I drew up against Theis Christiansen. I had played him twice last in my team matches and he had beaten me twice. However this time was a bit different. I had a strong start against him which was important since the last two times he always took a good lead. I was able to neutralize him time and time again which allowed me to win many cheap points. I took the first set with relative ease 21-14. In the second set I had a tougher time. He starting playing a bit steadier and was putting more pressure and took a 15-9 lead. I was able to turn the tide with changing up my serve, a few clever shots and some mistakes on his part. I evened the tide at around 18-18 and was able to finish the match with a forehand smash down the line and win 21-19.

In my second my I had to play Jens-Kristian Leth. He used to play full time and won many EBU tournaments a few years back and is quite a worthy opponent. He is VERY tall and can hit some very steep and nasty shots. The first game started a bit slow for me with him putting alot of prussure from the net to the back line. However I was able to adjust fairly quickly and put my base a little deeper in order to cut off his quick pushes. This allowed me to counter him more often and get the attack. It was no easy task but I was able to win the first set 21-18. In the second set it was more of the same, with the exception that there was a bit more net play from my part which again allowed me to keep the attack. The twist to this story was that at 20-15 for me, during the rally I went to hit a shot and slightly went over my ankle. I had a tough choice to make, stop the game or finish the match. I had my nationals to think about…..so I finished the match:) I ended up winning 21-17.
I pulled out of my quarter finals since I did not want to risk any further injury to my ankle since it would defeat the purpose of playing the tournament.

My next challenge will be next weekend with Lyngby against Taastrup Badminton Klub. Looking forward to it….as usual:)