South Australian Open 2013

 Just 90 minutes away from the grand Barossa valley wine districts, is Adelaide, more specifically, in our case, Adelaide north, where the tournament is being played.

This is the last tournament in my Australian tour this year,that so far has been successful squashwise, but I have missed out on the points.

Let's see how I made it in my toughest draw so far.

In my first round match I faced Jean Pierre Brits from South Africa. My trusted roomie in Malaysia and last week in Barossa valley. A great personality and a strong and fair player. he  is fitter than most, the worlds most annoying retriever and possess good racketskills and a boast of Borja Golan. He chopped me in Malaysia a few months ago 3-0. I was veryvery hungry for revenge.

I have had good success with tactics so far on the tour, and my gameplan was ready. However, over the last days, I have not been hitting the ball well, and moving too great for some reason. My will to win had to overcome this somehow

In the first game I put together the rallies the way I wanted to, although, since i did not hit the ball well, it was not of the accuracy level I wanted. I still stuck to the game plan, made no errors and managed to clinch more points than my opponent on concistency. 11-5 for me

Second game started off badly as my shots did not penetrate and I was stuck in the back for most of the game not feeling the good flow in my hitting. 4-11 loss

At 1-1 in games, I really tried to stay focus on placing the ball, not on hitting it perfectly. Basically the same story as the first as I took it 11-5

And as the second game the 4th took the same line of events as the second game. I lost it 2-11 as everything was presented on a silver platter for my opponent to put away in the nick... and he did.

In the fifth game I noticed I needed to relax my wrist a bit more. This made wonder for my length and general hitting, tightening up my game and finding those corners again. I still struggling with a slippery floor and on 2 important points I completely lose my footing, faceplanting, and losing important points. on 2 other points I get nervy in the front, stroking myself, losing another 2 unnecessary points. In a game that ends 9-11, those points hurt you baaaaadly.

So again...so close, but still cant pull through.

That has been the story of this tour. Players that chopped me left and right 2 months ago are really struggling to beat me now. My squash has taken leaps which has motivated me strongly to keep pushing. However, the results are what counts on paper, and there we have no change. So should I be happy or not? I am very happy, as I have overcome barriers in my own head, opening up the world of squash even further than before. I know the results will come and that I have earned a respect among the other players I have not had before.

I must still draw a line between my thoughts now and what I felt 4 years ago, when I was happy with being no2 in Norway for a long time. At some point I have to get over that I am happy with my performance even though I lose. At some point I have to step up and put my foot down. Telling myself only a win is good enough.

On this tour I have shown that I am in it to compete, I have performed well under great mental, tactical and enduring challenges. I have competed under difficult circumstances and bad days. I have dealt with unfair players, my own head, top players and unexperienced referees. I have proven a lot to myself, as this tour has so far been the most valuable  trip I have ever made. What I have learned here will be of great use in my future squash career.

Now it is back to the wifey in Holland for a few days, before a well deserved holiday in the U S and A!!!! whoooopiee!!!

Barossa Valley Toyota Open 2013

05.05.2013, 1.10pm

After driving through endless vineyards yesterday evening, we finally arrive at our Motor Lodge in Tanunda, a small town in the middle of one of Australias biggest wine districts. With the charm and qualities of a small town, I feel right at home (:P) Hoping for less exploding taxis than in Kalgoorlie (my fb friends knows about my near death experience)

The qualification draw starts tomorrow, and I will be playing Tom de Mulder of Belgium in the main draw Friday. We used to train a bit together in Amsterdam a while ago, and I know him quite well. A quality attacking player, that will set up a quality challenge for me first round.

07.05.2013, 21.23 pm

It was 6 lets on 0-0. That set the standards for the rest of the match that lasted 60 minutes. I did enough running maybe worth 1 game. The referee did his best, but did not, unfortunatelly, understand some of the more complicated concepts of the professional game. I did the best I could and still played well when there was balls to play, but sadly there were not many. I felt in control the entire match, and winning points by putting together good rallies. my length could be better in the beginning, but that resolved quickly. My opponent did not score many points, but was awarded a lot of points from the referee, as I was given no lets as my line to the ball was prevented time and time again.

I saw from the beginning what sort of match this turned out to be, so I kept my calm as best possible, as I saw the referee did not catch up on what was going on. I was amazed how close the games were still, and I even got a game. It only shows how well I played really, and the fact that I was able to keep my cool throughout the match is a very positive thing I need to bring with me.

I lost in 4, but very happy with my mental strength and squash performance. In 10 years, a match has been given away like this against me, so hopefully it will not happen again in a while. A little bitter to miss out on good ranking points, but in the end the squsah is what matters.

In my next tournament, I will play JP Brits of South Africa, who is a good and fair player. I am really looking forward to playing some good matches in my last tournament of the Aussie tour, that so far has been very successful.