Amsterdam June 2011 (Masters)

The Amsterdam tournament is a Masters tournament in 2011.
In D-Singles there are 6 seeds. The nr 6 seed has 18 ranking points, and I have 16.
However, in D-Mixed Doubles, Godelinde & myself are the nr 2 seeds. No pressure there...

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/seeds.aspx?id=9555A2AB-2CBF-466B-82C4-D96509D8DEC9


My brother noticed that my name and this blog got a mention on the Facebook page of the Pinkster Tournament! Have a look, scroll down until you see my name and the link to my blog:

http://www.facebook.com/PinksterTournament

Thanks guys! :-)

Upon arrival at the beautiful tennis venue that Amstelpark is, you could see the rainbow flags advertising this tournament amongst the regular venue flags: great!

For my first round D-Singles match, against local Dutch guy Paul Dautzenberg, I waited for over an hour, but he never showed up...... Such a shame, because that was going to be my only match on the first day Friday, so I could have visited my family, who live a 2 and a half hour train ride away........
Tournament organiser Andre then officially told me I had a walk-over.
However, later in the results and draws I had been given a bye, and the name of Paul Dautzenberg had just vanished off the D-singles draw! Strangely enough, I only heard through the grapevine that Paul never signed up for the singles and that it had been a mistake by the organisers.
Needless to say, I felt VERY annoyed, whoever's fault it was.

On the Saturday I played my 2nd Round D-Singles match, against David Caria. It was a very long match, 2 and a half hours, and was even stopped because of rain. We did continue playing in the rain, and even thunderstorm later.

In the end, I was the unlucky one to lose: 3-6, 6-4, 4-6 but David did play really well.

On that same Saturday Godelinde & I started our first round (which was already the QF) D-Mixed Doubles match at 7.30PM against compatriots Bonny & Evert, and it was going to be a loooooong match.

If you thought my singles match against David was a marathon match, that was nothing compared to this match, as it lasted for 3 and a half hours!
We won, and the final score was 7-6 (12-10 in the tie-break after 1-5 down in the tie-break!), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5 in the tie-break). In the 3rd and final set, we were 5-1 up, we even had a matchpoint. Bonny & evert came back to 5-5, and then we made it 6-5.




Because I did lose my first Singles match, I was entered in the Consolation draw.
My first match, QF, was against Owen from Dublin. The match was played indoors and I won 8-1.
I was surprised how well and patiently I played. I guess I prefer the indoor surface...

Our Semi-Final Mixed Doubles match was against Dominique & Vasso from Belgium.
My brother arrived just in time to watch this match, and he-and all other spectators- got value for money, as this match lasted for 3 hours.

Here are a few photos and videos my brother Wilbert made of the match. Can you see my little Dutch flag? It served as a kind of lucky charm.

After 3 hours we just lost: 1-6, 6-3, 5-7. Godelinde & I played well, but Vasso & Dominique were a little better, but it was a great match.

Of course these tournaments are not just about competition, but about meeting new friends and socialising. Here I am with (from left to right) Noom from Thailand, and Rob & Waz from Australia.

At the players' party in club "Home", Alan from London took this photo of me, Firman and Godelinde: the 3 good friends re-united.




After a bit of partying, I had to play my Semi-Final in the Consolation round at 9AM on the Monday.
My opponent was Wai from the USA, who played the Amsterdam tournament with the support of his boyfriend.
The match was played indoors and I won 8-1.

Right after I played this Semi-Final, I had to play the Consolation FINAL, outdoors, against Tim from The Netherlands.

You can hear my fans cheering: Thanks Firman, Waz & Rob!

One of my infamous lobs......

Well, what a tough match it was, as Tim had a huge forehand. With the support from Firman, Waz & Rob, I won 8-3! I think I played quite well actually: hardly any mistake and a few beautiful winning shots.

The well deserved award at the prize ceremony: Winner of D-Singles Consolation:

Wow, what a great tournament it was, tenniswise as well as socialwise.

Here are the results for D-Singles and D-Mixed Doubles:

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=9555A2AB-2CBF-466B-82C4-D96509D8DEC9&draw=24

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draw.aspx?id=9555A2AB-2CBF-466B-82C4-D96509D8DEC9&draw=39


And here is the link to my matches and stats: if you look at the number of games played, won and lost, you can see I played 64 games in only 2 doubles matches.
The total time I have been on court this tournament was close to 12 hours....

http://glta.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/player.aspx?id=9555A2AB-2CBF-466B-82C4-D96509D8DEC9&player=114

Last but not least, many thanks to Firman, Robert, Warwick, Noom, and of course my brother Wilbert for all your support.
Godelinde, you get a special mention for being such a wonderful and lovely doubles partner, and friend!