Back in Luleå for a night
Tonight, Wednesday, I returned from my tour in the south playing on the national tennis tour.
Over all, I am very satisfied with my trip. Tennis-wise, my results were quite strong, and most importantly, my game got better along the way. It was also great to stay and play with some of my very good friends.
My first stop on the journey was Oskarshamn, a sleepy town of some 25 000 people along the eastern coast in the south of Sweden. Unfortunately, I got sick during my trip down there and had to withdraw from the singles tournament, a draw I think I would have had a good chance of winning. Although I wasn't feeling great at first, I decided to play doubles with my excessively talanted racket-wizard and club mate Robin.
Despite some difficulties in the final, we manged to win the doubles title after saving a match point.
Next stop after Oskarshamn was Västervik, the home town of the Swedish tennis legend and hall of famer Stefan Edberg. Väservik is only about 60 miles north of Oskarshamn along the coast, and also a small town altghough more lively than Oskarshamn.
In the doubles draw my new doubles partner Calle and myself made a heroic effort in the second round saving six match points to reach the semis. However, we lost the final despite winning the first set quite comfortably.
My first round in singles was a tough one, but I escaped with a win in straight sets against my good friend Alex who plays at ETSU. The quarter-final tourned out to be a surprisingly easy task and I manged to win a 6-0, 6-0, a feat far from easy at this level.
The semis against Thams, another good friend of mine, became an epic battle lasting for 3 hours and 20 minutes. I was lucky to hit the top of that net when Thams had a match point in the third set, which made the ball barely bouncing over the net and over his racket. I managed to win the match 7-5 in the third set and could move on to the final the same day.
Mikael, my buddy from the years in Uppsala during high-school, proved to be too tough of an opponent in the final. I lost in straight set, 3-6, 5-7, but I was surprisingly fresh in the body and I though my game worked quite well. If I have to lose, I prefer it happing to great guys such as Mikael.
After almost a week in Västervik, I went with most of the touring group of players to Norrköping, another 60 miles north. The tournament in Norrköping is one of the biggest national tournaments in Sweden with pretty good sum of prize money.
I didn't play any doubles on Norrköping, which considering I had only one day off from the streneous tournament in Västervik was a good thing.
I was seeded 6th and had a bye in the first round. I won both the round of 16 and quaterfinals in straight sets before loosing in the semis to good player with 2x 4-6. It was a good tournament for me. My only dissapointment was my lack of focus on some important point in the semis.
Tomorrow morning, the entire family including including my sisters fiancé are all going north to for a day or two to the Tornio river valley to visit family and enjoy world class cooking at Katkilakoski. Should be fun. I just hope the mosquitos won't be too agressive!
Over all, I am very satisfied with my trip. Tennis-wise, my results were quite strong, and most importantly, my game got better along the way. It was also great to stay and play with some of my very good friends.
My first stop on the journey was Oskarshamn, a sleepy town of some 25 000 people along the eastern coast in the south of Sweden. Unfortunately, I got sick during my trip down there and had to withdraw from the singles tournament, a draw I think I would have had a good chance of winning. Although I wasn't feeling great at first, I decided to play doubles with my excessively talanted racket-wizard and club mate Robin.
Despite some difficulties in the final, we manged to win the doubles title after saving a match point.
Next stop after Oskarshamn was Västervik, the home town of the Swedish tennis legend and hall of famer Stefan Edberg. Väservik is only about 60 miles north of Oskarshamn along the coast, and also a small town altghough more lively than Oskarshamn.
In the doubles draw my new doubles partner Calle and myself made a heroic effort in the second round saving six match points to reach the semis. However, we lost the final despite winning the first set quite comfortably.
My first round in singles was a tough one, but I escaped with a win in straight sets against my good friend Alex who plays at ETSU. The quarter-final tourned out to be a surprisingly easy task and I manged to win a 6-0, 6-0, a feat far from easy at this level.
The semis against Thams, another good friend of mine, became an epic battle lasting for 3 hours and 20 minutes. I was lucky to hit the top of that net when Thams had a match point in the third set, which made the ball barely bouncing over the net and over his racket. I managed to win the match 7-5 in the third set and could move on to the final the same day.
Mikael, my buddy from the years in Uppsala during high-school, proved to be too tough of an opponent in the final. I lost in straight set, 3-6, 5-7, but I was surprisingly fresh in the body and I though my game worked quite well. If I have to lose, I prefer it happing to great guys such as Mikael.
After almost a week in Västervik, I went with most of the touring group of players to Norrköping, another 60 miles north. The tournament in Norrköping is one of the biggest national tournaments in Sweden with pretty good sum of prize money.
I didn't play any doubles on Norrköping, which considering I had only one day off from the streneous tournament in Västervik was a good thing.
I was seeded 6th and had a bye in the first round. I won both the round of 16 and quaterfinals in straight sets before loosing in the semis to good player with 2x 4-6. It was a good tournament for me. My only dissapointment was my lack of focus on some important point in the semis.
Tomorrow morning, the entire family including including my sisters fiancé are all going north to for a day or two to the Tornio river valley to visit family and enjoy world class cooking at Katkilakoski. Should be fun. I just hope the mosquitos won't be too agressive!
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Postat av: Carlsson
Grattis till Sommartour framgångarna!
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