Great tennis summer of 2005 !!

Written By: Ferat Istrefi Date: 8/23/2005 It has been a really great summer, with a lot of sunshine, and a lot of tennis. In the end of June I played with the Swedish team in the U14 European Summer Cups for teams. Our group played in the Czech Republic in the qualifying round. We lost to Bulgaria in the first round, and finished with wins over Serbia&Montenegro and Greece. We ended 5th in the group, but we felt that we could have done a lot better against Bulgaria. Personally I feel that if I get more experience playing in international competitions I can beat anyone. There are very few ETJ events in Scandinavia so players from other parts of Europe have a big advantage as they play much more ETJ tournaments. After the Summer Cups I played a tournament in the Swedish tennis capital Båstad that was played the same week as the Swedish Open ATP tournament. I really enjoyed this week, both playing and watching the world's best tennis players. Watching the king of clay Rafael Nadal was really inspiring! Nadal is also good at Playstation and gave J-C Ferrero a hard nut to crack when they battled in the players lounge. Hopefully one day I will be the one lifting the cup at the Tennisstadion in Båstad. After Swedish Open ended I stayed in Båstad for one more week to play another tournament called Kalle Anka Cup, which is the biggest tournament in Sweden. This year I played with the 15 years old and qualified to the Masters event after I won the regional tournament earlier in June. Inspired by the pros, I did very well even though my opponents were one year older. I won four matches, lost one and finished 5th place. In the end of July I headed for Umag in Croatia, which is a town with excellent tennis courts. I enjoyed the time here, relaxing in the beach and working hard in the tennis courts to prepare for the Swedish National Championships in August. As a big bonus the ATP event Croatia Open was held, and it was a really well played tournament where Coria beat Moya in three sets in the final. After Umag I headed for Sweden again and was ready for the Swedish Championships. In singles I was 3rd seeded and had no problems reaching the quarter final after winning three matches without losing a set. The day the QF should be played there was rain, rain.... and more rain ! So the match was played indoors. What a pity as clay is my best surface. I lost the match in two very tough sets where I had big chances to win both of them, losing a lot of gameballs I shouldnt have missed! I certainly must work a lot on the mental toughness part. You got to have nerves of steel to succeed in tennis. In the doubles we reached the final which was a very good achievement, I have improved my game in doubles a lot the last year. Last week I played another tournament on clay, Gothenburg regional championships and I took the title after winning five matches without losing a set. Hope you enjoyed reading about a wonderful, shining tennis summer that hasn't finished yet ! See you soon again, Ferat Related Photos View Large View Large View Large View Large