Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I haven't commented on this forum. I really had a lot of work to do. School and student job at the same time is really too much for me haha. I had a lot of up's and down's in Badminton recently too and again I had also my very well-konwn injuries so I wasn't in the best form to play.

In my two first tournaments, I've got the same results, always falling down in the quarter-finals in three games. For my third tournament, as I probably said before, my goal was to go further than the quarter-finals.

So what happened yesterday? We've reached the finals and won it in two straight games.

I have to admit that I've played with another partner this time and he is better than the previous one. I play with both of them in tournaments depending on where that tournament takes place and who is available.

I'll wait for the results to be published on the website of our federation to give you more details on each matches 🙂 But I can tell you that the quarter and the semi-finals were the most difficult matches to go through as we were in a “must win” situation after we've lost the first game quite narrowly.

With my first victory in unseeded male doubles, I'll only have one tournament left to win to pass C2, the next ranking.

Jonathan.

Thank You, Matthew.

Yop, I have exceeded a lot of my goals yesterday.

Between the two players of my team, I was the most quiet one. I managed to play a better Badminton than in other tournaments. That didn't mean I was perfect as I've lost a lot of points but there were a lot of improvements.

I guess that this time, my team was better in every aspect. My partner is a better tactician and has a good net play and I can generate more and more power for smashing and then, covering the rear-court.

I've discovered the “jump smash” for the first time haha. Well, it is of course not perfect but I guess I can use it for my game and I can tell that I have less difficulties for generating power with it even if it's not perfect.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for the results as I want to tell you all the excitings things that have happened to me haha.

I hope I will keep my fighting spirit for next time 🙂

Matthew, I wish you to find the tournaments as quick as possible. For me, there will be one more for this year. I'm waiting for 2011 for the others.

Oh yeah, this time, I haven't done the armchair exercises before playing as I was still feeling some pain in my arm and shoulder. All I was doing was using some spray plus a little massage and stretching to warm up my arm. It goes perfectly well.

Jonathan

Ok guys,

My last tournament of 2010 hasn't been a real success according to me.

I'm really disappointed with myself. Even if this tournament wouldn't have counted for my ranking (need four rounds to count), I really wanted to win it with my partner to show that I've made some progress with my game and that we're a good double team.

We've reached the final after two rounds which were very easy as we managed to win in two straight games. Our opponents weren't that bad but each time, we aimed the weakest player and it went perfectly well. Nothing more to say here.

For the final, it was a real nightmare even if it started like a sweet dream.

We've heard a lot about our opponents from our friends who played against them previously and I already knew it would be tough to win one single game during the match.

I was really anxious for that match. We've lost in three games. We managed to get the first one with a nice score (21-15). I was in heaven 'cause I didn't expect that. We were playing like our lives would depend on that game.

The nightmare became reality when the second game began. Our opponents changed their tactics as they were advised by one of our previous opponents of the tournaments. We couldn't adapt our game to face our new opponents strategy. We've lost the second and third games severely (21-12 / 21-11).

It's the second time we've been beaten like this. Winning the first game and then, letting the victory to escape from us.

To tell the truth, I guess I couldn't have asked for more as I didn't recover well from my previous tournament where I win in double. This we, I was really struggling to play a decent game and trying to smash when my shoulder was aching all the time. It's not an excuse for losing but well, I guess I've been too pretentious here and went too far with my little body.

I'm disppointed because victory wasn't beyond our reach and I've made so many mistakes that could have been avoided.

Now I'm going to rest and won't normally touch my racket during two months or more maybe. But I hope I'll be able to play normally after that period.

Jonathan