FIP Silver Utrecht: A Proper Stadium Court Battle!

Off the back of our last tournament at Surbiton, where Sam and I lost in the final to GB1, Christian Medina, Murphy and his partner. We're now heading over to the Netherlands to train indoors with the Dutch team alongside some of the best players in the country. We're using this training block to prepare for an FIP event straight after, which is a completely different level. There are players in this tournament ranked inside the top 30 in the world. Probably one of the strongest events that I've ever played. Sam and I are back partnering again. We're feeling really good, but I know I'm going to be tested to my absolute limit this week. Week, the big question is how I stack up against some of the best players in the world. Coming over to the Netherlands to train with the Dutch national team was great because it allowed us to play with strong players and strong teams. And in this match we played against Julian and Youth, who actually we played against in Whetstone some weeks back. And I have some good memories of that and also some not so good memories. The good memories is that we had a good match against them or a good practice match against them in Whetstone, so it was a great chance for us to prepare for that tournament. The not so good memories of that match was I rolled my ankle during it and struggled to play to my max in Whetstone. So the goal of this session was to play some good points, but also make sure I didn't come off with any injuries. The first thing we had to do here was to get used to the court. The court was so fast. I mean, when that ball was up in the air and there was an overhead to be hit, you would just hit it because the chances are if you got a good contact on it, you could win the point. Which also meant we had to play a lot more chiquitas, choose the right time to lob, because if we lobbed and it wasn't quite right, then our opponents would just put the smash away. So it was a really good training to prepare for this tournament because these aren't the sort of conditions that we're used to playing in the uk. I don't think I've played at many places that were this quick, so it was a really good thing to come and train a few days before the tournament starts, and particularly against Jup and Julian, who are playing really good paddle at the moment. These conditions are actually pretty perfect for Sam and I because they were super fast. We like to be aggressive at net, we like to use our volleys both of us have got a strong smash. So we actually really enjoyed playing in these conditions and playing against Julian Ute, we felt comfortable we were ready for this tournament coming up. Having had a good run at Surbiton quite recently and then also the FIP in Italy. We've actually played quite regularly now and played quite a few tournaments. And it's good that once you play a few tournaments with a partner, you start to read their movements a little bit, you start to understand their game. And I think for both of us, we're starting to understand how each other play, how we can use our strengths together. And that experience of getting those matches in together has definitely helped going into this tournament.

Hey, guys, Sam Jones here. Now we're in the Netherlands. We've got a match tomorrow in Centrecore, outside in the Copper, which will be really fun to take part in. Playing against a Dutch pair, the pair number four or five, I think Bram and Antico. So that'll be fun. Looking forward to it.

So come to the match day and we found out we were actually playing on the centre court in the middle of Utrecht. It's an outdoor court in a stadium, which was incredible. I had no idea this was actually here. So we've done all the training indoors. So it was quite a shock to actually realize, okay, we're now playing on a slow outdoor court. So I thought the one thing I would do, give Sandy a ring, see what he thought about this match today, give us any tactical tips. I thought it was a good thing just before we played to to check in with him and see what he had to say. After a bit of pre match tactics and strategy, we were ready to get started and we were ready to play our opponents. Bram and Tygo, solid Dutch pair. We knew this was going to be a tough battle starting off this match. Probably the first thing that we needed to get used to was just being in these conditions. I've never played on a court like this where the viewing gallery is so much on top of the court. So in a way, these first few games I was just trying to get used to playing in those conditions and our opponents were playing super high lobs and it was really windy. So we'd gone from playing indoors, very fast conditions to a very slow outdoor court where our opponents were playing a lot of high lobs and it meant that it was actually quite difficult to finish with a smash hit the overhead because the ball was moving so much in the air. So it was actually getting used to that took us quite a bit of time. And because it Took us so long to get used to the conditions here. The first set, we didn't capitalize. We went behind on that set mainly because we were struggling to work out how to finish these points. Every time I tried to smash out, they either ran out or I couldn't quite bring it back to my side, and we ended up losing the point as a result. So it did take us a bit of time in that first set, and the Dutch pair got ahead as a result of it. Going into the second set, we knew we needed to regroup, we needed to sit down, decide, okay, how are we going to actually change what we're doing? Because the way we were playing currently, we were just getting beaten. We found a difference. And I think Sam and I play such a specific type of game. We like to play fast, we like to use our volleys, be aggressive, and we've always really played in quite fast conditions. So coming onto this court where our opponents were playing super high lobs, it was just a different tactic and a different change of mindset for us because we're so used to playing one way. We spend the week training a certain. A certain way and a certain tactic of how we're playing. And now we have to adapt. So we definitely, in the second set, became more competitive. We started to get the right tactic, but it was difficult. Our opponents had the momentum, they were confident, they had the home crowd behind them, so we struggled to get enough momentum to keep going in a second, and I played well in the second set. I think we got used to the slower conditions. We were taking our time a bit more, playing a few more lobs. When they played the high lob, we would play a bandeka back and just hold our net position, trying to use our volleys to be aggressive. So we definitely adapted our game, and I think we're proud of the way that we competed in the second, and we took the Dutch guys to the wire in the second set. I think we just presumed that we would play the same way that we've been training this week, but we just couldn't do that on this court. And I think a big learning for me from this match was to actually realize that when I go into these sorts of matches, particularly on an outdoor court when it's windy, when it's slow, you really have to change your game. And that was definitely a learning point for me, was understanding that depending on what match you go into, what the conditions can be, you really have to change your game.

Always had a way to make it work and find another route Always had a way to make it work and find another route. Always had a way to make it work and find another.

And there's one thing that throughout the match I just really, really enjoyed, no matter whether we were winning or losing, was the atmosphere. I mean, you can see, see on here that we got the grand stand crowd, which was pretty much full, and then all of the viewing gallery around it was pretty full. I think the organizers said they had over a thousand people watching here, and for it to be in the center of Utrecht was just such a cool experience. So I definitely had to kind of pinch myself quite a few times during this match. Regardless of whether we were winning or losing to actually playing in. In such a cool venue, it was. It was awesome and definitely a match that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. That second set, we took them to a tie break. It got tight. I thought we had it. I thought we were able to. We were going to be able to take that second set in a tie break and force them into a third. At that point, I think if we made it to a third set, I do think we would have been able to carry that momentum through, but it was tough. They played super well in that tie break, to be fair to them, the crowd got behind them and it was a difficult one. And in the end, losing the point on a net cord like that is always unfortunate, but Sam and I battled hard. It was definitely a match to remember, even if the score line didn't go away.

Always had a way to make it work and find another route. Always had a way to make it work and find another route.