THE DUTCH TEAM BRINGS MAGIC ON COURT
Denying is impossible. When the Dutch tennis players team up, something magical happens. First it were the ladies that brought the Dutch Fed Cup team into the world group after defeating Croatia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Belarus, Japan, Slovakia and Australia. The Fed Cup team of captain Paul Haarhuis now belongs to the best eight countries worldwide. This weekend Jan Siemerink and his Davis Cup-team did a great job in the Austrian Kitzbühel as well. Both Haase and De Bakker won of the Austrian talent Thiem. In the doubles Haase-Rojer defeated Marach-Melzer in straight sets. To battle for a place in the world group again, the Dutch team will play Switzerland in September.
Lions on court
Thiemo de Bakker (ATP-137) showed once again what a talented player he is. On top of that – and this might be even more important, because we already know that De Bakker can play great tennis – he showed great mental resilience. After being 2 sets to 1 down, he fought his way back and won this exciting best-of-five of Dominic Thiem (ATP-26) with 6-3 4-6 6-7(5) 6-3 and 6-4. Successively Robin Haase (ATP-74) did not manage to defeat Andreas Haider-Maurer (ATP-61) in a match that due to the rain had to be continued on Saturday. Haase had to deal with pain in his knee, which did not stop him from giving it all on court and thereby playing quite a good match. However Haider-Maurer served very well, made few unforced errors and supported by the Austrian crowd brought the tie back to 1-1. Despite the fact that Haase lost his singles match, captain Jan Siemerink chose to let him play the doubles with the brand-new Wimbledon champion Jean-Julien Rojer later that day. In a good match the Dutch couple managed to win all three sets of Marach and Melzer. Leader of the team Haase praised Rojer’s energy and enthusiasm. Besides that Rojer is of course a good doubles specialists, which he proved this year once again by winning the ABM AMRO tournament in Rotterdam and the Wimbledon title with his Romanian double partner Horia Tecau. You could imagine that winning the Wimbledon doubles title the weekend before the Davis Cup (“a dream came true” following Rojer) could have caused the spirit of Rojer to decrease a little. However the opposite happened.
“What I’m doing this weekend, playing three best-of-five matches in one weekend is of course not good for my physical health. But these are the matches for which you work so hard!” – Robin Haase
Matches that make it all worth
In the past Haase already confessed that his parents had advised him to focus on a career as double specialist. This way Haase might be able to enjoy his tennis career a few years longer, because of the physical weakness of his knee. Though Haase likes to play the doubles with Rojer during the Davis Cup, he did not listen to his parents’ advice. “If my career will be a bit shorter because I focus on the singles, so be it. I just love to play those big singles matches!” After gaining the decisive point for the Netherlands by beating Thiem on Sunday, Haase again emphasizes the joy he feels when playing tennis. “What I’m doing this weekend, playing three best-of-five matches in one weekend is of course nog good for my physical health. But these are the matches for which you work so hard”, he tells us. Illustrating again his love for the sport and his fighting spirit. “Some guys on tour sometimes seem to forget why they actually play tennis”, states Haase. Thereby pointing to players who see tennis only as a manner to make a living and have somehow lost their true passion for the sport. Haase: “Especially those best-of-five matches in the Grand Slams and the Davis Cup are great to play. These are the moments I love most in my professional career.” You could say that playing best-of-five matches at Grand Slams might be more advantageous for a player’s personal career. However this does not stop the Dutch players from giving it all for themselves, the team and the crowd when playing the Davis Cup.
Examples for the youth
The spirit of the Dutch players during the Davis Cup is a big inspiration and example for people playing tennis in the Netherlands. With regard to that I (Arend Jan van Lint) like to rectify the negative impression that the newspaper ‘De Limburger’ gave of my opinion about top tennis players in the Netherlands. The journalist clearly wanted me to say that we currently miss some great tennis champions in the Netherlands to inspire Dutch people to play tennis. With regard to that I did confirm that indeed the popularity of a sport can be increased by great champions coming from your own country. In that light I mentioned the success of the Fed Cup-team and the Dutch doubles specialist Rojer. Next to that also the young Demi Schuurs already won two WTA doubles titles this year (Katowice and Bucharest). Especially when you look at the fact that only in the Netherlands already more than a million people play tennis (of which 600.000 KNLTB members) you can imagine that this number must by gigantic worldwide. If our best players, like Haase and De Bakker belong to the best 100 or 200 players worldwide, they are doing not so bad after all. And who knows what the future might bring for the tennis sport in the Netherlands. Especially given the new tennis program of the KNLTB ‘the Road to the Top’, that focuses on getting the absolute best out of our talented players.
Team players with great support
What captain Jan Siemerink noticed the most during this Davis Cup tie he mentions the great team spirit and the enthusiasm of the players on and off the court. They greatly support each other and have an eye for the team’s interests. They might not be best friends, but they are definitely a good team. Of course this team is also supported by some die hard tennis fans. All the players and the captain clearly show their appreciation for this. They take their time for the Dutch fans, making pictures, doing small talk and even giving T-shirts away as souvenirs. Also the Austrian crowd is praised. As Haase also speaks German and has twice won the ATP tournament in Kitzbühel, he is quite popular there as well. So also for these fans Haase takes his time. The pictures clearly show this nice atmosphere in Austria.
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