Dutch tennis players refuel at Zandvoort and Go Ahead Eagles: ‘I was tired of tennis’

“Am I drafted now? Matwé Middelkoop asks captain Paul Haarhuis, as he has won the last point of training. For the record: it was a singles match and it is therefore a joke of the doubles player, who is sure that he will pass the form in his specialty. But he characterizes the mood during the open training of the Davis Cup team at the national tennis center in Amstelveen. They work hard and laugh a lot, in fact the usual recipe when Dutch tennis players get together for a national match.

In Glasgow, the team will play the “final” next week, which is a semi-final. In a group with Kazakhstan, Great Britain and the United States, the two best countries qualify for the real last week of November. Not so long ago it seemed too ambitious for the Netherlands, but a lot has happened since this time last year.

Two single players entered the top 50 thanks to strong performances, Botic van de Zandschulp and Tallon groenpoor. Tim van Rijthoven won the grass tournament in Rosmalen, then fell behind at Wimbledon and is close to the top 100. And in doubles, Haarhuis had the “luxury” of being able to choose between three best players in the world, Jean-Julien Rojer losing against Middelkoop and Wesley Koolhof.

Still, a number of players returned early and in minors from New York, where the US Open is still underway. Van de Zandschulp, who defended a place in last year’s quarter-finals, was out of form and lost in the second round. The Greek track played “its worst game ever” and went down immediately. Van Rijthoven miraculously escaped in the first round, played well in the second round against eventual semi-finalist Casper Ruud, but was disappointed to miss chances to beat the Norwegian. And Middelkoop didn’t get more than one match in doubles and mixed doubles.

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The rackets therefore remained in the bag for a while, the first days back in the Netherlands. “I was tired of tennis,” says Van de Zandschulp, who spent more than five weeks in the United States. “Actually, for the first time in this way. I played too much this year, I know that now. If I start training to train, or if I play a tournament that I really don’t want to play at all, you already know it’s not going to go well. Tennis is also my job, sometimes not everyone wants it, but I have to be fresh physically and in my head and I was no longer.”

After about five or six days without tennis, he was delighted to be back on the court on Wednesday. “Getting rid of tennis for a while worked. I went to Go Ahead Eagles-Feyenoord on Saturday.

The Greek track and Van Rijthoven visited Formula 1 in Zandvoort. “It gave me energy,” says Van Rijthoven, a motorsport enthusiast for a year and a half. “Very cool to see what passion Max Verstappen, the greatest sportsman in the Netherlands, is unleashing.” De Brabander called himself the “third man” of the Davis Cup team. “I’ll come cheer and stay there when I’m needed.” While he made the best impression in New York, with Gijs Brouwer. “But in terms of the rankings, it’s a fact that I shouldn’t be drafted. If that happens, of course, you won’t hear me complaining.”

Federer

Van Rijthoven only played a so-called “dead rubber” in the Davis Cup in 2015 and 2016, games that no longer mattered to winning the game. “But that was not how I felt then. I remember Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka were in the stands against Switzerland. It really made a strong impression. It’s special to be back with the team now.”

Captain Haarhuis hopes his players will make it as difficult as possible for him in the coming days, in terms of line-ups. ” We are in shape. It will be difficult, but we have a chance against all the teams.