The “local hero of padel” Ids Hannema has qualified for the semi-finals and is finally at the top of the Dutch ranking. “My goal is to not have to scroll anymore”

Ids Hannema was once a great football talent. As a young player for FC Groningen, the striker was allowed to dream of a professional life. Hannema found herself at amateur club Achilles 1894 in Assen, scored in the big leagues and then opted for an adventure in the United States, but returned disillusioned. At Staphorst he tried to rediscover his love for football, but the lure of the padel court had become too strong.

In 2018 (or 2019, Hannema can’t even remember exactly) he held a padel racket in his hands for the first time in his hometown of Norg. ,,I immediately thought it was funny,” said Hannema nonchalantly. ,,But I was already planning to go to the United States to study and play football. It was in Ohio. It’s too cold to play padel there, so I only did it if I came back from time to time.

Spain, the promised land of padellers

In the United States, Hannema slowly lost interest in football. ,,I didn’t like the coaches and they didn’t like me. I lost the love of football and everything around it. In fact, I had already decided that I wanted to throw myself fully into padel.” At the end of his stay in the USA, Hannema therefore immediately left for Spain, the promised land of padellers. “I learned a lot there. I rowed like a headless chicken, but in Spain I calmed down.”

Hannema, 24, came into action last weekend at the busy Clean Energy P500 tournament. This was organized by Cream Crackers, the club across the road from FC Groningen’s training complex, the place where Hannema once thought his future lay. De Drent (number 29 in the Netherlands) had found a partner in Thijs Roper (number 16). On Saturday there was a surprising victory over the losing finalists of the last Dutch Championship, Youp de Kroon and Julian Prins.

Immersive combat

In the semi-finals, the Hannema / Roper pair met Sunday morning the solid multiple champion of the Netherlands Uriël Maarsen and the number four of the Netherlands Robin Sietsma. It was a convincing fight. Hannema/Roper were down 4-0 in the blink of an eye, but turned that deficit into a 5-4 lead.

The Hannema/Roper duo served for the set, got a set point on the golden point (in padel, a decisive point is played with two), but the point was lost, after which the set also went to the opponents with 7-5. In the second set, Hannema and Roper also played well, but their opponents were slightly better in the deciding moments. The second set was lost 6-1 and so the semi-final was the last station for Hannema and her partner. It was a small consolation that Maarsen/Sietsma finally won the tournament.

,,I’m very happy with our tournament, Hannema said happily shortly after the elimination. ,,We played fantastic pots. It was only our second tournament together. We’ll just have to see if we shouldn’t play together more often.”

No more scrolling

By reaching the semi-finals, Hannema climbs to 25th place in the Dutch padel ranking. “I’m very happy with that. Now when I look at the ranking on the internet, I am finally on the first tab, because they are ranked by 25 players. The goal is to be in the top 10 by the end of the year. That would mean I wouldn’t have to scroll to find my name anymore,” Hannema laughs.

To achieve this, Hannema will play a series of tournaments at home and abroad in the coming months. In the meantime, he gives lessons to be able to pay for the trips. De Drent has just returned from Sweden and intends to go to Germany, Albania, Belgium and Austria. In Italy and Spain, he will not show his face. “The level is very high there. Even the local players are very strong there. By participating in these tournaments, you are wasting money.”