April Blog
There’s a saying that goes “Every ending has a new beginning”. And that happened to be true for me as well recently. Specifically on the 1st of April. However, it wasn’t really a new beginning. More of an official one. After holding the 25k doubles trophy the previous week with my friend Tim, I officially started my coaching adventure with Leandro (of whom you will hear much more about in the future). I had already been coaching him for a few months, but since I was still playing competitively myself, I wasn’t able to commit to him completely - and full commitment is needed to make a journey worthwhile.
To give you some background information, I’ve known Leandro from a very young age since we were training buddies at the national federation. Although we weren’t really close friends, our paths still crossed many times throughout our young careers. It was in the end of 2022, when I offered him some company at a few tournaments in 2023 so he wouldn’t have to be alone on the road, which I knew the struggles of all too well - boy it can be tough. He said yes and we soon realized that there was a good energy around. In 2024, the initial plan was 10 weeks but after some good training and tournaments weeks, we realized there is a lot of work to do within a working environment we both enjoyed. I couldn’t really walk away from that opportunity and so far I haven’t regretted it for one second. That is why, from the 1st April, I “officially” became his coach and put my international competitive career aside for now.
So after some practice days in Switzerland, we headed off to Madrid, to his first clay court Challenger event of the season. The whole week was a blast (expect for the “Grandslam Yatzy”, which I’ll come back to later). Madrid welcomed us with early summer weather, finally gifting us some vitamin D. We spent at least half of each day on the site and if we weren’t, you could catch me playing basketball with Thiemo (another coach and friend - and a fantastic baller) or studying. Along the week, Leandro had some great matches and tough battles. Preparing him everyday the right way slightly different, for a new challenge that stood in front of him, was a real challenge. A highlight was the discovery of “Caleido Madrid”. It’s a beautiful new urban area of Madrid with many cozy restaurants and shops. Since it was nearby our hotel, we went there for dinner each evening. It was good to relax and unwind together with “Madrilenõs”. I think the balance of getting your mind off from tennis after spending the whole day around courts is really important. And the food there was really delicious too. I can only recommend the place to everyone visiting Madrid. After falling short in the final (which didn’t change our perspective of having had a successful week) the only thing that was left to do for us was our “Grandslam Yatzy”. On the last evening of every tournament week, we play a huge round of the dice game called “Yatzy” with ridiculous bets. Throughout the week I had been in a good form so I felt confident of winning the big one too. But Leandro’s commitment to the game took me by surprise. With wristbands and electrolytes he threw his dice to victory which lead to, me carrying all his luggage from door to door (yes, also through the airport). And that was the easiest part of the bets, but I won’t go into more detail; my wounds haven’t healed yet.
After spending more than a week in Madrid, we found ourselves again in this city two weeks later. This time for the ATP Masters 1000 event. Little did we know it was going to be a weekend trip with more time spent in the hotel rooms, than on the court. We spent the Sunday practicing on the huge site of the “Mutua Madrid”. However, as unexpected things can occur, I found myself reading Leandro’s message on my phone at 6:30am the next morning (Match day) “I’m sick, I spent the night on the toilette.” That’s why, instead of running around the tennis courts that day, I ran around grocery stores, trying to find some salts and water for him. Only to fall sick too a couple hours later. Amazing. The worst part was, I could watch and feel myself getting sick from hour to hour. It must have been the worst 48h for a long time. But hey, Leandro and I kept in contact via FaceTime. Both dragging ourselves from bed to bathroom, only one floor apart. At last we had enough energy again to meet in person to plan and take on our journey home. Of course, it’s not something we wished for, but it was not the first and won’t be the last time we’ll have to withdraw from a tournament due to illness. And looking back to that weekend, even the “bad memories” are ones we will laugh about years later.
With us being back to eating normally and regaining energy, the stomach flu slowly came to an end, as did the month of April. And actually with that, my first blog entry. Next month, a big bang awaits. What it is and how it will go, we will only know in 4 weeks. When I’m sitting again in front of my laptop. Writing between Lines.
