2023 Forza Norwegian International Series

My experience at the Norway Series.

Norway was an exciting tournament. I had had some good time to train, was feeling fitter and faster than I have. I arrived in Norway the afternoon before I played and took a train to the city of the event where I went directly to the hall. Unfortunately they booked 8 people per court in half hour blocks. This meant I got very little time on the main courts.

Tournament day arrived and I got ready to play. Didn’t feel top notch but felt focused and relaxed. I got on court against the 9/16 seed from Denmark, Mads Juel Møller, feeling confident I could play well. The first set went by with a poor scoreline. I wasn’t aggressive enough — the rallies were ok, but I never put enough pressure into the match. Karl Kurt, a player from Estonia came on court at the change of ends and challenged me to be more aggressive and move up in the court a lot more due to the very fast and oddly tumbling Forza shuttles. The second set was much better. I was able to control the match a lot more, and the game was tied up at 17–17. I missed a crucial net kill and lost a lot of confidence mentally and lost the next point as well. The match ended 21–18. Overall felt I played a good match, especially the second set. Mads is a strong player and able to control the court well. I was happy to play aggressively and move well. However I felt I…