WALK OF FAME OR SHAME.

So, this weekend I played the third SPT of the year at Every Padel Arena. It was definitely a treat to play at this monster of an arena which had everything needed for running a smooth tournament - tons of space, friendly staff, perfect court layout, café, hotel in the same complex, shop, etc. and to top it off it is only a 10-minute drive from my house. So, I had a pretty good feeling going into this competition since it was on home turf, I was out for some revenge after the last tournament with Studio Padel and I was confident Emmie and I had more on our plate to offer.

Competition was so tight on Sunday that games needed to be counted in several different ways and unfortunately, we fell short of the top four by a hair or one could say, by one last minute decision. If you didn’t hear, there were basically two ways of deciding which of the teams would be up to fight for first place or third place.

At first we were informed that it would be between Emmie/me or Ajla/Matilda which means we would get to play the final since we beat Ajla/Matilda in the group matches. But just 15 minutes later, we were called into a private meeting and were told a new decision was made to use another calculation which put us at third place in the group. And just like that, Emmie and I went from being the ones to proudly walk onto the court for first or second place to being the ones to do the walk of shame out of the arena. That is what you call anti-climax.

In other words, my expectations and hopes for a great tournament got shot down in a cruel and bizarre way. The players involved were all seriously disappointed maybe not so much with the decision made but with how the decision was made and presented. But in the end, despite feelings of defeat and frustration, I can say that competition is just getting tougher and tougher, and when we are not in focus for every set, every game, every point, every shot and every foot step, that’s when we just might find ourselves in these fine-line situations…