WINNER Brazil Grand Prix :-)

Hey,

Sorry its a few days late but didn't have one second to write my feelings down after the final because of all the messages of support i received. I absolutely couldn't believe the amount of messages on my phone, Facebook, twitter, email i received.. it was overwhelming!!

Well what can i say.. i won the final in 5 sets against Dieter Domke. Dieter is a very good player so i knew this would be a tough challenge from the beginning. It started out a lot worse than i expected losing the 1st and 2nd set. I wasn't following my tactic 100%. The rallies i played where i followed the tactic i was winning but i couldn't seem to continue doing it point after point. So i lost the 1st and 2nd set and was starting to think it was going to be a very quick final if i didn't get my act together. I worked really hard between the points to keep reminding myself what my tactic was right and that if i could hold it for each rally i had a good chance to win. I also felt good on court so i had no reason not to go for it.

The 3rd set was better.. still struggling a bit with the tactic but slowly i could feel it was getting better and better. I got lucky at the end of the 3rd where we played a long rally and i played a net shot and Dieter came forward to tried to make a net kill, the shuttle hit the net as i was kind of going backwards i somehow hit the shuttle up and dieter had turned around and shouted as he didn't realise i had hit the shuttle.. and as he turned around he tried to hit it again and missed and that put me in front 10 - 6 instead of 9-7. I think this was a crucial point and it gave me more confidence and my game was gradually coming together very nicely. Towards the end of the match i felt very good and had total control of my tactic and i think Dieter found it hard towards the end to win points and he was more relying on me to make mistakes.

This was my 3rd international victory and my first Grand Prix title and it is something i am extremely happy about. I had a good tournament and learned a lot about my game which i will use to continue improving.

I mention tactic a lot in this blog and i have really realised this week that this part of my game has improved a lot over the last 2 years. I can still improve more on it but it is definitely going in the right direction and thats something i am very happy about.

I would like to really say a big thank you to everyone who sent me a message over the last few days. I don't think any of you will ever really understand how much it means to me and i really appreciate it. It makes these moments so much more enjoyable.

Thank you all again and i hope we will have more successful times like this in the future.

Scott

Into the final in Brazil

Hey,

A good win today against number 1 seed Henri Hurskainen. I played very well and had my tactics right from the beginning. Something that i have struggled with in the past was having a tactic and sticking to it all the way through but today i showed that i have improved in that area.

I won the first set 11-7 which was quite comfortable. The 2nd set i was leading 6-1 and had a bit of a bad patch but managed to get myself back and take the set 11-10.

The 3rd set was a bit the same with me leading and Henri catching up and again i closed out the set and the match at 11-10.

Really happy again to win today and looking forward to another challenge tomorrow where i will face 2nd seed Dieter Domke from Germany.

Thanks

Scott

RTE Sport update

Hey,

Some more media for Irish badminton.

Thanks RTE.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/other-sport/2014/0808/636053-irish-players-reach-brazil-semi-finals/

5 set win and into the semi final

Hey,

Today was a tough match against Petr who played very well. I won 11-8 8-11 11-10 6-11 11-6 in 57minutes.

The match was very up and down from me. I struggled to get any kind of length on my lifts and played too slow to the net which gave Petr an easy tactic of holding the net and getting the lift. I really found it hard to get the feeling on court and my movement wasn't great either. In saying that i still managed to get the win which i am of course very happy about.


Tomorrow i will play my first semi final in a grand prix tournament and i am up against the number 1 seed from Sweden Henri Hurskainen. This will be a tough match but i am ready for the challenge.

Thanks

Scott

Into the quarter final in Brazil

Hey,

Another good, tricky game this morning. I played Bjorn Seguin from USA. I won 11-10 11-9 11-8. First 2 sets where quite close until it was 8-8 then in both the 1st and 2nd i went 10-8 up. Great to close the first 2 sets in those situations. The 3rd i played better with more speed and more quality and was leading 9-4 but let him back in and suddenly it was 9-8. Again i closed out the set and the match which is a great feeling. This was a tougher match than yesterday and i am expecting another tough match again tomorrow against Petr Koukal who i recently played in US Open in the 3rd round.


Scott

2nd round win here in Brazil

Hey,

Good news from Brazil. I won this morning 11-4 11-5 11-5 against a Canadian guy. I saw him play while i was in Canada and he had a good tournament there so this could have been a bit tricky this morning but i was ready from 0-0 which is of course very important with this scoring system. I played very well and was in control for the 3 sets even after having a crazy morning getting to the hall.



The bus was due to pick me up this morning at 7 o clock and after waiting 45mins and still no sign i decided to get a taxi. The journey has been around 1 hour from our hotel to the hall so even at 745 this morning i had good time (i thought). I ended up arriving in the hall at 940 when my match was at 1030. Lucky i left early as the taxi driver got lost about 14 times.

Not to worry :-) i handled the situation well and was able to focus on my game.

Next up tomorrow is a guy from USA. Never played him before but i am sure it will be a good match.

Scott

Brazil Open GP

Hey,

Last day today before the tournament starts for me tomorrow. I have had some great weeks training after Canada and US Open and before traveling to Brazil. 

Brazil Open will be played with a new scoring system which is being tested out by BWF at the moment. Best of 5 sets to 11. At 10-10 it's just 1 point. Will be very interesting to play with this scoring system. 

You can see the matches for tomorrow by clicking this link

http://tournamentsoftware.com/sport/matches.aspx?id=49C4127A-741E-479D-9F68-F3F359D263C2&d=20140806

Scott