Dear Friends,
It has been a few weeks since I've last written. I remember my last email was just after the Canadian Open. I was heading off to Tokyo the following week, to compete in the Japan Open. This tournament was one of the prestigious "superseries" events, a similar event to the grandslams in tennis. There is limited entry, with a draw of 32, and major points to be won, which means that all the top players are normally there. Ranked 32 in the world at the time, and on the cusp of the cut-off to get into the main draw of the tournament (there is normally 28 spots in the draw, plus an extra 4 for qualifiers), I was hoping for two people to pull out of the main event, which would mean that me, sitting as the second seed in the qualifying draw, would get into the main draw. Anyway, it worked out amazingly well that two people did in fact pull out, thus giving me a birth in the main tournament, and the guarantee of good ranking points even if I lost my first match (I guess the equivalent would be a first round loser at the Wimbledon tournament getting a measly paycheque of about 10,000$US! I WISH!).
To make this detailed story slightly shorter, I lost my first round to the fourth best Chinese player, Chen Yu, in two sets, 21-17, 21-19. I played quite well, as I have been the past couple of months, and I think I pushed him quite a bit. I spent the rest of my week trying to figure out which time zone I was in (which means I slept tons!) and trained hard and walked around the city of Tokyo when I wasn't training or sleeping. I had a grand time there and would definitely like to go back at some point, to do some more touristy things! It is the cleanest and safest city I have EVER been in, which for some people, maybe takes away from the "excitement" of travel, but for me, it was perfect!
Well, back to business. I have been in Ottawa for 12 days, but today I am enroute to Europe, for a 12 week tour of duty, so to speak. I will be competing in 9 tournaments in 12 weeks, something which I have not really tried before, but I am looking forward to. I can do this thanks to my second home of Zurich, Switzerland, and the kindness and patience of my girlfriend's family. Most of my tourneys will be in Europe, so only 1-2 hour flights are expected for the most part, which makes me much less tired, and exposes me to a few less timezones, which is always good for performance.
My first tournament will be the Bitburger Open. I'm flying into Frankfurt and
then taking a train to Saarbrucken, where the tournament will be held. The main
draw starts this Wednesday. You can check out the results at
www.tournamentsoftware.com
I have taken enough of your time, but will endeavor to send another email near the end of next week.
Take care to all of you! I will miss the Canadian fall!
ANDREW ROBERT DABEKA (c) 613.222.3302 www.AndrewDabeka.ca
Previous email: Sept 8, Sept 1, Aug 14, Jult 31 and July 10, 2007
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