Hey again, Well Norway was an interesting tournament for me. I went into the tournament with an ok feeling. My feeling wasn’t fantastic but it was not bad either. I had the feeling that once I started the tournament and got into it everything would be alright as I had been training quite well up to Norway. I won my first round match against Etu Heino who I lost to the last time we played. It was a tough match as I didn’t play close to my best and he is a difficult player to play against. I won in 2 sets and close in both which was good and that gave me some confidence.

 

Next up was Kasper Ipsen from Denmark. I have played Ipsen many times before. Most of the time I have been winning but again he is a difficult player to play. His style of play is defensive and if your not fully focused it can be difficult to beat him. I started of badly and made a lot of mistakes and lost the 1st set. It was 12 – 12 in the 2nd when I suddenly got in control and won the 2nd to 13/14. The 3rd set was a battle at the beginning but I got an early lead and kept it all the way to the end. Next day I would meet Yuhan Tan. We played a long and close match were I really fought had with myself to find my game but it was just not happening for me. I ended up losing in 3 sets 18 in the 3rd. I also got a black card after that match which in my eyes and some of the other players I spoke to was totally unfair and I was absolutely in shock at what happened. I felt like I had been cheated in the 1st set which caused me to lose the 1st set 22 20.. a line call on the far back line away from umpire landing 2 cm out and gets called in.. then I go to the umpire to speak to him and he first tells me it was in and he saw it, and after 1 minute of speaking together he then tells me he didn’t see it but he is not changing the call. I win the 2nd set 21 19 and I was losing 15 4 in the 3rd after playing absolutely terrible I fought back as hard as I could.. I was 20 18 down and I served a short serve which landed 3cm over the service line and Yuhan started to shout as if I had served out.. all of a sudden the umpire looks and Yuhan and then looks at me and says.. yeah – game 21 18. I then lost my head completely from being totally upset and shocked at what had just happened, after having it already in the 1st set and then again to lose the match and unfortunately I lost my head and said things to the umpire which I regret and regretted 5seconds later. But offcourse I cant change it and I just need to learn to control myself.

 

My problem is just that I absolutely hate losing and when I feel I have been cheated/treated unfairly its even harder for me to control myself. I hope 1 day I will to control that better, I have definitely learnt from Norwegian Open. Anyway the umpire then gave me a yellow card for what I said which was perfectly acceptable. I then left the court without shaking the umpires hand (which was childish) and went to the seats and sat down. All of a sudden I get told my a friend of mine that I have received a black card. PRETTY INSANE as I just got a yellow card for my bad behavior. I am not sure what will happen other than I need to stop behaving that way and it is something I have been working on for many years and I will continue to work on it. At the end of the day what I say I certainly do not mean and it is just in the heat of the moment because I have so much passion for badminton and so much will to win that I just hate losing. I offcourse went to the umpire after an said I was sorry and shock his hand. I also did the same with the referee of the tournament but in some ways it’s a bit different as I feel I have 100% been treated unfairly and it is maybe because I have had some discussions with this umpire in the past and I have a feeling he certainly does not like me. Anyway, I should never had behaved that way and regret it 100%.

 

Scottish Open – Here I played a guy from Germany first round and after having a really bad experience in Norway and some very very terrible days after (the worst days of 2011 for me came after Norway) I didn’t sleep properly for 4 days, my training wasn’t good, my motivation was down and I simply felt absolutely terrible. I was extremely nervous playing in the Scotland and really had a bad feeling inside. So I really worked hard with myself to try to focus on just playing my game and focusing on each match. At times I really lost my focus and thought about everything that was going on in the back round regarding the black card. I managed to win my 1st match in 2 sets but lost 2nd round to Rune Ulsing 21 18 in the 3rd. I was extremely surprised with how I played, as before I arrived I really didn’t expect anything at all.

 

Since Scotland I have been training well and working hard on my physical condition. I have 2 tournaments left in 2011 and hope to perform as best as I can in the last 2 tournaments. I will travel to Ireland on Wednesday and will play my 1st match on Friday at 11 o clock against number 3 seed Raj Ouseph from England. This will be a tough match but I am ready for it and will look forward to playing. I am also looking very much forward to seeing my family and some friends, which I have not seen in quite some time.

 

Once again I feel like I have let my fans and my family down and I will do my best to continue working on this issues and be better at it every day.

 

Thanks Scott