[Nidhogg]

I thought we could translate and discuss his thoughts and reflections which he shares in his blog here. It's in Swedish.

The latest entry after his match against Hewitt:

7-6 (7) 6-3

I got my revenge on Lleyton Hewitt, at last, after five years of waiting.

It is 0145 A.M. and I still haven't showered. Pressconference, food, massage and three hours worth of phone interviews home to Sweden came first. I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep anyway as I always find it hard to settle down after a night session match.

I was able to have the match turn out just as I wanted it to, having played through it in my head yesterday evening. I set out to call the shots and not give Hewitt any rhythm from the start to make him uncomfortable, and I think I did just that. It wasn't until late in the second set that he finally was able to have a say on proceedings and dictate any rallies. Below are the openings and situations I had in the match:

First set: 4-4 and up 30-15 on Hewitt's serve. 5-5 up 30-0 on his serve. Four setpoints in the tiebreak as the first three went begging after unlucky netcords.

Second set: Up 3-0 and 30-0 on his serve. 4-1 30-0 on his serve. Then I had to save nine breakpoints in my last two service games, as Hewitt prior to that hadn't been close to breaking me, but I managed to come up with winners time and time again.

Almost time for bed in order to get ready for the doubles action tomorrow, again I get night session. After that follows play against either Gasquet or Crivoi in the singles.

The body feels good, which it's been doing for quite some time now, but I'll probably feel my legs and ass tomorrow...

Thanks goes to Grizzly for a good effort as coach and the laughs you had in the stands during the game as I hit the one big winner after the other.

And thank you, everyone who has sent me mail and SMS after the match. Very much appreciated.

And a short mention to his tennis club back home in Södertälje, as he hope that all goes well in practice and that he longs to get back in time for next week.

Pim-Pim

30 Sep 09

[Nidhogg]

Just don't count on me to keep this going forever, at least not as thorough as this time. It takes a bit of effort, but on an occasion like this it can be worth it.

[Sommarsverige]

Originally Posted by Nidhogg

Just don't count on me to keep this going forever, at least not as thorough as this time. It takes a bit of effort, but on an occasion like this it can be worth it.

I can join you in the translation from time to time, but I am also quite busy at the moment...

Thanks for doing the first part

[swedes_rule]

thank you soooo much for the translation!!!

[Dini]

I'm also up for translating his entries whenever needed.

Great stuff, Josef.

[Nidhogg]

Playing in SO for the twelfth time

I will play in Stockholm Open for the twelfth time in a few days. I remember my first match against David Wheaton in 1997, he beat me 6/4 7/6(0) as I made 21 aces. Other than that there's a whole bunch of memories, like the win against Nadal, the ace on second serve as I was matchpoint down against Vliegen, final round of qualifying against Kempes which I won 6/7 7/6 7/6, playing doubles with Hewitt who at the time was world number one, the quarterfinal against Ryderstedt in which I was up a set but had to retire due to illness and a win would have given me a spot at the Masters, the comeback against Mahut etc.

I have sponsors and media business to attend to for two weeks now, prior to and during SO. So far this year I have only spent 5-6 hours in total on such things, but it will be a different story soon. It's been a busy week as I've stepped up my practice routine at the beginning of this week, but I will tone it down come friday and onward. I will also check in on a hotel in Stockholm so I won't have to drive back and forth from Södertälje all the time. The schedule is tightly packed also thanks to the fact that me and my pregnant fiancé just bought a house close to Södertälje, since that also takes up it's fair bit of time with plenty of issues, for example selling the old apartment.

My form feels good and I will take the court in every match with a belief to win. I'm also in a great mood as Johanna and I look forward to the little one coming out soon. She is feeling very well which makes everything a whole lot easier.

I really look forward to SO as I this year, again, feel that noone will be safe when playing against me.

I'm also convinced that I after this week won't be the last Swede to have been a top ten player. Even if Robin supposedly won't make it all the way, I highly doubt Gilles Simon will defend his spot in the final from last year, which would mean that Robin reaches a pinnacle which not just anyone can do. Congratulations!

I'll see you at the Kungliga next as the SSK lot (fans of a Södertälje hockey team ) will attempt to get the place going.

Pim-Pim

14 Oct 09

[swedes_rule]

awwwww this is a great blog great to hear joanna is feeling well with the baby!!
thank you sooooo much for the translation

[Nidhogg]

The day ended with a ride in an ambulance...

...en route to the emergency ward at Karolinska sjukhuset. I'll run you the story from the beginning in a cut version where I exclude certain details since I have young readers here.

I lost a very close match in the quarterfinal where I feel that I couldn't have done a whole lot different on my own part as my opponent served really well and did everything he could to hang on in the first set. Naturally I would have preferred to make the odd winner more throghout the match but all in all I feel content with my effort. A slightly sloppy mistake in the tiebreak led to the only minibreak, and so the set went begging. He got an early break in the second set and unfortunately I couldn't take my chances during the last two games and with that my tale in If Stockholm Open came to an end this time.

After that followed the press conference, before I, Grizzly (coach) and Oliver (Hildebrandt) went out to the practice courts for an hour. It was a really good session, and when we were done Grizzly was left exhausted as he hadn't followed the strictest of diets this last week.

Right after practice I gave my thanks to the people who has managed the tournament, and then we drove back to the hotel. I went off to order some take-away food for myself, Johanna and Grizzly to eat, 200 meters away from the hotel. On my way back I call Grizzly to ask if he wants me to come down with his food or if he wants to come up to us as we watch Idol. He says he's coming up to us.

As I try to explain what room we are in and where it's at Grizzly tells me he feels really dizzy. It took him a while to understand what I just told him over the phone, but he answered quickly enough for me not to see any reason to worry. Two minutes later Grizzly steps into the room without saying hi (we'd left the door slightly open). Johanna gives him a coke.

This is where everything happens very quickly, and both my own and Johanna's memory of the following minutes are rather blurry. Grizzly leans towards the wall before he gets down on his knees hanging over the bed, guzzles down a zip of coke, and then he collapses like a deck of cards against the floor. He's cramping in his entire body, can hardly breathe, bites down real hard and his tongue starts to bleed. It look's like he's vomiting blood. I just barely eased the fall, but I couldn't avoid him twisting his ankle.

Johanna, who has went to medical school for three years knows a whole lot more than I on how to handle these sort of situations, but she didn't really know what to do either. We dial 112 (the swedish emergency number) before Johanna tells me to run down and meet up with the ambulance. Johanna puts Grizzly in a recovery position and manages to "break" up his jaw so she can put two fingertips into his mouth and avoid him choking if he throws up. It sounds like he's about to.

Grizzly keeps on cramping and bites down for all he's worth for around 3-4 minutes before he regains calm. During this time I run down to the lobby to notify the hotel about the situation, and then back up to open the door. These brief minutes are the worst minutes of my life. To see my best friend fighting for his life and knowing that my pregnant girlfriend is getting her fingers bitten off as she tries to save him. The last thing Johanna said before I ran down was "He'll take my fingers off." I thought it would be better if I use my fingers, but Johanna told me we'd never get his mouth open agian.

The feeling I had just before I got back up and looked through the door to our room is something I'll never forget. I wasn't sure of whether my friend was still alive as I minutes earlier had heard my girl yell "breathe, breathe" like a mantra.

He was laying there completely still on the floor in Johanna's lap ... breathing. Thank god. Johanna was in tears and as her fingers were bloody I thought she had saved his life.

I called Oliver right away, and he arrived in an instant, half an hour before the ambulance came. What a guy. He would later stay the night with Grizzly to keep him company.

Grizzly and I went to the hospital by ambulance as Johanna and Oliver followed in a car. Once at the hospital Grizzly slowly regained conciousness, but he has a big gap in his memory from when he got into the elevator on his way up to our room and a good 30 minutes ahead from that point. A few hours later we could go home again. We were thankful he wasn't by himself when this happened.

Grizzly has had this sort of seizures three times earlier (once when he was on the road driving at a 100 km/h. Good thing his dad was able to stop the car with the handbrake that time). He has taken several tests to see if he is suffering from epilepsy, but the tests don't reveal anything. Doctors believe that it might be linked to not eating properly prior to, during and after working out. His energy levels doesn't add up, so to speak. It gives you an idea of how important it is to eat healthy and not skip any meals. Not just in order to prove your worth out on the court, but to survive. An important note to all those who exercise and train hard. Be sure to eat something right after practice.

I haven't gone into details on how Grizzly looked during those 3-4 minutes when cramping, but I hope noone else will have to endure such an experience.

Don't skip those meals!

P.S. The answer to "quiz 2" (another entry) will come tomorrow.

Pim-Pim

24 oct 09

Scary stuff. I was there to watch them pratice after the match. Good thing everything went ok.

[swedes_rule]

omg... how scary... incredible effort by joanna and pimpim to stay calm and help the situation!

[Björki]

:eee:

Thanks for the translation

[amdany]

, that is scary, I 'm glad he's ok!

[Enjoy Incubus]

God... Thank god theyŕe all ok, such a terrible situation they've pass through.

[Chris-swede]

who is Grizzly?? His coach? Whats his real name?

[MediaRat]

I can offer some translation as well. It´s great that people are following Pim-Pim (who is hopefully playing Davis Cup in March against Argentina and we pray that he gets some good practice until then.. after his family time as a new father!). Congrats
There has been a number of long blog entries, so I have chosen to translate those who are of more common interest rather than local competitions (and it takes a couple of hours). So here we go;

http://www.pimpimacemanagement.com

28 okt 09
Finally it is out... from himself!

He is one of the few who has won all 4 Grand Slams during his career, been No 1 in 100 weeks and made a succesful comeback at the end of the 90s. He has now written a book from which parts have been published in media where he tells about taking drugs (doping). The player is no one other than Andre Agassi.
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Taken from expressen.se, svd.se;
"In his upcoming autobiography, Agassi writes that he was using the drug metamfetamin during 1997.
When his test was not approved, he wrote a letter to ATP and lied about how he had come in contact with the drug. "- I wrote that I had accidentally taken a soda that was laced with the drug and thus without knowing it got exposed to the forbidden drog", says Agassi in the book.
"– I don´t know if it was an addiction but many people say that if you use drugs as a way of escaping reality you've got a problem."

Agassi himself said that he was not worried of how people would react to the disclosure.
"– I have always shown my feelings and I was actually looking forward to tell my whole story, he says to People magazine."
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If ATP had suspended him (everyone who is disclosed should be, no matter what reason), most likely he would not have climbed all the way back to the top. Instead the drug tests regarding a prominent tennis athlete was held a secret and made sure that he became a star once again with people who shook his hand daily on the tour such as players, fans and ATP-representativs. Now a lot of people's careers have been affected by ATPs actions, where I was one of those who lost against Agassi (4:e round, Australian Open 05) after he tested positive!

When I started playing full-time professionally on the tour, 2004, almost everyone was talking about ATP hiding "something" from Agassi's test. I can just imagine how a lot of people are relieved that the reality caught up with Agassi. I hope that media/players demand a reason/explanation from the ATP and it better be good to maintain the brand that already has been questioned a number of times concerning drug-related matters.
I want to encourage you readers not to buy Agassis book as I feel this is a cheap PR-stunt and a way for him to unburden himself of carrying this around.
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1 nov 09
Masters is closing in ..

Robin Söderling has the chance to play Tour Finals in the end of this month in London (if he recovers from the injury in his elbow and perform well in the last tournament).

There has been a lot of discussions weather Stockholm Open (and also Hamburg) was the wrong way to go for Robin. There has also been rumours that Robin entered Stockholm Open to "save" the tournament. I don´t believe that either SO or Hamburg were the reasons for his injury and I think Robin played in Stockholm Open for himself, but that is another story.
Let´s take it from the beginning: Robin advances to Grand Slam-final in Paris, skips Halle to then reach 4th round in Wimbledon. Han wins in Båstad, with same ranking status and price money as in Stockholm, (some people has complained that he shouldn't have played SO due to low ranking points, but no one has said that about Båstad) and the next week he is injured at the big tournament in Hamburg. If it hadn't been for the feeling of winning Båstad, price money and starting fee.. he should have rested in order to play Hamburg where the big money is.

During hard court-season he got a sore arm which still is affecting him. After playing several weeks in a row, he did not perform as well as he wanted in the 1000p tournament in Asia and had to pull out of Stockholm Open in the semifinals.. and the week after that in Valencia.
As many are now discussing: what should Robin have entered and ignored if he wanted to reach top 8 in ATP finals.
My answer is: he should have rested after Wimbledon to focus on Hamburg and the US (maybe even skip Hamburg as Robin had problems with injuries the last two years). Then skip Malaysia (where neither points or home surface was a key factor) to then play tournaments in Asia, Stockholm, free time, Valencia and Paris. Then I think he would have been ready for Masters. Now we are hoping that he can take the final 8 spot in 2 weeks...
We need a swedish guy at the top!
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4 okt 09
Daniel Berta World No 1!

To be No 1 has been an important objective for Daniel during this year. Now he is there, at the top of the Junior Ranking, (only 17 years old), which is a much larger effort than he get credit and attention for.
I have been following Daniel both up-close and on the distance. Always impressed by his confidence that has been growing every training session.
I want to congratulate not only Daniel Berta, but also everyone who has helped him along the way of becoming the World No 1.

It´s important to let Daniel grow in his own pace and not through media. It would be a shame if he is not reaching his full potential. It´s not only the game that matters, but also the attitude and all other mental parts.
We need these Junior players and many more who we would be happy to see as new potential talents in Swedish tennis.
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9 nov 09
Tennis 1st division starting Saturday

Saturday is opening match against Uppsala and we are going with the whole team. Full schedule with totally 7 team matches in less than one month.
Hectic time at the end of this year for me as well, as we are moving to our new house in Södertälje (south of Sthlm), our Baby Junior is entering the world around New Years Eve and I might be playing 3 show-matches before Christmas (nothing decided yet, taking the decision om Monday if I feel like leaving my very pregnant girlfriend Johanna).

I will not enter the Australian Open-qualies due to my ranking (370 at the moment, the cut is around 250) which this year is fine. I know what I would have decided anyway if the choice was between a Grand Slam and the birth of my child. I will not be able to book anything for a while, as I want to see that Johanna and Baby Junior is okay in the beginning of 2010. I will be back with more info as soon as I am starting to plan new tournaments!
__________________________

[MediaRat]

more translated blog entries here:
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13 nov 09
Don´t feel bad, Robin!

Robin did not make the ATP-finals in London as one of the original top 8 players. BUT; you reached No 9 (latest swede to acchieve that in the world ranking was me, feb 2005). You will be a reserve in London (good training, great learning experience, money etc). You had an amazing season and actually have a chance of playing from the start if Roddick pulls out.
Not bad, but sometimes it's difficult to think positive when you have lost the latest match of the season and were so close.. only one day away from top 8 in the world.

However, Robin has a golden path in the beginning of next year, with almost no points to defend before Roland Garros in June (I was no 9 in the World and did not have any points to defend for almost 6 months and saw my opportunity to advance to at least 3rd, but thoughts/plans can change quickly sometimes).
I hope Robin and Magnus improve the planning in 2010 so he does not have to take 3 unwilling breaks like he had to do last year. I think Norman is the right guy to help Robin discuss a good strategy for him. Magnus himself was No 2 and has been in a Grand Slam-final, he knows what amounts are involved and has also been injured in the end of his career.

Another great thing is Robin Söderling and Daniel Berta are encouraged by nominations at the Annual Sport Awards. Robin was not a surprising choice for a candidate in "Male athlete of the year". Which is tough to win in Sweden (against Zlatan etc). However, I had not considered Berta, 17 years old, would be nominated for "Newcomer of the year" as I thought that it "only" was about senior athletes. Daniel had an amazing year and I am the first to congratulate him and "Julle" but at the same time I know it´s a big step from junior to senior on the tour...

I thought the Swedish ranking (that everyone is complaining about year after year) had improved, since it has been said that if you have ATP-points you will pass everyone. I looked today, when I was checking my opponents in the local tennis series, that I am No 22 in Sweden. I am not saying that I necessarily am better "in play" than 22 people in Sweden, but on the APT-ranking I can not count 21 players who are in front of me.. Weird.. No, I am not bitter..
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22 nov 09
Playing against No 1

This friday, training session with Oliver Hildebrandt and World Junior No 1, Daniel Berta. It´s been a while since I played with Daniel which made me extra curious about the session. I had high hopes, but at the same time I know that some people have trouble of leaving the main crowd to be a star without being "cocky".

A humble Daniel is entering the court and glowing with energy from the first step he takes. I asked Daniel if he got a better sponsor deal and custom made t-shirts, or if he had been working out? I got the answer, when we did a 2 hour-match and Daniel only sat down once (what I can remember). (besides from the 20 times I got an easy forehand and Daniel ran faster than Usain Bolt away from the court to change sides instead of trying to win the ball instead). Nice to see juniors that are on their toes and "want" to take care of every opportunity to play upwards (we talked a lot about this last year when I was a coach for Team Catella during Swedish Open). Want to praise Oliver for the same attitude.
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25 dec 09
Robin in semifinals

As I said before, Robin has a good chance of standing there on Sunday with a fat check in the Masters finals. Now it´s just a matter of time before it´s happening.
He has outplayed both Nadal and Djokovic (who by the way displayed a bad attitude in the 2nd set which was finished quickly). He can play relaxed against Davydenko in the last group match, as he is already qualified for semifinals this weekend vs. Del Potro.

As soon as Robin is entering an indoor arena, I have the latest 4-5 years held him as a favourite since he "always" can dictate points the way he please. Unfortunately, he has not been close to use his full potential until this year. However I feel he can get more out of it tactical, but I hope they work more on this during 2010 to earn valuable points.
Me and my brother have written the compendium "If balls did not exist I would invent one" which is about statistics and tactics. Many in final playoffs would benefit from analyzing their statistics and apply this in reality. This is the next step within sports development. As I see it, you can get a lot out of minimal amount of competing and training if you KNOW what you get most out of the training. Loot at me. Thanks to Niclas (my brother) who helped me analyze my tennis I have (besides learning how to get back quickly after a long break), learned how to plan training to avoid injuries when I set up my own schedule.

/Pim-Pim