Copenhagen Masters 2009 - Danes win all four titles

It was a bright day in Copenhagen for the last day of the annual Masters. Bright sun, coldness and that splendid low light so characteristic of Scandinavian winter. It was dark however when the clock hit 6 PM and a packed crowd gathered in the Falkoner Center to see who was to succeed to Peter Gade after the latter was sent packing by Dutchman Dicky Palyama.

But in spite of seeing some badminton from the very start of the evening, the first show was actually a medal ceremony, as the mixed double final was not to be played : Robert Mateusiak, in spite of his amazing performance to beat the two times world Champions Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir – had to withdraw because of a foot injury. Denmark had gotten their first medal of the evening without a single sweat. And the event was back to its original three-match final day format.

Tine Rasmussen was the second one to bring her home crowd satisfaction as the tall Dane was to beat – once again after the group matches – Lydia Cheah of Malaysia.

Not without a fight as the two players fought for 48 minutes before Rasmussen held her hands up in the air. The Dane had clearly the advantage in the first game quickly winning 21/11. The second game however was a whole different ball with Lydia taking advantage of her height and speed to trouble her opponent.

Leading early in the game, she saw Rasmussen catch back to 8 all when the latter tried to reach a shuttle on her right forehand and lunged forward but her foot stumbled and she found herself on the floor, staying there for few seconds without moving. A silence suddenly invaded the hall as she slowly got back up as everyone feared an injury – especially after Tine had already spent half of the year away because of an injury.

Even if she was back playing , something had changed in her game. “I couldn’t feel any pain but I was just focusing too much on my leg and losing track of the game. There were shots in the corner where I was just wondering whether I could feel some pain instead of focusing on my own game. I was also disrupted with a bit of wind as I let some of her shuttles land in while I was sure they were out. But I also lost the second game because she played really well,” added the Dane.

After losing the second game 18/21, she was, however, back on track in the third and deciding game, for a clean 21/10 victory.

It was a perfect ending for Tine in a year that had some ups and downs. “I did start the year on a high gear in Korea, Malaysia and All England, but then I got injured and I lost sometimes as early as the second round. But the end of the year was better. And now, I really feel good. There is no injury, I feel fresh and motivated and I will try to do as well in 2010 as I did in the beginning of 2009 as I have a lot of points to defend,” said the smiling Dane.

Last year Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen played Matthias Boe and Carsten Mogensen on this very same court; On the very same day – final day. And last time, the elder team had won. And once again, it looked like it was going to be the same story all over when Paaske and Rasmussen led 21/16 and 15/7, but their opponents, wearing their usual lucky pink shirts, started firing away heavy smashes and moving closer to the net, eventually to leveling up at 17/17.

“At that point, we didn’t know what we were doing wrong and it was difficult to change the way we played because we didn’t know what to change” said Lars Paaske, trying to explain why he and partner Jonas Rasmussen let go with such a big margin. The 2003 world champions even had to save a game point at 19/20, but their opponent’s mistake helped them back in the game before they finished it off 22/20.

“In the past 12 months, we’ve had even results against them. We had beaten them here last year, but they beat us in the National Championships and once again in China, so it makes it pretty even this year. We’ve had a pretty good end of a year with a tough training in December and it’s paying off. We now hope to fare well next year as we have three big targets. The Europeans, where it’s usually an all Denmark affair but with Anthony (Clark) and Nathan (Robertson) playing well, we’ll have to be careful as we’ll be willing to keep the title we took in Herning. And then, the Thomas Cup, where I feel this will be one of the last years in a long time where we have a chance to do something. And last, the world championships in Paris, which is actually our main target next year and where we’d like to prove we can still get a medal there,” said Paaske.

On the eve of his 22nd birthday, Jan Jorgensen played a less inspired player than his famous compatriot as Dicky Palyama didn’t shine as much as he had against Peter Gade. As a result of what, Jorgensen took only 28 minutes to clinch the title beating the Dutch 21/7 – 21/14 before throwing his racket in the crowd.

“This has been a terrific year for me. I have taken a lot of confidence from the last months. I know that I can now beat the very best players in the world and I will keep training hard in order to achieve that again next year," said Jorgensen.

"Tonight, the match went well. I was controlling the rallies and he was not as sharp as against Peter last night when he played amazingly. The last two times I had played him, I had won each time very closely, each time coming back from behind to beat him but today, I felt I had improved in my game since then.”

As for a comparison between Jan Jorgensen and Peter Gade – something every body seems to be doing lately, his coach Claus Poulsen was a bit more cautious in his wording. “It’s difficult to say he’s the new Peter Gade. They are different in style and in mentality. It’s not possible to say that Jan can achieve what Peter has done. I do believe that Jan has a bright future if he keeps showing interest and hard work in training as he has until now. This past year has been amazing for him and the key was that he was able to find the right tools to get over the few losses he’s had and bank on his impressive victories. There might be some ups and downs in the future and that would only be normal for a player of his age, but I’m confident he can be amongst the very top players in the world,” said Poulsen.