This past Sunday was a historical day for Swedish Padel! It was the day padel was broadcasted live on national TV and I was lucky enough to take part of this special day.
Since I’m the “grandma” of the Swedish elite, I’ve had time to take part in several makings of history - playing for the first Women’s National Team, winning the first Women’s National Championship and being the first to win three National Championships. Actually, I woudn’t mind being part of the first Swedish pair to break through a WPT qualification #anytakers? #hehe. But, if I had to, right here and now, I could actually retire with a huge smile on my face.
My mind tells me, You’ve had your fun. Now you can retire.
My body tells me, You’ve had too much fun. You should retire.
My heart tells me, You need to have even more fun. No way you’re going to retire!
Guess I’ll just have to follow my heart like I usually do. There was a wise woman who once wrote the intriguing lyrics “I do my hair toss… Check my nails… Baby, how you feelin’? …FEELIN’ GOOD AS H*LL!!!” #lizzo #hehe.
That’s exactly how I’m feeling right now after a weekend of getting together with my national teammates, playing with top women again, competing under pressure, realizing I don’t need to retire from elite padel just yet and, most importantly, sharing my favorite sport with the entire country.
The week previous to the match was nervous though - feeling uncertain about how everything was going to go down after being off-season for 6 months and having this opportunity thrown at us with little time to prepare or process. So, there were defnintely some butterflies flying around in my stomach…
Was I going to be able to play to my full ability under the public eye? Was I going to be able to chase down all of those lobs #shortgirlproblems after all the “quarantine” junk food and almost non-existent training? I got a smash on my thigh the previous Monday and was that big bruise going to show on TV? #hehe #thanksnils. How were Barre and I going to click after our long break? Were we going to be able to defend our title as Swedish champs?
All of these feelings of uncertainty and nervousness disappeared this Sunday in the middle of our marathon point. If you haven’t seen it or heard about it, the score was 15-15 in the first game of the match. It took just over two minutes but seemed to take an eternity to get through and ended with a net-roller that bounced quietly out the door. Somewhere in the midst of all the grunts, hard shots, finess shots, counter shots from the glass, bajada blocks, lobs, shots into the fence and loud instructions between shots, all the nerves I was carrying just seemd to roll off my shoulders. In the middle of this very point, I felt wow. We all have our game on and this is going to be so much fun! From then on, I felt relaxed yet focused and Barre and I got swept into that oh-so-wonderful flow that we can often find together.
We ended up winning with a very convincing 6-0, 6-3, but the match contained a lot of heart and great rallies from all four of us and I felt we showed the best padel we could on this given day. #welldonegirls. Our match took just about as long as the men’s match did and had it taken longer the men might not have had time to finish their match at all, ending a mere 5 minutes before SVT’s cut-off. Congrats to the guys also for an exciting match! They offered extravagant WPT-caliber shots and a classic come-back from the Gothenburg “bad boys” Pierre and Victor #nervesofsteel #thecomebackboys.
I do, however have one little regret after the weekend and it’s that I didn’t chow down my three bananas before the match. I didn’t realize this littte mistake was going to raise more eyebrows than my actual padel game did… What’s she going do with three bananas? Those bananas must have been really yummy! That banana intake was a little on the high side I must say. The next match I play, I need to make sure to eat lots of bananas during every break! #bananadrama
Now, it’s back to padel business and it is definitely not boring during these strange times. I miss the travels and competitions, but am so grateful we are still allowed to run around in our little cages. Until next time… play hard and stay safe!
//Antonette
