Matchbericht ¦ 1. Liga ¦ Grasshopper III vs. Winterthur II
Having witnessed GC Legends' players dropping like flies last Tuesday, it seemed that a similar fate was going to plague GC3 before we'd even started playing! Having recruited Magdy to play at one after Joel succumbed to the effects of a "Strong Cold" on Sunday, Tuesday, match day, started badly, with Pascal dropping out injured. Our first reserve, Paul, turned out to be injured as well, and our second, Fernando is self-isolating, so I was very glad indeed that Adam was willing to step in at the last moment to save us from having to complete our game of "who can stand on court and look most convincing whilst actually being unable to play?!"
Magdy was first up against Caroline Bachem. Having played once since March (last Thursday), it seems that he wasn't quite able to live with the pace of the game. Apparently his somewhat phenomenal skills with the racquet are still quite evident, but it was necessary for the ball to come to the racquet to demonstrate them, as the racquet wasn't often being transported to the ball if it happened to be at an inconvenient distance! Carsten was very impressed that Magdy managed to avoid throwing up, so I presume that he did infact work pretty hard, but nevertheless, it was a convincing 3:0 for Caroline: GC 0, Winterthur 1.
I was up next against Gianni Covino. I had a very nasty feeling during the warm up that I was going to have to run an awful lot (for me), and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it! Thankfully I wasn't entirely correct, and Gianni, although playing a nice game and keeping the rallies going quite a bit, wasn't able to put me under enough pressure. I therefore managed to close out the game with a very satisfying 3:0! GC 1, Winterthur 1.
Carsten came next – up against Fernando's favourite opponent – Sébastian Garai. After having watched many tough matches with Fernando, with Fernando almost always coming out on top, Carsten was under strict instructions to "channel Fernando!". Obviously, to any normal human being, this is basically impossible, so Carsten simply decided to win comfortably instead. With none of the confusing badminton shots, or any of the bother of struggling at all, Carsten eased through with a very convincing 3:0 victory. GC 2, Winterthur 1 . 6:3 in sets.
Last on court was Adam, against Maurice Koll. Adam had to get at least a game for us to "win" the draw, but with 40 points separating him from his opponent, even that was going to be a tough task. The first game was close, with Adam keeping ahead until he got to 7, after which Maurice was able to sneak into the lead. Maurice never let Adam get ahead again, but still, he needed 5 game points to finish it off 14:12. There was hope! In the second game, Adam started quickly, rushing to a 5:0 lead. He couldn't however hold on to it, and it was soon 6:6. Adam wasn't to be defeated this time though and he managed to get ahead again to close out the game 11:7. He'd won the bonus point for the team and was looking strong! Unfortunately he wasn't able to repeat the form of the second game, and Maurice's consistency meant that Adam wasn't able to get ahead again. Maurice closed out the second and third games to 8 and 7 respectively! A strong effort but a disappointing end for Adam. GC 2, Winterthur 2, but with the crucial extra set from Adam winning us that extra point!
A big thanks to Magdy and Adam for stepping in to play at such short notice – we wouldn't have been able to get such a good result against strong opponents without you!
Mark Robbins