October 19, 2022 08:00
(This is an article from the magazine for DENMARK OPEN 2022 presented by VICTOR)
The Danish men’s doubles player Anders Skaarup had actually canceled for the Denmark Open final 2021, but his heavily pregnant wife persuaded him to play.
It is just before that HC Andersen could not have written a better fairy tale than the one that took place last year during the Denmark Open in Odense.
– Actually, it’s a bit of a crazy story. We needed a miracle, and we got that, says Anders Skaarup when he remembers.
Already when last year’s tournament in Denmark was about to begin, his pregnant wife had gone over due. There was no way he wanted to miss the birth of his second child, so he had decided that it would be a short visit to the Funen city.
He had not imagined that he would both be able to play in Sunday’s final and witness his wife’s birth within a few hours.
– It was ultimately the wildest week, says Skaarup.
Father-in-law and friend were on standby with a car
The plan was ready. And clarified with both national coaches and sports director. When he got a call from his wife, he packed his bag and immediately drove to the maternity clinic.
That was also the case when he took part in the Thomas Cup – WC for the men’s team – in Aarhus the week before. The phone was constantly within reach. Right up until it was time to warm up for the matches. Then the phone was packed away and the focus was on badminton.
His wife also had the numbers of former national coach Jakob Høi and elite and sports manager Jens Meibom, in case she needed to get hold of someone in the meantime.
– The Denmark Open always comes again. But I don’t immediately think I will have more children, so I think it is such an important and exciting experience in a relationship that I would find it difficult to gamble at the expense of missing one of the births, explains the 33-year-old Skaarup.
From the start of the tournament, the plan was that either his father-in-law or a good friend would be on standby with a car if he had to leave quickly. The thoughts were primarily focused on the first rounds, because he and partner Kim Astrup had never reached a quarter-final at the home tournament. That had to be changed.
Read the rest of the article online in our magazine
Tags: Anders Skaarup, Denmark Open, DENMARK OPEN presented by VICTOR, Kim Astrup
Category: Denmark Open, Elite, Cover, News
