The year 2012 has been a learning experience particularly in my personal life, both in a negative and positive way. Since it´s my private life, I would like to keep it this way and furthermore I don´t want to use my personal issues as an excuse for any lost matches. I would never do this. As a professional athlete, I need to “turn off” my personal issues when I am about to play a match or have a training session.

However, there is a difference between coming up with an excuse or explaining certain emotional reactions, points or choices. Explaining what went on in my mind or why I think I lost a match. I will therefore keep trying to tell my story and version of events. It’s hard to say whether my point of view is always right or wrong, but I will keep on listening to the people that believe in me or those that give me advice. With the information they are providing me with, I will try to take the right decisions and take the next step in progressing my career.

Let’s talk about the 2012 season. Unsurprisingly, I had hoped for more and I expected more of it. Things did not turn out the way I wanted to, so the only thing I can do now, is to try to perform better next year. The answer on how I will achieve this is simple: keep on working hard, be confident and work even harder.

With whom and where I will train, is not clear yet. My coach, Dennis Schenk, and I are separating after seven year. Since the US Open, I have been searching for a new coach for the 2013 season.  Dennis and I departing in good spirit and we remain friends, but the choice not to continue was made easy when Dennis expressed the wish not to travel fulltime anymore. Unfortunately I don’t have news who I will be working with next year. It won’t be easy to find the right coach, as there are a lot of factors to consider. But hopefully, I will succeed in the short term. It would be great to be able to work with a new coach during the “off-season”.

I will let you know about my off-season in my next update.