Rikke Søby, 25, is a Danish upcoming mixed doubles player partnering with Mathias Bay-Smidt. They had a good 2019 with winning the Swiss Open and going to the final at the Finnish Open, Spanish International and Scottish Open. Hoping to continue the good work in 2020, the pair was suddenly stopped by the virus.
Like everyone else Søby has also been affected by Covid-19, which has caused the badminton halls and fitness centers to close. Søby puts some words on how everything has been and how it has been to have a badminton break.
- It has been a very special situation not to be able to practice in the hall for over a month when you are used to do it almost every day. Luckily, I have had my siblings to train with, so we have done a lot of alternative training in our parents’ garden and I have become glad for the outdoor training.
Commenting on where she thinks everything has left Mathias and her, she says.
- Mathias and I have not been able to practice together for good reasons in this period, so I am uncertain about our level. The good thing is that there is quite a long time until we have to perform well again, so I hope this period can benefit us in the end, as we have good time to work on our focus points.
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Among the best pairs
Last year Bay-Smidt and Søby won the Super 300 tournament Swiss Open. They had planned to go back this year to try and defend the title from last year, but the tournament was cancelled due to Covid-19. Sharing some of her thoughts, she says.
- It is of course sad, that we did not get the opportunity to defend our title from last year, but some things are more important than badminton and I think it was the right decision to cancel the tournament.
Talking about the ambitions for the young mixed doubles pair, Søby has some clear goals on where Bay-Smidt and her want to be.
- In the short.term we want to be among some of the best mixed doubles in Europe.
- In the longer term we want to be among the best pairs in the world and win some of the biggest tournaments.