Danish men’s doubles coach Jakob Hoi says the DANISA Denmark Open 2020 did not show a breakthrough performance of any kind for the nation’s men’s doubles team.
After the tournament, many critics were praising the young stars Joel Eipe and Rasmus Kjaer for reaching the semifinals in their first major tournament. The pair lost out to eventual winners Chris Langridge and Marcus Ellis in the semifinals.
Hoi thinks that a breakthrough performance can only be considered when such good performance happened for at least five tournaments. “Even if you win a quarterfinal, that’s special, but as a coach, I can’t sit back and be too impressed, and I don’t want them to be too impressed.”
The following is taken from Jakob Hoi’s interview with BWF.
Denmark going through a change in structure as senior players left.
That’s true about Boe and Mogensen, and to some degree, Kolding and Conrad… In Denmark we had world champions and good pairs, but Boe and Mogensen were extraordinary. Obviously we feel it (their absence) in daily practice, obviously we feel the overall level is lower.
Is there a vacuum in the team?
It has been part of the Danish model, but for several reasons, it hasn’t happened because of short-term, medium-term interests… but I would say the last years we missed that train and I don’t think it’s something any of us is proud or happy about. But we understand the reasons, and so we’re not crying about it.
Takeaway from the DANISA Denmark Open 2020?
The primary takeaway is that we should just be so happy that this happened. We should be grateful to the organization that allowed this to happen. Because it’s so easy to say let’s not do it.
I’ve heard lots of comments, that this is their (Eipe and Kjaer) breakthrough. No, the breakthrough is when you do this five out of seven tournaments. I’ve seen some good performances, but to me that’s about looking into what the next step should be.
You can’t be happy beating Europe, or each other. We don’t practice to beat each other.