{"id":5041,"date":"2016-02-12T18:11:49","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T17:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/02\/12\/eur-student-bart-van-den-berg-over-abn-tenniscup-ik-ben-een-ervaring-rijker\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:18","slug":"eur-student-bart-van-den-berg-over-abn-tenniscup-ik-ben-een-ervaring-rijker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/02\/12\/eur-student-bart-van-den-berg-over-abn-tenniscup-ik-ben-een-ervaring-rijker\/","title":{"rendered":"EUR student Bart van den Berg plays tennis in Ahoy: \u2018An amazing new experience\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bart van den Berg<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tABN Amro toernooi<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For EUR student Bart Van den Berg, this was a dream come true: competing against the world\u2019s best doubles players. Sadly, they didn\u2019t win, but it was an amazing experience.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Van den Berg, member of the Rotterdam student tennis association, partnered professional tennis player Jesse Huta Galung in the first round of the doubles. Despite a break of serve over Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo (the world\u2019s best doubles player) in the first set and a strong second set, they eventually lost 6-2 7-5. After a match that lasted exactly one hour, Van den Berg\u2019s adventure was over.<\/p>\n

Tennis temple<\/h3>

\u201cIt was incredible, not like any of the tennis matches I normally play,\u201d said Van den Berg after the match. \u201cThey\u2019re usually fairly quiet, but now I was in a sort of tennis temple. You hear your name being chanted \u2013 a feeling I\u2019ll never forget!\u201d The Van den Berg (21) had never played in front of so many people before, so it took some getting used to. \u201cIt was quite difficult and I was pretty nervous before the match. Luckily I was able to shake off my nerves quite quickly and focus on the match itself.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite this being the first time that Van den Berg and Huta Galung \u2013 once a top 100 player himself \u2013 had been on court together, the master student in Accounting was reasonably satisfied with his performance. \u201cI\u2019m happy with how I performed on such a stage. Jesse and I did well in the second set. The difference in our level was smaller than we expected. You saw the guys on the other side of the net thinking \u2018OK, we\u2019ve really got some work to do.\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

'See how far I can go\u2019<\/h3>

Besides his studies, the student spends a lot of time playing tennis: around fifteen to twenty hours a week. All that work has definitely paid off. \u201cAlthough I\u2019ve been studying, I\u2019ve been able to develop well as a tennis player too. The fact that I was able to take part in this tournament is a great reward that I could never have dreamed of before.\u201d Van den Berg hopes that this won\u2019t be the last time he\u2019s able to take part in the biggest tennis tournament in the Netherlands. \u201cI graduate next summer, and then I want to focus full time on playing tennis and see how far I can go.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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