Mads Conrad-Petersen who returned to badminton at the Spanish International has opened up about why he took a break from the sport and also what made him come back.
The Dane who has joined up with Mathias Boe after the two players split up from their recent partners, Mads Pieler Kolding, and Carsten Mogensen.
Conrad-Petersen has revealed that the enjoyment for badminton was no longer there after a number of years on the court.
I did not enjoy playing
The 31-year old decided to take a break towards the end of 2018 because he felt that there were other things in life to focus on.
- I was filled up with everything about badminton, after the last ten years since I moved to Copenhagen, the main focus was to improve on the badminton career, Conrad-Petersen said.
- It was just time to focus on something else; my family and my friends as well as other things beside badminton. In the end, I did not think it was fun to travel anymore. I did not think it was fun to go to tournaments and when I have that feeling, I knew something was wrong.
The goals for Conrad-Petersen
The former European Men’s Doubles Champion decided to cut all ties from the Danish National team for months and travelled to Australia with his family.
- I needed something like that to be happy again and also to find that eagerness to try and be one of the best again.
- I needed to do something and for me, this is what it needed, and I have not regretted it at all, he continued.
When the mind changed
Conrad-Petersen who had been in a successful Men’s Doubles partnership with Kolding, and Boe being in one of the most successful partnerships with Mogensen, joined up as a pair in February.
The decision to come back to court for Conrad-Petersen was made days before his family holiday in Australia with his family.
- Before I went to Australia at the end of January I was training for a week in Denmark I was enjoying training and I wanted to play again.
- A lot of things happened at that time and this ended up being an option for us and we (Boe and Conrad Petersen) were both on low energy and wanted a fresh challenge.
The thinking behind new times
Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mathias Boe are enjoying their badminton again after back-to-back titles in Spain and Canada, they begin their US Open later today.
- The main goal is for us to try and have fun again and to be motivated when we step on court, also at practice, Mads Conrad-Petersen said.
- We feel that we do not have a lot to lose because we have both proven that we can play well individually, and both have good results from the past. We will bring it to the court and hopefully we will have a lot of good results in the future. We surely believe that good things are coming, he continued.