Joachim Fischer is coming back to Odense to defend his title at Yonex Denmark Open next week. It is his first tournament since The Olympics, but he is still convinced he can do good

It has been more than two months since Joachim Fischer has featured in a tournament. The last time he participated in a such, was at The Olympics back in the beginning of August. Now he is back on the grand stage, and not only in the mixed doubles category. This year, at Yonex Denmark Open, he plays men's doubles as well.

He plays with Jonas Rasmussen, who only until recently played with Mads Conrad-Pedersen. The pair, who thus play their first tournament together as such, is featured in the qualification tournament, where they most likely will have to beat Sudket Prapakamol and Songphon Anugritayawon of Thailand, if they are to progress into the main event.

Only two weeks of training
As we all know, Fischer plays mixed double with Christinna Pedersen. For the first time since The Olympics, they feature in a Super Series tournament, which happens to be a Premier tournament as well. That means, that all the best mixed doubles pair will be present in Odense. And although the pair has only had two weeks of practice ahead of Yonex Denmark Open, he thinks they can do well:

- I feel ready. I've chosen to take a little break from tournaments after The Olympics. I felt that was best for me, because I felt mentally worn down after that tournament, which you have trained for in so many years, Joachim Fischer says.

Not only has Joachim Fischer himself chosen to take a break from tournaments. Also Christinna Pedersen has had a break from badminton, as she underwent surgery right after The Olympics. They had hopes for getting ready for Yonex Denmark Open, and according to Fischer, it does not matter that their preparations have been a bit stressed:

- Of course we haven't trained in the same way that we did before The Olympics. Here we've only had two weeks maybe to reach a certain level, but with the kind of game we can deliver when we play in Denmark, we can go far. So I hope we can reach that.

Up and running again
- And I think it's starting to come back now. The motivation for playing tournaments have returned, and Christinna has returned, so I have some pretty high expectations about the mixed doubles, and then Jonas and I must see how it goes in the men's doubles. It will also be interesting to see how my body suddenly reacts to playing two categories.

There should be no doubt, however, that Joachim Fischer primarily focusses on mixed doubles in Odense, where he and Christinna have won three of the previous four editions of the tournament. And with their routine and high base level, not much else is needed before they can do really well again this year, according to Fischer.

- I hope we can get to play some matches, because I'm pretty sure that we're going to get better every day we play over there. And are we in the tournament around the weekend, I think we can be there in the end as well as so many others.

Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen play their first match on Tuesday evening against Austrian Roman Zirnwald and Elisabeth Baldauf.

You can also experience Yonex Denmark Open by buying tickets here.