After Christinna Pedersen has ended her international career last week, Mathias Christiansen is now playing together with Alexandra Bøje in Mixed Doubles.
Last week, Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen played their last tournament together at the Swiss Open, which became Pedersen's international exit and finish of a successful one and a half years partnership with Christiansen.
Now, Mathias Christiansen introduces a new partnership in constellation with Alexandra Bøje, whom he looks forward to working with.
"I think it will be a really exciting project to go into, and I am looking forward to getting started. There is no doubt that Alexandra is extremely talented, she is already playing very well. I look forward to working with her and to develop together", Christiansen said.
He hopes that he and Bøje can qualify for the Olympics 2020.
"It is great that I can quickly go into a new project. It is clear that Alexandra and I are not at the top right now, but we still want to try to qualify for the Olympics", Christiansen added.
"So, it is good that we can start now and have a long training period before the first tournament", he added.
The coveted mate
The newly-formed Mixed Doubles pair will play their first tournament together at the Canada Open. Before that, Alexandra Bøje will play her last tournament with Frederik Søgaard at the Spanish International.
Such as Christiansen, the 19-year-old Bøje looks forward to initiating the new partnership.
"Together with Christinna, Mathias has proven that he is Denmark's best Mixed Doubles player, so I am excited to get the chance to play with him", Bøje said, who is hoping for a sustainable partnership.
"I have been in a different constellation, which has been relatively short. So, I hope Mathias and I can build a lot and create a good, long-lasting relationship. Now, we have some time to work together and get started before we go out", she added.
Focus on long-term development
Jens Meibom, Badminton Denmark's sport manager, has no doubt that Christiansen/Bøje is a potentially successful partnership.
"Mathias has developed into a world-class Mix Doubles player, and he takes solid experiences with him from his collaboration with Christinna Pedersen", he said.
"Similarly, Alexandra, despite her young age, has proved that she can compete internationally. She has made good experiences with Joachim Fischer. So, we certainly see great potential in this constellation", he added.
"But I also know that this young pair needs some time, before we can have the highest sporting expectations on them", Meibom pointed out.
"Even though I do not want to deny that they can qualify for the 2020 Olympics, the focus will be on their long-term development in order to develop them into a world-class Mix Doubles pair".