Sophia Grundtvig, 19, is one of the upcoming singles talents from Denmark. Despite her young age, she has already made some good results by winning the European U17 Championships and getting silver medals at the Danish Junior Cup 2019 in both women’s singles and women’s doubles. 

When she won the European U17 Championships back in 2017, it came with a title and a medal, but also a pressure for the young singles player. 

- It came with a lot of pressure after I won the European Championships, but it was important for me to try and shut it down. There are so many talented players, and just because I won the title, it was not a matter of course that I would win against the other players from Denmark in my age group. That is why it was important to block those thoughts about the pressure and take the title as just a pat on the back instead. 

Denmark has some strong traditions regarding women’s singles with Camilla Martin and Tine Baun to name the latest, and also Mia Blichfeldt being in the top 20 in the world at the moment. Now there are a lot of young players who would like to come forward. Commenting on where Grundtvig sees herself in the Danish setup has, she says.

- I hope and believe that in the future I can be a part of that setup. It requires a lot of hard work, and as said before, we have a good women’s singles group at my age, but I believe that it is possible. 

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The expectations

Every badminton player has some expectations for his or her career, and this is not any different for the young Dane. 

- I hope that I can make some more results on the international stage. I get more time to focus on badminton as I graduate from college next year. I am looking forward to that, and hopefully I will be able to improve.

With a lot of years on the badminton court in front of her, Grundtvig talks about her big goals as well as her big dream.  

- My big goal is to fulfill my potential. That includes to be able to say that I have done everything I can to get as far as possible. Then I will see, how far it gets me. 

- The big dream is to be able to live from badminton and be around the best players in the world.