I personally, will always remember the day I was legally able to rip the L off of my car because I had passed my drivers exam and got my driving licence, the reason I remember is because although I’m regularly a pretty relaxed person who doesn’t have much stress, I was absolutely terrified the day I tried to get my driving licence.

As most people, I took driving lessons a few weeks after I turned eighteen, and got my driving licence about six months later, being one of the first of my friends to get my driving licence I felt pretty proud being able to drive my 12 year old Renault all by myself (although I didn’t like being the one who couldn’t drink most of the time) , this sense of proudness decreased a little bit when I read an article past summer about Max Verstappen (son of Jos Verstappen , former formula 1 driver), who would become the youngest formula 1 driver in history at age 17. A few months later, the article hadn’t lied to me, at the 15^th of march 2015, Max Verstappen , just barely 17 years old became the youngest formula 1 driver in history (although legally he wasn’t even allowed to ride with a 12 year old Renault on public (high)ways).

A lot of people had their doubts about Max Verstappen, a lot of people said he wasn’t good enough (yet), a lot of people said he got his place in formula 1 because of his dad. All those people have to acknowledge the fact that they were wrong, because Max (absolutely not having the best or most expensive car on the starting grid), finished 7^th in his second race ever (after blowing up his motor in his first race), giving him points for the riders and constructors championship, and giving him the privilege of being the youngest person ever, to receive points for the riders world championship (he received points again in his 3th race). After four races, Max is ranked inside the top twelve of the driving championship, so I think even the greatest critic has to acknowledge the fact that Max is an exceptional driver, even at age 17. A driver who isn’t afraid to reach top speeds of over 200 mph, who is capable to keep his nerves and keep focused for over 4 hours and a driver who definitely has his place between experience drivers (and millionaires) like Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button who are literally twice his age. I’m looking forward to seeing Max evolve into a world champion, which he definitely one day will be. With a double Dutch and Belgian nationality (and spending most of his spare time in our country), I would advise all motorsport enthousiasts to support Max in every whey they possibly can. 

10-05-2015, 00:00 Geschreven door Rob Verwimp  

With Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin , the people of Belgium a couple of years ago said goodbye to the two greatest tennis players Belgium had ever had. Thousands of children began playing tennis because they wanted to win grand slam tournaments, just as Kim and Justine did on a regular base. But as always in the world of sport (and perhaps even in the world in general), (sport)heroes are cheered when they are on top of their careers and are forgotten the moment they retire. Together with the decreasing popularity of Clijsters and Henin , the popularity of tennis in general decreased heavily.

For to be popular, a sport has to have its own national heroes who are top of the world in their sport just look at the popularity past summer of our national football team and compare it to the popularity of the same national football team five years ago when they couldn’t win against countries like Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan. If you keep this in mind, it’s not that bizarre that the last five years or so, there are less people playing tennis, then ten-fifteen years ago when Clijsters and Henin where busy winning grand slams.

There is hope even so, for tennis in our country, to become more popular again, The reason for this hope is world class player David Goffin, who at the age of 24 already has been ranked in the top 20 of the world for over 6 months now, with his current ranking , 21th of the world , there are only two players younger than him (Dimitrov ranked 11^th and Raonic ranked 6^th) who are ranked higher than him, so if Goffin can keep improving his game, there’s a considerable chance that in a couple of years, the people of Belgium, can go back cheering for a Belgian at the final of Roland Garros or Wimbledon again and go back playing tennis again.

If we look at the current season, Goffin is playing a solid season, with a nine wins, nine losses balance at the top tournaments (including a couple of nice victories against top twenty players Gulbis (ranked 20^th) en Baghdatis (ranked 18^th) and some close losses against Nishikori (ranked 4^th) , Wawrinka (ranked 9^th) and Tsonga (ranked 14^th). With is current ranking Goffin has a big advantage for the second grandslam of the year, Roland Garros, he will be a seed, which means he will have to face players ranked a considerable amount of places below him in the first two or three rounds, if Goffin is able to get to round 3 (or more), he will definitely go up a considerable amount of places, becoming the best Belgian male tennis player ever (beating Xavier Malisse who stood 19^th for a couple of weeks), because last year, when he was still ranked outside the top 75 , he lost in the first round of Roland Garros. My advice for all Belgian sport or tennis enthousiasts and all tennis lovers worldwide, keep an eye on the 24 year old Belgian form Liège, cause he could suddenly be our new male version of Clijsters or Henin. 

10-05-2015, 00:00 Geschreven door Rob Verwimp