Glenn Janssen played in youth against a young Tim van Rijthoven. The revelation of Wimbledon and the Libéma Open was unprecedented in his youth and was number one in his age category for years. Janssen lost no chance against Van Rijthoven at the time and is now looking forward to the clash between the Brabander and Novak Djokovic.
Glenn Janssen has to dig into his memory when we ask him about his match against Tim van Rijthoven. The match didn’t last long either. “I finally got rid of it,” says the current employee of the KNLTB. “It was 6-0, 6-0. All I could do was pick up balls. I had nothing to contribute.”
It was immediately clear to Janssen that there was no top sports career for him. Yet he calls it special that he was allowed to play against Van Rijthoven. “You look at those matches differently now. It’s really cool to follow him now. There are more boys at the Dutch Tennis Center that I have played against, but this is very special.”
“Everything has to be right if he wants to beat Djokovic.”
Van Rijthoven is now in the last sixteen. His next opponent is Novak Djokovic. According to Janssen, the Roosendaler will not win that match. “Djokovic can handle any surface. But at Wimbledon he is always at his best. He has such a good answer to all services, and that is precisely where Van Rijthoven’s strength lies. The Serb probably has an answer to his serve and then he has to fight it out in the rally. That seems like a good course to me.”
Yet Van Rijthoven has won more often than a player from the top 20 in recent weeks. That is precisely where the danger lies, according to his former opponent. “They are no longer going to underestimate Tim. There are also plenty of images of him. Everything has to be right tomorrow if he wants to beat Djokovic.”
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