Rubbed Dejan/Gloria That Hasn't Been So Painful

The couple Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. (Photo: PB Djarum)

JAKARTA - The couple Dejan Ferdinansyah/Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja recently began to show quite proud potential. However, consistency is still a problem.

This is what the PB Djarum mixed doubles coaching team, the club that houses Dejan/Gloria is trying to improve. This pair will continue to be polished in order to penetrate the world's top competition.

Mixed doubles coach PB Djarum Vita Marissa assesses that Dejan/Gloria still need a lot of improvement even though they are able to reach the number 16 in the world. One thing that matters is mental.

"There is still a lot that they need to improve on, especially for Dejan. Dejan is never at this level. So this is all sudden. There is still a lot of evaluation, there is a lot that must be learned again in the future," said Vita, as reported by Antara, Monday, March 6.

Dejan/Gloria began to be seriously forged by participating in several European tournaments. Starting this week, they are scheduled to participate in three tournaments, namely the German Open, All England, and the Swiss Open.

Vita has high hopes that Dejan/Gloria can penetrate competition at the top level.

"Like yesterday we can see at the Malaysia Open, it can penetrate the semifinals of Super 1000. After that there has been a burden, there has been pressure. Everything has come from itself. So it's not easy. There are still a lot to fix," Vita explained.

In addition to sharpening skills and strategies in the field, Vita also communicates a lot with Dejan/Gloria to maintain the mentality of her students. Vita hopes that Dejan/Gloria will not be complacent and continue to work hard to realize dreams at the world level.

As a coach, Vita sees Dejan/Gloria as having the opportunity to enter the top ranks. But he is also realistic with the many determining factors in the field.

Non-technical factors such as funds, popularity, and so on will be a challenge that will definitely be experienced.

"We communicated a lot, told Dejan a lot that it would be like this, to Gloria too. He was at the top, he was also at the bottom. He also wanted to qualify for the Olympics but it didn't happen. Gloria has a lot of experience. The dejan I live in is push. But yes, if I personally see that he does have that quality," explained Vita.