3 cities that surprised me

As a tennis professional you get around a lot, evil tongues often assume that you only see the hotel and the tennis facility. Well, and the airport or train station. It would be a lie to say that this has never happened to me. During the many trips there were actually tournaments in which I only saw the facility and the hotel. These were mostly the tournaments with first round defeats. Personally, I always try to look at a few things and find out more about the regions. My colleagues always joke that I annoy them with the cultural background of the places. I believe this will receive positive feedback here; if not, it will remain the only article of its kind. Here are 3 places that surprised me and might be worth a trip or a weekend trip for you. The places are certainly not unknown, but I deliberately chose places that are a little more unknown than Paris or Rome.

Banja Luka

One of the larger cities in Bosnia, is located in the Srpska region. You may have heard of it before, but it is certainly not the usual destination on Balkan trips. You also quickly notice that it is not a tourist place. There are Cyrillic letters on the buildings, you can tell straight away that you are no longer in the “West”. The downtown area is beautiful, and extremely safe. Families and women walk through the streets at night without hesitation. The city is very clean and has some culinary highlights to offer. Coffee and cake at lunchtime are great; I have never had a tastier meal than there. In the evening there are numerous restaurants, the price of everything here is half the German price, and the quality of the food is very high. The nightlife is exciting, you can easily move from bar to bar or club, the people are well dressed and here too you can feel very safe as long as you don't cause any problems. We received a very warm welcome at the tournament and were even able to gain a few Bosnian fans over the course of the week. If I don't play a bigger ATP tournament, I will definitely go to Banja Luka again this year for the Challenger.

Bilbao and surroundings

Bilbao is located in northern Spain and is the capital of the Basque Country. It is about 30 minutes from the coast, I had been to Bakio (beach town) twice for a tournament. The second time I stayed overnight in Bilbao and commuted by bus every day. The nature is very unique, on the way to the beach you see a lot of greenery and hills in the landscape, and on the coast there are long sandy beaches with bays. One of the monuments, Gazelugache, was used to film the series Game of Thrones. In the city center you will find one of the world-famous Guggenheim museums. I'm not a museum freak, but you get your money's worth here. Stunning works of art on display throughout the year, and depending on the season, the museum focuses on certain eras. The city center is extremely clean, and full of modern and old buildings. A river runs through the city, ideal for drinking a coffee by the water.

Unfortunately there is currently only one future tournament in Bilbao, but I can imagine going to Bilbao again regardless of tennis.

Oporto

I was in Porto for the first time in December 2022, I lost in the first round of the tournament. But since I was playing league in France at the time, I had a few days to explore the city before the next plane left. A very nice city center, many old buildings. Anyone who enjoys exploring cities will be able to spend a few afternoons here. The port wine comes from the Porto region, there are many opportunities to taste wines. Every restaurant has great wine, the food in Porto was also excellent. I can recommend the world famous Steak House Portuguesa de Maia, from regular steak to Kobe and Waygu there is something for everyone. The climate in Porto is very mild, not as warm as southern Lisbon, but even in winter the sun shines.

With sporty greetings

Heindrik