Clemens Doppler is playing it cool in Hamburg after opening victory

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Doppler/Horst show their sick beach volleyball skills. Photocredit: Joerg Mitter

Austrian beach volleyball star Clemens Doppler says he and partner Alexander Horst can handle the pressures of competing at a Major tournament.

The pair won their opening match of the smart Major Hamburg by coming from behind to beat Latvians Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza – but don’t talk to them about pressure…just ask them that question when thousands of screaming Austrians are going crazy for them in Klagenfurt!

But following the exit of their fellow Austrians in the qualification rounds yesterday, Doppler isn’t concerned about being part of the only Austrian team left in the competition.

“No, I don’t feel the pressure,” he exclusively told swatchmajorseries.com. “Of course it is the first Major and we want to perform as good as we can.

“We’ve handled pressure in tougher positions before. In Klagenfurt every year there is pressure from the fans because they want to see you win every game inside a packed stadium.

“We know how to handle this kind of pressure…a wise man once said the only time I feel pressure is on the toilet, so that’s how we keep it!”

Ha! That’s one wise man right there! We never knew our players were so philosophical!

Doppler/Horst lost the first set but used their powerful serve to dominate the last two and silence the Latvian supporters in the crowd – not that Clemens was worried about the noise on court five.

“I think Latvia have such good fans,” he said. “Last year 2,000 Latvians were in Austria. It is very important in our sport that we have these fans travelling around supporting their countries.”

We couldn’t have said it better! And while we’re looking forward to seeing much more support throughout this week we can’t wait for Klagenfurt in August!