Agatha Bednarczuk and Duda Lisboa made a triumphant return to international beach volleyball as the Brazilians were crowned at the King of the Court tournament in Utrecht, the Netherlands, this weekend. Swiss Marco Krattiger and Florian Breer were the surprising winners among the men.
The Brazilians had last stepped on a volleyball court in March during a Brazilian Tour stop. After spending most of the last six months in different cities – Agatha was in Rio de Janeiro and Duda in her hometown Sao Cristovao -, the 2018 World Tour Finals showed great form in their reunion by becoming the 2020 Queens of the Court.
Agatha, a Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalists, and Duda dominated the women’s final in Utrecht, which also reunited two Dutch teams, veterans Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink and the van Driel sisters Emi and Mexime, Swiss stars Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré and temporary American partners April Ross and Emily Day.
“We were fourth in the two tournaments we played in 2018, so when we knew we were coming we were really focused on winning it,” Agatha reacted. “It was great to be in a volleyball court again after such a long time.”
The new Kings Krattiger and Breer had the same feeling. They announced their union at the end of July, when Krattiger’s longtime partner Nico Beeler decided to play indoor volleyball, but it seems they didn’t need much time to challenge the best teams in the world.
In the final, which also featured world rankings number ones Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, 2019 World Championships runner-ups Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler of Germany, Rio 2016 Olympians Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland and Belgians Dries Koekelkoren and Tom van Walle, the Swiss were dominant, winning each of the three rounds they played at.
“It’s just amazing that we are the Kings of the Court,” Breer remarked. “Once we made it to the final, our plan was to go all-in from the service line and to fight for every ball and that’s how we did it.”
