Hello Everyone,
After what has felt like a really long summer with no professional squash to enjoy (I guess the players do deserve a little time off!), I had been so looking forward to the new season starting.
And for the last few years, it has been even more special, as it kicks off with the British National Championships, a truly historic tournament, and most amazingly of all, it is hosted at my very own club, St George’s Hill.
Home Event!
I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have such a great tournament taking place at the club that is your second home, with players competing on the same courts that you hack around on week in and week out.
I know how lucky I am to be a member there. We have amazing facilities, including the only permanent glass court in the south of England. We also have an incredible coaching team with Miles Jenkins as head professional and Ruudi Clarke who is kind enough to be taking me through my beginner squash journey.
The club itself is really lovely with its lake and trees, and everyone is very friendly. If you’ve never been before, you should definitely try and come next year because the tournament is such fun, and you are so close to the action that it feels like you are literally on court with the players!
Qualifying
Unusually, one of my favourite parts of the week was qualifying on Tuesday. Whilst the standard may not be absolutely world-class, the athletes on display were still fantastic, and it was obvious that it meant a great deal to all of them.
It was like a separate one-day tournament, and many of the matches were seriously competitive, with massively inspiring juniors taking on established pros. The atmosphere was really good. And congrats to Ruudi for winning his first round and pushing Ben Smith hard in round two.
Round One
Day 2 was just an unbelievable day of squash for an addict like me – 16 matches across two courts.
It may have been just the first proper round, but honestly, being able to dart back and forth between the glass court and the plaster court meant basically non-stop action for 8 hours! I barely remembered to eat lunch or dinner!
The Tom Walsh vs Simon Herbert match was a brutal affair, which would have been an outstanding match if some of the refereeing decisions had felt more consistent.
There were no real shocks on day 2, with almost all 16 higher-ranked players progressing.
Mohamed’s back!
What I did notice, though, was that the men’s matches were quite a lot more competitive than the women’s, where it felt like the difference between the full-time tour pros and the qualifiers was quite obvious. None of the qualifiers managed to secure a game against the higher-seeded players.
It was a great thrill to have Mo ElShorbagy back at the club – he played PSL for us for many years and is such a positive role model for everyone, and is one of the friendliest players on tour. (He was the first pro player I ever spoke to!)
Missing the Big Names
The men’s quarterfinals all went according to ranking, except for Mohamed ElShorbagy, who had to withdraw due to an injury. This was such a shame for the tournament, and we also lost Lucy Turmel to injury.
Nick Wall and Alicia Mead both benefited from these withdrawals to make the semi-finals.
There was so much to enjoy about the tournament, but I did feel a slight disappointment that many big names couldn’t compete. SJ has retired and is greatly missed, but it was a shame that there was no Gina Kennedy or Jazz Hutton in the women’s draw, and no Marwan ElShorbagy in the men’s. I hope that next year, everyone will be available to battle it out for the prizes.
And the winner is…
On a separate note, my favourite outfit of the tournament was Torrie Malik’s gorgeous blue dress that she wore on court in the quarter finals to defeat the No 2 seed Georgia Adderley.
Her squash was as fantastic as her dress and she put on a really great display of controlled power and strong movement to reach the semis.
Semis time
The semi-finals were thrilling.
Tesni Murphy, the No. 1 seed, beat Grace Gear whilst hitting with immaculate length.
Torrie Malik vs Alicia Mead was awesome. It was a huge opportunity for both of them and that match was great to watch. I get to see Alicia a lot at our club as she trains here frequently, and I think that was the best I’ve ever seen her play, building a 2/1 lead. Torrie was ferocious in the 4th and the 5th though, scoring winner after winner.
Jonah Bryant vs Joel Makin was the match of the tournament and could have made a great final. The level was extremely high.
I was at the British Open when Jonah almost beat world No. 1 Mostafa Asal, and he started this match in the same way, winning the first game by playing at an extremely high level. I looked at Joel as he left the court, though, and to me he didn’t seem too worried.
Joel put on a show after that with the perfect game plan to win the next three games with the loss of just 11 points. The rallies were long and the quality was high, but Joel always seemed to have the upper hand.
Refs, please, sort it out…
The Curtis Malik vs Nick Wall match was one of the most competitive matches I’ve seen. Curtis rushed to a 2/0 lead, but Nick began to find his feet and maybe the fact he had had a walkover the day before began to tell as he looked very fresh.
But I have to say something which might get me into trouble.
I thought the refereeing of this match was just too inconsistent. I know I don’t know that much, as I’m only 12, but I’ve watched a lot of squash, and some of the decisions really confused me.
It also seemed to really confuse some of the pros sitting around me – and I even heard laughter a few times. Though I doubt Curtis was laughing when a no let was given against him, which was one of the most obvious strokes I’ve ever seen.
Have a look at the replay on SquashTV and see what you think of the point in the 4th game which would have given Curtis 2 match balls.
I think anytime you leave a squash match wondering if the referee’s decisions may have changed the outcome of a match, it’s a sad moment for squash, which is not to take anything away from Nick, who was very brave to dig in and fight so hard.
Torrie, the Performance of the Event
The finals always looked like they could be a little one-sided. With the withdrawals and non-attendance, the draws had opened up a little too much.
With Joel ranked 38 places above Nick Wall and Tesni Murphy ranked 23 places above Torrie Malik, I thought the finals might be an anti-climax. However, I found both matches to be really interesting.
The women’s final was a fraught affair. From my seat in the front row, I could feel that Torrie was very nervous and desperate to win. Tesni has such experience and just kept enough scoreboard pressure on Torrie to never let her settle, even after she won the third game.
Tesni was a deserving winner to become a 3-time champion, but I think Torrie’s was actually the performance of the championship. Next year, with this year’s experience under her belt, she will be an even tougher opponent.
Joel, the Ultimate Pro
Joel, whom I get to watch regularly at the club as he trains with Miles and plays for our SSL team, is the ultimate professional.
I realised early on that he was not going to take anything for granted against Nick. I think he knew that he was physically stronger and fresher. He seemed happy to extend every rally and almost never took the ball in short to make Nick work, work, work. I can’t imagine what it feels like to face that level of determination.
Joel could have perhaps thought this match was a good chance to express himself on court. Quite the opposite. He was confident of winning with the game plan he had created, and even if it wasn’t spectacular, it was very effective and impressive.
Thanks, Fram
Before I go, I also wanted to mention how much I have loved spending the week with Fram, sitting next to her for almost every match and talking about squash. She is so kind to me, and the reason I get to write about the sport I love.
Seeing her in action made me realise how much work being a squash reporter involves. She has this unique marking system in her notebook for every match and never misses anything happening on court. And it seems to be a 24-hour job while the tournaments are on, as far as I can tell.
It’s easy for me – I sit down with my dad and talk about the squash we’ve been watching, deciding what’s interesting. Then, I answer some of his questions and write down some of my thoughts. Pretty soon, I’ve got some words to send to Fram!
She’s the one who edits those words and puts all of Steve’s brilliant pictures in and makes it look good, so… Fram, thanks so much, you’re amazing!
Next, Ally Pally and Egypt!
A big congratulations to both the Champions. And what a wonderful week of squash. I go back to school next week, so it was the perfect end to my summer holidays.
Next for me is the Ally Pally semi-finals of the London Classic at the weekend, and then I’ve been invited to the Egyptian Open in a few weeks’ time! I am beyond excited and hugely grateful to Amr Mansi for inviting me to come. It’s been a dream of mine to watch squash in front of the Pyramids at Giza, and I can’t wait!
I’ll report back after that one, and as they always say on Squashsite, ‘Stay Tuned’…
