[1] Joel Makin (WAL) 3-0 [7] Adrian Waller (ENG) 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 (47m)
Very close first game, 1/1, 2/2, 4/4, 5/5, 7/7, with Joel finding some nice kills and a stroke to get to 10/7 game ball. Good pressure from the English then – coached finally by Stewart Crawford who up to now was having England/England matches, bless him – and it’s 9/10.
A bit of a harsh decision, I personally thought stroke, but a let was awarded, I thought, ok, fair enough, but was then changed to no let. Right….
That first game was 18m, Adrian giving 6 points away to Joel, and Joel 5….
The second sees again a few tough close match, 1/1 to 5/5 without more than a point, Joel scoring 5 points in a row, up to 11/5 in 13m – lots of long rallies in there.
Last game a bit more onesided scorewise, but the score doesn’t tell the hard work produced, 12m game, 3/0 Joel, 7/3, 11/5, with two enormous rallies to finish the match.
Adrian : Physically, I was fine, I was controlling most of the match, so I could control how hard I was going. I managed to keep that in check. I had one run in the second game just letting him get away, just two or three points, and that’s the difference.
Otherwise, I felt I was just biting my time waiting for opportunities.
At the end of the first, they gave me a no let, which was borderline a stroke. He lobbed over his shoulder. And the referees are just being dangerous, prioritising everything else over safety.
In every sport across the world, safety is number one priority, and squash doesn’t seem to be taking that.
We’re going to see injuries, people getting hit with the ball, with the racquet, tripped, concussed, we’re going to see all that if the referees continue. Safety is a priority, and they are not prioritising the safety of the players.
As minimum as it might seems, at the speed we go, and how powerful everyone is, a trip, a hit, it hurts. It’s going to cost you withdrawals, money, time in plane, ranking points.
For me, safety should be a priority for squash. And they let me down at the end of that first.
Joel : “In a situation like when playing Adrian, I was trying to hit straight lines, because I thought I was catching a bit of the side wall, so I was happy to trade down his forehand.
“I wanted to try and get a little bit more of a hold of that as I went on throughout the week. He’s been a top player for England throughout the years, he’s a big guy, long reach, skilful game and he added some confusion there in the match [regarding altercations with the referee].
“I didn’t know what he was referring to half of the time with the referee.”
