Finalen i Sverige

Jag tittade idag finalen av tävlingen Case Asset Management Swedish Open, mellan engelsman Nick Matthew and fransman Gregory Gaultier. Jag tittade 'live' på Squash TV.


I det första spelet började Gaultier snabbt och Matthew verkade nervös. Men de nästa två spelen var fantastisk. Båda spelarna är kända för att vara i fin form, och båda sprang runt squashbana mycket snabbt. Det fanns två bra spelen, men Gaultier lyckades vinna båda.... 

Mycket bra squash.  Bättre än min svenska....

 

Last Night of the ToC! Boo-hoo!

It will be an interesting match tonight as once again the #1 ranking is on the line, with Willstrop hoping to prove he deserves the accolade and Matthew hoping to regain what I'm sure he feels is rightfully his. 

Matthew is coming back from injury, and that has a tendency to put a small grain of doubt in one's mind. If I had to guess, I'd say Willstrop in 5 very hard games. But I admit it could easily go the other way... 

It's also nice to note that the ToC isn't just about the pros. Here's Chris Walker, still looking exceptionally fit, showing some StreetSquash kids the art of the drop.

GCT's ToC A-OK

I'm a big fan of the Tournament of Champions (ToC) and check it out obsessively each year when it rolls into Grand Central Terminal (GCT), a beautiful building from where I have the pleasure of commuting every day.

Unfortunately, this year the ToC hit as I've been suffering from a very stubborn case of bronchitis, so I only went to one match and hacked and coughed my way through it, not really enjoying the experience. (I went with none other than Schumacher, my arch-squash foe.... Grrrrrr. We ate at the Oyster Bar, so I can report that he slurps his oysters. I also saw Teddy C, working the entryway as a volunteer, who refused my bribe to get in free! What kind of a New Yorker is that guy?)

Early on I picked Nick Matthew to win it all, because I think he is in the best shape of all the top players, and he is as on-form as any of them. But he will have to go through Ramy Ashour to get the title, and that will not be easy. The one match I watched was Ashour dismantling the efforts of David Palmer, and the impression I had was that Palmer was nothing more than a gnat buzzing around annoyingly in Ashour's face, until SWAT!.... he was taken care of.

One question that one might fairly ask is whether the current discord that is roiling Egypt might possibly have an effect on Ashour's concentration. Surely he is hearing from friends in Egypt about what is going on, and no matter which way his political sensitivities go, he must be at least concerned. So the Tunisia-like riots must add on yet another layer of complexity for Ashour as he seeks to outdo Matthew in tonight's final.  Good luck to you, Egypt!

Although I have not been able to cover the ToC, a fellow New York City blogger has, and has done a splendid job. Check out this site for some great interviews and photos.
 

The ATCO World Series Squash Final Goes Pffffffttt.....

I'm normally pretty sympathetic to organizations, particularly those involved with squash, which run into unavoidable trouble and have to scramble. I don't want others to act like a jerk to me and I hope I'm not a jerk to others. For instance, I'm in the publishing business, and sometimes ads don't work out quite the way the customer wanted them to. So we run a make-good, or an extra ad in the next issue, or something to let them know we have their best interests at heart. Usually everything works out fine.

Nonetheless, the news that the finals of the ATCO World Series Squash Finals will be indefinitely postponed due to a technical issue with the inflatable building in which they were playing the series elicits very little sympathy from me. So, here comes the jerkiness....

When I originally read that the tournament had created this very odd bubble venue my first thought was, 'Why, dear god, why?' You are playing in one of the great cities of the world, and you create a microenvironment that displays none of the city other than the inside of some latex?

And typically for the PSA, they have released short, constipated press releases that fail to discuss exactly what happened, when the final might possibly be played, who was the fellow responsible for the big balloon, what did it cost, will they get their money back, etc... 

I have an idea; both finalists, Matthew and Shabana, will be attending the upcoming Tournament of Champions in NYC -- not in a bubble, but in the magnificent Grand Central Terminal. I say start the tournament off with their final, giving them a bye to recover into the second round. We New Yorkers will show the PSA how these things should be done....

If the sport of squash wants to play with the big boys it will have to do better than this. I'm embarrassed, actually. This sport needs better than this...