[2] Amina Orfi (Egy) 3-0 [1] Hania El Hammamy (Egy) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (39m)
What to say about a clinical masterclass from the Destroyer. Hania was never given the sniff of an opening. Amina took her by the throat from the word go and never ever let go.
Strokes against Hania as the ball was loose, errors upon errors, it was like Hania’s game was completely dismantled.
But I have no doubt that Hania will study the match, and understand what happened. And will come back stronger. Meanwhile, Amina today played one of the best matches of her young life.
She played very well, and she’s having a very good season, like the last one. I hope she keeps it up all the way.
She has improved the sharpness of her shots, and she’s playing more squash now instead of just hitting to the back like she used to. She has a lot more shots. She’s executing her game plan very well, and she adapts her game at every tournament depending on her opponent. She’s doing great, and there’s a lot more to come.”
I’m what you could call a mental coach, not a squash coach. I hear everything the coaches have told Amina before the match, and before the tournament, and I choose what to tell her and when: the right information at exactly the right time.
Because her coaches love her and have trained her since she was young, they won’t tell her, ‘You did this badly.’ Nobody will. But I will. And she can’t answer back, hahahah 🙂 With a coach, she would argue: ‘He did that…’ With me, maybe she’ll go and complain to my wife. My wife is the big boss!!!!!”
“It feels to get it done shorter than our last few matches. Maybe the big matches that she played the last couple of days kind of had a roll in that. But I’m really happy with how I played.
“Throughout my training, before the tournament I look at the draw and see what I need to practice. Try to train practice matches with similar game styles. Overall, just working on what I’m losing points on.”
“Well this is my second Diamond event title. I think this one is more special after winning it in front of the Pyramids. Being World No.1 and forgetting about that. I find’t want to think about it too much. A week ago I was World No.2, but it’s kind of the same in a way.
“I think this year I really worked even harder than I used to in the off-season, and that’s what has made me so confident in how I’m playing. I just believe in myself, and I think that’s the key factor.”
