It started with Joel unable to play his “test-match” against Diego this morning. So a few people thought, oh, early night tonight.
Famous last words.
Then as I was having a quick bite next to the glasscourt, I heard one of the most incredible racist rant I heard from the long time. I managed not to explode, by keeping telling myself, ‘not your battle, they are too far gone, you will be wasting your breath’. Which is not my normal way of reacting…
As I’m trying to calm down and refocus about squash, it becomes very quickly obvious that the girls – Amina and Gina – won’t be able to perform on the glasscourt. A sandy wind making the court impracticable, after about 30m of trying all the possible solutions to clean the court, it is decided to move everybody to Owest.
I’m used to it to be fair. It happens often when you play outdoors. I experienced it in Kuwait, Hong Kong, Hull, Gouna so many times.. “You cannot win against the elements”… No, you can’t.
So, we packed our stuff, off we went back to OWest, where we did the qualifs and the first three rounds. Steve Cubbins, our legend of a webmaster/photographer asked me “is the glasscourt still there?” That was a question I didn’t thought about asking. Then we were told that no spectators were allowed, so I knew it was going to be on the traditional courts.
That sight was so sad… A few hours ago, it was a great venue… Like when you work as an actor, and you go back to the set you were working one, as they are destroying it. A ghost town…
Not easy for anybody to move back but PSA and the Event Team did wonders. The club was still open, so all the facilities available, light, court cleaned, toilets, etc. Even the food/drink outlets were still running…
A big barrier of ushers to prevent people without passes to come into the venue – very little space. We (the media) go back to our original tables/setting, and plug what needs to be plugged in. No Wi-Fi available to start with, thank the Lord; I have my little dongle that we can use until a more decent solution is found.
Strange, we have the two quarters (women’s matches) played at the same time.
I started by watching Amina/Gina.
As expected, only one person in the English corner, Stuart Crawford, the National coach. All the other players have left to go back home I guess. Needless to say, Amina’s camp was much fuller. But believe me, they didn’t take the result for granted. The way they supported Amina throughout, they knew how dangerous Gina had become.
The English played an excellent game. She was unhappy with a few too many errors. I feel that’s the new Gina that is trying to impose its marks, the attacking, taking chances Gina. And sometimes, that ends in the tin. But it’s positive in my mind.
QF: “Amina dealt with the conditions very well, as I knew she would” Gina
Amina will be happy with a 3/0. The tension was palpable, and she’ll be happy to keep energy for tomorrow’s semi.
As the match finished, I just slid to the next court, where Carlos Cornes was keeping control of the left side of the court. The tension was enormous as the two camps, Nour and Nouran, were mixing in the stands. Not much space for me, but I managed with a nice smile to slide in the middle, between the coaches’ teams.
It was like.. unreal… Looking at Nouran, with one leg in a black tight, and Nour, a closed face, worried, tense, the complete opposite of Nouran, nothing to lose, blasting her shots away… When Nouran was exiting the court between games, she was adamant she didn’t want anyody around, she needed to be able to breathe, she needed her space. She needed to regroup.
“I am not in control of the ball”.
As Nour was on her way back, I heard her say that to Greg Gaultier, her coach. And Nouran proved her right in that last game. Nouran, the Nouran we know, was back: calm yet intense, hitting hard, finding those drop shots she’d been adding to her game recently, and fierce. Nour today didn’t have the solutions. The court conditions didn’t suit her at all.
And Nouran was the deserving winner of the 40th match on PSA….
As Nour/Nouran was ending, Paul and Victor just started.
In complete contrast with the Nour/Nouran match, where you couldn’t have put a book on the stands, as it was sooo crowded, plenty of space to watch the non-Egyptians (less family watching and few spectators allowed).
What stroke me in that match was Paul’s respect for my compatriot. You might know I’m a rugby fan, and that the All Blacks are my heros. And tonight, I could see Paul as one of them. The intensity he imposed on there, the physicality but not in the “boxing match” way AT ALL. The fludity of the match, both moving like on a ring, fast, very few calls, Victor playing more and more like Thierry Lincou (they followed the same coaching method), and Paul playing one of the most accurate and clinical squash I’ve seen him play for a long time.
The resemblance to Thierry became even more obvious in the second, when those two played a bit like a Classic Ballet, moving smoothly, Victor playing superbly and yet finding himself down 8/0. It reminded me of a match between Peter Nicol and Thierry in Broadgate years ago, where Peter led 14/0, without Thierry making a single error- just stunning squash.
Paul celebrated his victory in such a manner I realised how truly he considers Victor as a threat. A real one. And once again, the respect between those two was something we should be able to put in a bottle and spray on some other players…
Merci les garçons, thanks Boys for this marvellous end of a mad, mad, night on the Squash Tour…
