Tournament of Champions: Saturday Session


Martin Bronstein, Squashtalk reporter on the scene in New York City.

by Martin Bronstein, Grand Central Terminal, New York, 26 Jan 2002
All content © 2002 Squashtalk, photos: © 2002 Debra Tessier

RICKETTS AT SUPERSONIC SPEED

WHAT HIT ONG BENG HEE?
Anthony Ricketts served notice that he was ready to eat the world in one bite last week when he beat Joe Kneipp in Pittsburgh. Kneipp said he'd never seen Ricketts play so well and at such a high pace. Ricketts, ranked 18, continued at the same supersonic speed today in causing the first upset of the main draw by beating the seventh ranked Ong Beng Hee in three games.

I would love to know what Ricketts has for breakfast because I want some of that. He was as pumped up as any player I've seen, thumping the ball with incredible power and competing for every point as though his entire career depended on it. For the first two games Ong played the same game and the sound of the ball cracking off the front wall could be heard all over Grand Central Station.

It was only when he was two games down did Ong use his brain and start to slow the ball down. It had the desired effect and they fought point for point until 14-all when Ricketts called one point. It could have gone either way but it went with Ricketts and he now has a very good chance of a quarter-final place - as well as ensuring a spot in the Australian team for the Commonwealth Games. The point should be made that even if Ong had won that third game, could he have withstood the constant Ricketts barrage? I don't think so

SHORT AND SWEET
Amr Shabana arrived in Grand Central Station intent on a short commuter trip rather than a grand journey. Ranked 29 in the world, he was faced with the world number nine Paul Price of Australia and from the start felt he would win or lose by using his incredible range of shots. Shabana is probably the best overhead-into-the-nick player on the circuit and hits some jaw-dropping winners. Price is no slouch himself when it comes to slotting the ball into the nick - he hits forehand straight nicks with his eyes closed- so he knows what to expect. Shabana led at 10-8 and then never got another point as the errors streamed from his racket to give Price the first game.

The proposition in the next two games was quite straightforward: either Shabana hit an outright winner or he lost the point. That, more or less was the story except to say in the third game, Shabana was either nursing a leg injury or was too stiff from his qualifying matches. After losing the second 7-15, the third was over in six minutes, 15-6 in Price's favor as Shabana could not wait to get off the court after a match that lasted a mere 31 minutes.

THE ENGLISH PATIENCE
The next match was everything squash should be with Chris Walker, at 34 the grand old man of squash, Nick Taylor, also from England, demonstrating beautifully what the word athleticism means. There was a time when two English players got on court they could bore you to death rallying up and down the left wall.

These two players, Walker ranked 11 and Taylor ranked 26, were having none of that. They used the entire court, especially the height. Regardless of how low Taylor's drops were, Walker could get under them and send them soaring to the back of the court. While neither of them could slam the ball into the nick, they could do almost everything else with the ball - and most of the time in one of the four corners. By rights Taylor, with the younger legs should have won this match, but Walker has been around so long and he knows every trick in the book…some of them he even invented.

There was much discussion with the referee, who got flustered at one point after seeing a spectator moving during a rally and requested that "participants remain seated during the rallies."

Walker sat on the floor within a nanosecond of the announcement. Taylor won the first game 15-12, lost the second 16-17 and was 8-2 ahead in the third, the game almost in the bag. And then some bad choices allowed Walker back in to take command and lead 13-9, a bad lapse on Taylor's part. Walker did not make the same mistake and took the game 15-10 with the match now 64 minutes old.

In the fourth Taylor finally put space between him and Walker to lead 14-10. Walker still fought to get to 13-14, but Taylor finally evened the match when he was awarded a stroke. The fifth saw both players still jumping, leaping and darting around the court as though they had just started and it was only at 8-8 that Taylor's fatigue showed in the form of mental lapse and Walker went on to win 15-11 after one hour and 44 minutes of superb gripping and entertaining squash.

POWER IN CONTROL
Simon Parke has the ability to cause an upset, but his four months break from the circuit because of ankle surgery is still evident in his game. Against Jonathon Power he only found decent length in the third game, but by then Power had run him ragged. At one stage the referee ordered Parke, who was taking too long to receive service, to resume playing. For the first two games Power had been in total control, hitting fine length and dropping the ball low and tight, forcing Parke into constant movement, too hurried to take that minute amount of extra time to hit length and put Power into the back corners.

Although he started to achieve this in the third, he could still only manage nine points. He can console himself somewhat with the thought that he kept Power on court for 50 minutes, but for a player of Parke's calibre, that is small consolation.

SMALL CUT - LONG BREAK
David Palmer's meeting with Joe Kneipp was just shaping up into a first class battle when Kneipp ran into the butt of Palmer's racket and sustained a small cut above the right eye. Rules are that a player must leave the court and stop the bleeding before resuming play, being allowed as much time as needed.

The call went out for the tournament physician and nobody responded. (They still don't make house calls in New York).A couple of plasters were applied and after about 20 minutes the play resumed.

But the rhythm had been interrupted and Kneipp never quite back into his groove of trying to exploit Palmer's forehand. Palmer had started quickly and ran over Kneipp 15-5 in the first game but then Kneipp got into his stride in the second and Palmer simply did not know what to do to regain the initiative.

There was definitely a plan by Kneipp to keep the ball away from the Palmer backhand and it seemed to work. These are two well matched players but Kneipp's ball control is quite effortless and there were passages I'm sure when Palmer wondered what he would have to do to get a point. Kneipp won the game 15-9 and an upset became a distinct possibility.

In the third the two players had got to know each other's moves - which is a lot to know: there isn't a lot that they can't do at any speed from any part of the court. Palmer, ranked two in the world, has been playing at this level for a year or two, while Kneipp is just on the way up again and had to qualify for the main draw. Palmer kept up the pressure, Kneipp faltered a little and suddenly it was 11-7 for Palmer which is when the injury occurred. After the 20 minute break, they continued but it was plain that Kneipp was losing ground and Palmer took the game 15-10 to go 2-1 up.

Kneipp did not give up in the fourth: he simply could not maintain the pace that Palmer set and while there were some wonderful rallies which displayed skill of the highest order, it was always going to be Palmer who would go through to the second round. He won the game 15-7 and it was obvious that his month off, due to fatigue, was a very wise move.

CHANGING ROLES
Usually it is the Egyptian making the winning shots and the Brit doing the chasing. Lee Beachill reversed all that by outshooting Omar El Borolossy all over the court to win the first game 15-8. In the second game, Borolossy started shooting and suddenly Beachill was doing the chasing.

Beachill was to say later that he had simply lost his length and gave his opponent to much room to use his shots. Borolossy won the game 15-13 and I wondered whether Beachill could get back into the match again. He won the first two points of the third and then lost the next six as Borolossy read him like a book and picked his points off as easy as picking apples from a tree. Beachill stopped the rot and levelled at 7-all after which they took point for point all the way to 13-all.

Beachill kept his head, got a stroke to reach game ball 14-13, Borolossy lost his and hit the tin to lose the game 13-15. Beachill seemed to be swinging between wonderful insight and mindless hitting but at 7-7 in the fourth he got his sights and mind in order and using his entire arsenal of shots and reading his opponent perfectly went on to win the 61 minutes match by taking the final game 15-9.

TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS 2002 First round (Bottom Half of the draw)
Wael el Hindi (Egy) bt Paul Johnson (Eng) 15-12, 13-15, 12-15, 15-11, 15-11 (95 Mins) Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt Ong Beng Hee (Mal) 15-12, 15-8, 15-14 (62 mins)
Lee Beachill (Eng) bt Omar Elborolossy (Egy) 15-8, 13-15,15-13,15-9 (61 mins)
Jonathon Power (Can ) bt Simon Parke (Eng) 15-7, 15-5, 15-9 (50 mins)
Paul Price (Aus) bt Amr Shabana (Egy) 15-10, 15-7, 15-6 (31 mins)
Chris Walker (Eng) bt Nick Taylor (Eng)12-15, 17-16, 15-10, 13-15, 15-11 (104 mins). Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt Peter Genever (Eng) 15-11, 15-5, 15-9. (39 mins)
David Palmer (Aus) bt Joe Kneipp (Aus) 15-5, 9-15, 15-10, 15-7. (94 mins).

[view the draw]