Chris Walker: Providing another evening of excitement.

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

by Martin Bronstein, Grand Central Terminal, New York, 29 Jan 2002
All content © 2002 Squashtalk, photos: © 2002 Debra Tessier

[view the draw]

WALKER DOES IT AGAIN
Chris Walker knocked out Australian Paul Price in a drama-filled quarter final that held the packed audience engrossed to the last unbelievable point. It lasted for one hour and 43 minutes when after the second it seemed it would be all over very quickly.

Chris Walker uses one of his nine lives

Walker won the first game 15-11 after Price lost concentration at 10-10. He had turned on a ball and belted it straight into Walker's thigh. In olden days, Price would have been given the stroke because the ball was on the way to the front wall. But the rules have changed and a turning player who hits his opponent now loses the point unless the hit player moved across the line of the ball.

From that point on Walker just had to hit the ball to win. In the second game Price turned it around dramatically to outplay Walker and take the game with ease 15-8 in 10 minutes. Price is the younger player and hits outright winners, something that Walker rarely does. It looked as though he had Walker all figured out and he would cruise the next two games.

He took the third game with almost the same ease to lead 2/1 and we just hung around, we thought, long enough for him to mop up in the fourth game.

How wrong, how very wrong. Somehow Walker turned it all around in the fourth and a rattled Price started going for silly shots and with the help of his errors Walker won that fourth game 15-8 in eleven minutes. Despite all the squash matches I've witnessed, sometimes I'm at a loss to explain why momentum shifts or the game changes --- in this case, I couldn't say. Later Walker said that he tried to get a rhythm going because Price wins when he breaks up the game into short rallies with winning shots.

Paul Price in control

The final game was really quite remarkable both for the intensity of the competition on court (producing some of the most memorable rallies so far) and the random nature of the referee's decisions, so many of them were impenetrable and incomprehensible to the average human mind.

Walker was alternating his soaring cross-court lobs with soft drops to the front and towards the end of the game he countered every Price drive with with a volley drop. It seemed to work as Price - usually lethal on the short game - was unable to do anything with the drops.

They fought and haggled and ran and lunged and thrashed and bumped all the way to 13-13 at which point there was a series of referees decisions before the Price finally managed a winning backhand drop to get to match ball.

The feeling were now running high and it seemed that the entire audience were Walker fans, a fact that deepened Price's permanent scowl. It was inevitable that on the next rally Walker would be awarded a stroke to make it 14-all.

Price chose three and immediately smacked the ball into the nick, with his favourite forehand low drive. He followed this with a crisp backhand drive with Walker screaming for a let but being denied. Price was once more at match ball 16-14.

The New York fans roar as Chris Walker goes airborne

Walker kept lofting the ball and Price took the bait and hit an awkward overhead shot into the tin. The next rally found them both at the front of the court exchanging drop shots and Walker hit a drive that was too fast for Price to reach and now it was 16-all. This is the way you write really corny drama, the sort of thing you see in films and say is unbelievable. After over a hundred minutes, it came down to this one last point.

Tense is a huge understatement to describe the atmosphere in the Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central station. Walker served, they exchanged length shots and then Walker courageously went for a backhand drop into the right front corner. Price fell going for it but he was nowhere near to picking it up and it was finally all over. Walker yelped for joy and Price, from his sitting position flung the racket at the wall. This had been one hour and 43 minutes of great entertainment and once more Walker had defied the ravages of time to prevail over younger men.

He sat taking hugs from a line of woman and congratulations from everybody, while he held an ice bag to the ugly bruise on his thigh caused by the ball hit by Price. Price was being consoled by Rodney Eyles and when I approached him told me to go away and never speak to him again. Must have been something I wrote.

ONE EASY HOUR FOR POWER
Wael el Hindi kept Jonathon Power on court for almost an hour in their quarter final match, but it was a very relaxed hour and I doubt whether Power had to change his shirt because of excessive perspiration. He needed the rest after his 110 minute second round match and fortunately he found El Hindi in a mood to hit winners which meant no rally lasted more than a dozen shots and Power's tongue got a bigger workout than the rest of his body.

He was in fine, benevolent form, a good indication that he did not feel threatened by the young Egyptian. That may be true this year but next year, when El Hindi goes on the circuit full time, he may be a much harder opponent to handle.

"FACTS ARE NOTHING WITHOUT NUANCE"
I think it was Norman Mailer who said those profound words and Power must be a Mailer fan. At one point in the second game El Hindi claimed a let because his racket had come into contact with Power.

"I hit him with my racket," El Hindi said indignantly, "Ask him." So the referee posed the question. Power, equally indignant replied "He grazed me with his racket." Ah, such nuance --- do the rules make a difference between a hit and a graze? Earlier in the game Power had taken time to conduct a rules "clinic" (his words) to explain a point.

Jonathon Power and Wael El Hindi

The officials, Mike Riley and Barry Faguy listened politely, said nothing and the game continued. So what about the squash? Nothing great, a few explosive rallies, a lot of drops and the usual display of remarkable wristwork from Power, while El Hindi showed that he has the ability to put in winners with the usual Egyptian flair. Power won the first two games and relaxed just a little too much in the third and suddenly El Hindi had a 7-1 lead.

Power slowly worked his mind back into the game to get to 13-13 at which point El Hindi smacked an overhead shot into the nick and he was at game point. Benevolence is one thing, but going into a fourth game was not on Power's itinerary and moving up a few gears he constructed a good rally ending in a winning backhand cross court drive to force overtime.

Two errors from El Hindi and a lucky nick by the service box gave Power the game 17-14 and his passage into the semi-finals.

QUARTER-FINALS
Jonathon Power (Can) bt Wael El Hindi (Egy) 15-12,15-9. 171-4. (57 mins).
Chris Walker (Eng) bt Paul Price (Aus) 15-11, 6-15, 7-15, 15-8, 17-16 (102 mins)