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 EN BREF
Everything you didn't know you needed
to
know about the British Open... |
Issue 4:
Saturday 6th Nov |
 THANKS TO NSRC…
Rachel Grinham, after so convincingly winning her
second Harris British Open title, listed a few people that she
wanted to thank. Among the usual suspects, she thanked
Nottingham Squash Club, for the impeccable organisation
they offered during the whole week.
“It was a pretty hectic week”, she said, “and they did
wonderfully well. Everybody there is really fantastic with the
players, they really take good care of us…”
Hear hear…!!!! |
JOHN
NIMICK
 It
was the first time I was meeting THE MAN in person. Heard a
lot about him though, but I never actually saw him. So I sort
of thought that maybe he was a fiction… Well, now, he does
exist, and this week, he was in Nottingham, organising,
talking, arranging, sorting…
Pleasure to have met you at last, sir…. |
 COME
ON AUSTRALIA…
Squash is made of a lot of different factors. Players, of
course, sponsors, organisers, volunteers… but also and
foremost… the fans… And boy o boy, did we have some fans
during the event… On the final day, for example, we had a
Shabana fan who was more vocal than a whole row of seats,
but the fan who gets the Fan Award this week is called
Dallas Trowbridge, from Perth.
We heard “come on Joe”, “come on Dave”, “come on Rachael” …
Who ever was playing from Australia had Dave to cheer them
on. But that’s not all… Dallas has an ability to count
rallies, so, in my reports, when I told you how many shots
were there in a rally, well, I didn’t count them myself,
Dallas did…Thanks mate…
So, needless to say that, on the final day in particular,
the bubbly Aussie had reasons to celebrate…. |
 PARTY
POKER….
How to get a better deal…? Just play poker guys… Well,
Rachael Grinham doubled her British Open Prize Money, thanks
to one the sponsors of the event, PartyPoker.com.
David Palmer, who is about to get married in January the 8th
(my birthday, how sweet of him), and the Lady Champion sat
at the table, and played best of 5 hands, and Rachael won
3/1. So, the lucky lady doubled her prize of £3,250 … What a
lady, What a night….! |
JUDY:
As you who are reading these words have most probably never
seen the “backstage” of the Albert Hall in Nottingham, the
press room is actually 3 flights of stairs higher than the
tournament office. And as the journalists are normally busy
typing away up there in the Gods, just under the roof,
somebody has got to, AFTER EACH MATCH, take photocopies of the
score sheet, to those journalists. And this week, the lovely
dedicated Judy Williams, the Tournament Administrator,
has been keeping her fitness with no need of a gym, let me
tell you.
 Up, down, up, down… She has been running in the corridors, up
the stairs,
driving
mad French women to their hotel in the middle of the night,
the first to arrive on the job (along with Andrew Shelley,
who has been praised by a lot of players, Thierry in
particular, who was all praise for Andrew’s organisation last
night…), and the last one to leave.
Tournaments cannot function with dedicated people like Judy.
So, thanks lovely lady…. |
A DOTTED
ROUND-UP…
Well, quite difficult to summarise an event that you actually
missed! I didn’t see much of the Harris British Open, I must
say. And I feel cheated really… Because of my work, I missed
two-thirds of the matches, couldn’t chat with people, couldn’t
do my mini-portraits as much as I normally do, and how on
earth do you get “en bref” info on an even if you are not at
the event!!!!
Well, at least today, I’m able to sit and write, without
having to rush to London, and I’m going to actually SEE the
whole day! That will be a nice change, I’m here to tell you…. |
It
was nice to see Craig van der Wath, over here from
South Africa, winning his second Over 35 title, and his award
was presented by "Mister Event Engine" himself, John Nimick
... |
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Issue 3:
Wednesday
3rd Nov |
|
 MR
PRESS…
I just love the man…
Yes, you may know I love a lot of people. Well, like my rear
end, my heart is on the large side….
Since the first day I met Howard Harding in the Press
Room at the Nationals in Manchester 2004, his efficiency, his
kindness, his professionalism, his knowledge, and his
dedication to help out desperate journalists in search of
phone lines, wireless connections, information, food…
Always smiling, always available, always competent, he knows
everything there is to know about squash, and above all, he
respects highly the work of his colleagues.
He is a joy to work with.
Thank you Howard…. |
WIRELESS HEAVEN…
Quel bonheur…
 What
a pleasant feeling…
After a few days of connection hell (probably coming from my
computer's wireless card), after annoying the lovely Ria
from Nottingham Squash Club soooooo many times for her to come
to the press room and sort out my computer who decided that
no, he didn’t like the wireless connection of the NSC,
happiness of happiness, my laptop has now decided that yes, he
likes Albert Hall Wireless system….
Bless…
Don’t you just LLLLLOVE computers???? |
 NEIL
HARVEY:
CHARITY RECORD FOR
POLAND ...
Most of you know Neil Harvey for his coaching talents, as he's
coached Peter Nicol for years, and now he is taking care of LJ
Anjema, Timothy Arnold, Mohamed Azlan Iskandar, Elise Ng and
Neil Hitchens principally.
But his coaching leaves nearly all his afternoons free, and
allows him to travel whenever he decides to. So for a few
months now, Neil has been heavily involved with an association
called “Children’s Fantasy Foundation for Terminally Ill
Children in Poland”.
“Basically, children who are terminally ill want to see a wish
fulfilled, and this gives those kids a fantastic opportunity
to live their dream. And as one way to fund that charity, a
song is about to be recorded tomorrow in a studio in London,
then it will be sent across to Poland where a panel of rock
stars are going to do the voices for us. Then we will be
releasing it on a live telethon in January in Poland, a two
hour live TV show.
“So
I have been busy putting a show together for that. It’s nice
because it goes hand in hand with the squash, as I have my
afternoons free to work on it.” |
PAUL WALTERS
SAVES MY DAY…
 Here
I was, trying to get a quick bite between the writing of some
“en bref” pieces. The place is lovely, well organised, and the
food I must say is excellent….
“Even by your standard, Framboise, that means that it
MUST be good”, smiled Times journalist Colin McQuillan
who, I understand, likes his food as well….
But when I asked Sarah, the very efficient and smiling
lady in charge, for a tea, she looked at my “meal ticket” and
said, “but I will need some money for the tea”…
Blast!
I didn’t have any with me. And the press room is in the Skies
of the Theatre, and bad knee and stairs do not go that well
together…. Just then in came Paul Walters … and
saved my day…
Royally, he gave the lady a one pound coin, and I was saved…
So you see, Paul Walters IS indispensable…. |
|
Issue 2:
Monday 1st Nov |
 PAUL
SCIBERRAS
You may not know that Thierry Lincou, French Number 1
and World number two, who is starting his campaign today in
view to be the first Frenchman ever to lift the Harris British
Open trophy, has got 2 coaches. Franck Carlino, who’s
been working with Thierry since he was, I think, 13 (who some
of you may have seen at the Super Series Finals last May, a
tournament that Thierry won), and also Paul Sciberras,
who has been working with our champion for a few years now.
Well, for this event, Paul made the voyage, and will be here
to support Lincou of course, and his other “protégé”, Renan
Lavigne, who will be playing tomorrow against
another Frenchman, Grégory Gaultier.
 So
if you add to that Isabelle Stoehr, who plays today,
Laurent Elriani, here supporting Linda, plus me, there you
are surrounded with French citizens. But don’t worry, it’s not
catching, we were born that way… |
 No
room at The Park
Nottingham Squash Club's car park attendant Jeff is facing a
busy few days. With the Masters events starting early, and the
main events at noon there is simply nowhere to park. Victims
of their own success, I guess!
 |
SO MANY
REFS…
Imagine the number of matches that are being played every hour
here, at the Nottingham Squash Club. Masters, so many
categories, men and women, the qualifications, men and women,
now the main draw, men and women…
 You
meet grey England Squash shirts everywhere, and you spend your
time saying, hello, hello, ah hello… Because you come to know
them all, or nearly…
So far, I didn’t hear about any real trouble. As far as I’ve
heard, every match has been going pretty smoothly. But then
again, it’s only the beginning, now, isn’t it….
Oh, shush, everything is going to go fine, as usual… |
Neil
Harvey FORECAST ...
“As far as the competition is concerned, Thierry Lincou
would be my favourite, because he is in form, he has been
playing very well, he played well in HK, and at the Super
Gerrard, and I think it gave him the confidence he needed.
“Of course, Lee Beachill as well, but then, as a
surprise, I think that Grégory Gaultier could cause a
major upset. I saw him practice, and again, he looks like he
has gained a lot of confidence from his performances recently.
As a coach, you can tell when you look at a player’s presence.
Before, he looked a bit like a young arrogant squash player,
now, he looks much more assured, and I think it’s his
victories in a few tournaments that have given him that
confidence. So Gregory could be my dark horse, certainly for
the final.” |
|
Issue 1:
SATURDAY 30th |
Mr and Mrs Durbach
 I asked
Zoe, the new Mrs Durbach if she was happy her husband
was in the main draw.
“She is not as happy as I am”, cut in the South African.”
“Oh well, as long as he’s happy, I’m happy” said the tall
lady, simply .
Call me softy, but for me, that’s real love…
 |
Shabana officially engaged…
 Girls,
another one that is gone… Amr Shabana, the lovely
charming cheeky Egyptian, world champion, has found complete
happiness… her name is Najla, and the wedding is
planned for May.
“She is fluent in French,” Amr told me, “actually,
French is her first language, so you’ll have to teach me
French…”
“I tell you what” I replied, “You send me a piece for
Kaleidoscope, as you promised, and I give you French lesson.”
“Done”, he smiled.
Boy, isn’t it hard to get you articles…. |
 Laurens
Jan Anjema
'LJ'
lost a heart-breaking match against Stacey Ross, 11/10 in the
fifth after 85 minutes, after having two match balls.
Here's what LJ's coach Neil Harvey thought about it ... |
In your opinion, why did LJ lose today?
“I felt that LJ is a bit tired mentally, he played three
tournaments in America, and he struggled with the jetlag this
time, it really upset his rhythm and I think it was a
contributing factor to his mental and physical preparation.
Stacey and he always have a hard close game. They know each
other’s game quite well, they’ve played a few times.”
Was LJ nervous?
“He wasn’t nervous about the event, he was more nervous of the
court and the heat, he says he finds it hard in the heat. Like
I said to him, you'd better learn to cope in all conditions. I
know that LJ will be very disappointed to lose the match after
having two match balls. On top of that, I feel that in the
first round, he is capable of a major upset, whereas I’m not
sure Stacey can upset anyone, particularly after a match like
that where he’s done a hell of a lot of work. You’ve got to
win your matches more quickly and more severely to get in the
main in good shape for the next round.” |
 Stacey
Ross:
“It’s not the first time I’ve been in the main draw, I can’t
remember when it was, two or three years ago. I feel alright,
despite playing two hard games yesterday and today, I feel I
can do well tomorrow.
Today, I felt that, as usual, I play my best when I’m relaxed,
but when I get tense, I stop attacking, and that not what I
should do…
 And of course, the fact that my wife is due any minute now is
always in the back of my mind, but I’m really trying to forget
about it while I’m playing…”
Debbie
Ross ...
almost there |
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All
content ©2004 Framboise Gommendy |
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