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 THE
NEW PALMER?
“I felt I let myself down at the end of the tournaments
recently, in semi-finals, in finals, I was getting frustrated,
and taking out my frustration on the other player, on the
referees, and I wasn’t happy at all about it. So, I phoned my
old coach Joe Shaw, who gave me two or three mental
exercises, and it helped me sort myself out”…
Well, I have to say that the Old Magician Joe Shaw did it
again… Palmer was very calm, very contained during the match.
Yes, there was that line addressed to the Ref “We’re on for a
physical match now”, in reference to several “no let”
decisions that Palmer received, to which the Egyptian retorted
instantly “And we all know who is going to win that one, now,
don’t we”… Then, a few rallies later, a very strong push from
Palmer, that only got a verbal warning, and of course, another
strong push from Shabana onto his opponent, which this time
got the Egyptian a “conduct warning”.
But overall, a very well behaved David Palmer, who was
on the court to win his third Harris British Open crowd the
good way. And an Amr Shabana trying his best to prevent
him doing so…
First game: 35 minutes, 10/10, 6/4. Impressive, don’t you
think? Needless to say that the rallies were long, very long,
disputed, very disputed. And so many lets. Or no lets for that
matter.
 8/8.
10/8, game ball for Shabana. Then, “drama”, the Egyptian
receives Palmer’s racquet in the mouth, the ref awards a
stroke to the Australian, a decision that sets Shabana on
fire, who then returns his opponent's serve in a fantastic
nick welcomed by the crowd with a roar of admiration. 10/10.
12/12. 13/13. 14/14.
So many lets, so many longs rallies, perfect lengths from
Palmer, magic shots from Shabana, a referee that keeps his
head and composure in a very difficult game, and finally,
finally, Shabana grasps the first game, 6/4 in the tie-break.
It will be the only one he wins. Mentally, I believe that the
game took too much out of him, not physically. But mentally,
he was exhausted. He loses the second in 9 minutes, 11/9.
In the third, Shabana has recovered from his emotions, but now
Palmer has the control of the game. 6/6. 8/8. 9/9. 10/10. With
a glued to the wall backhand drive, and a stroke, Palmer is
now 2/1 up.
Shabana will fight until the end, but Palmer's precision,
relentlessness, fitness (he didn’t seem to suffer whatsoever
from his 101 minutes match the day before against Lee
Beachill), length and retrieving just exhausted the Egyptian.
Talk about retrieving, Palmer spent his time defending and
retrieving as if his life and his family’s depended on it. You
think I’m joking, but he threw himself so much on the floor
(mind you, Amr didn’t stay on his two feet much either), that
the two boys in charge of sweeping the court spent their lives
going in and out of the glass court! It would have been
quicker to keep them on the court, play a 3/4 conditioned
game, I tell you…
Joke apart, Palmer won the match on his retrieving. And after
the match, I was chatting with some of the players, and the
general consensus was that not many people on the circuit
would have been able to retrieve Amr's shots today… Palmer
did…
And so, after 89 minutes of squash of the highest quality,
David Palmer gets his third British Open title. And a very
deserving Champion he is.
But as we have the New Palmer, the New Shabana has been born
this week. And like David Palmer said in his acceptance
speech, “Amr deserves to be World Champion”…
Look out world, Shabana is coming…!
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[3] David Palmer (Aus) bt
[5] Amr Shabana (Egy)
10/11(4-6), 11/7, 11/10(2-0), 11/7 (89m) |
 “That
was tough, but a British Open final should be tough.
Amr’s been playing well all week, he’s a good shot
player and he showed that again today. I just had to
contain him, live with him during the spells when he was
on fire.
“The
first game was good for me. I lost it, but at 35 minutes
it was hard and I knew he wasn’t one of the fittest
players on the tour, it extended him. I felt confident I
would win from 2/1 up, but he came back well in the
fourth, so I’m happy to come off 3/1.
“It
was a bit physical, yes, but you have to realise it's
the British Open final, he's the world champion, I'm the
defending champion. It's bound to be tough.”
David Palmer |
 “It’s
my first win with the new scoring, and not a bad one to
start with! I think that, when we changed scoring, I
tried to change my game too much, I lost my patience in
the rallies. So, I got back to my normal game and it
seems to work fine!”
How does it feel to be three times British Open
Champion?
“It feels bloody good, that's what! And as it comes the
same month I found myself being world number 3, before
Peter Nicol, and getting married in January, this crowns
it all.”
David Palmer |
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GRINHAM:
THE MINI CHAMPION…
If
you have as a stereotype in your brain that physical power and
body building makes a lady squash player, think again.
Rachael Grinham looks like a cute little mouse, not an
inch of fat, of course, for which I think we should all hate
her…
She was today meeting Natalie Grainger, another
personality of the tour, tall, always smiling a wicked smile,
strong, powerful, and with a great sense of humour. I had the
chance to speak a few minutes with
Natalie, and I must say, I was seduced. She’s obviously
been there and back, but doesn’t dwell over it, and just gets
on with life… Great personality indeed…
I was looking forward to the encounter, and well seated in
front of the backwall in a packed Albert Hall, pen and block
note in hand, I started watching my first ever Harris British
Open final.
Rachael started the match a bit nervously, and was overwhelmed
by her opponent’s powerful hit. Very quickly, the American
took the lead 4/0, mainly by combining hard hitting with
lethal backhand drop shots. A few tins and out of court shots
later, Natalie was putting her name on the score board, 9/3 in
7 minutes.
 But
all started to go wrong after that. Grainger was still placing
some remarkable return of serves in the nick, some flamboyant
shots, but too many tins gave her opponent an easy lead 7/2.
We stayed at 8/5 for a few serves,
as Rachael needed three game balls to finally cement her
superiority, and equalise 9/5 in the second.
Totally outplayed in the third, Natalie could only watch from
far her opponent boasting her away, a boast that Rachael hits
from the middle right of the court, when you expect a drive…
Lethal, let me tell you. Add to that three tins from the
American, two strokes and a backhand drop shot literally glued
to the wall, and you have a 9/0 for Australia…
The fourth was much closer up to 3/3. Even if Rachael still
controls the rallies, Natalie is more present, more
aggressive, places some great shots, backhand drives, cross
court kills, perfect lobs, that force the Australian to make
mistakes at last. But at 3/3, a volley drop shot and a perfect
length drive give the advantage back to Rachael, and she will
never look back. By then, Natalie, who only had 13 matches
since her comeback at the beginning of October, is running out
of steam, makes just too many mistakes, and bows out of the
British Open, offering Rachael Grinham her second title in a
row on a Silver Racquet…
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[1] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt
[4] Natalie Grainger (Usa)
3/9, 9/5, 9/0, 9/3 (41m) |
 “In
the first, I was struggling a bit, I was a bit behind the
ball. So I tried to come back to my game plan which was to
slow down the pace, to lob as much as possible to slow it
down, as Natalie doesn’t like a slow pace.
“I was able to use a lob serve, which I would not do
normally, as Natalie would just nick the ball back. But on
this court, when you look up, you can easily lose the ball
in the lights, so I was able to use that serve, and it was
quite effective.
“I wasn’t feeling up for the tournament in the beginning,
mentally, I wasn’t that strong. But I guess that it
happens, when you are not that strong, you very often do a
very good tournament.
“Last year, after my first victory here, I wanted to prove
that I was not a lucky winner. So after the event, I
worked very hard all season, and it paid off. But the
second title is very special, now it’s like a recognition,
a confirmation…
“Of course I miss my [injured] sister, but you know, when
you get to play on the tour, you don’t feel that lonely,
because as you learn to know everybody, they become a sort
of family, and you don’t feel lonely at all….”
Rachael Grinham |
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Rachael
doubles her money thanks to PartyPoker.com |
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