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En Bref #2

A bit of a busy day
that was...
 

Everything you need to know about the ToC...

Eight matches today, split over four clubs so there was NO CHANCE I was going to be able to bring you too much info on the matches. Add to that a few internet connection problems at the hotel, and I nearly killed myself tonight!

Oh well, you'll have to be a bit patient tonight to get the infos, but we'll get there, as ever...

So, Nicholas, Mathieu, Yasser, Bernardo, Adrian, Ryan, Alan and Shaun are about to enter the Big Arena of the ToC. As far as I know, for at least 6 out of 8, it will be for the first time ever....

Harvard Club
Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
                  9/11, 11/4, 11/4, 12/10                 to play Illingworth
Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Mohammad Abbas (Egy)
                   w/o                                             to play Ramy

Cityview
Yasser El Halaby (Egy) bt Grégoire Marche (Fra)
                  11/8, 11/9, 11/2 (33m)                to play Hisham
Bernardo Samper (Col) bt Stéphane Galifi (Ita)
                   11/13, 11/9, 11/4, 11/8 (57m)    to play Rodriguez

Princeton Club
Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Scott Arnold (Aus)
                  12/10, 8/11, 11/7, 11/6, (68m)     to play Tuominen
Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Chris Walker (Eng)
                  11/8, 11/5, 11/7 (50m)                to play Matthew

Yale Club
Alan Clyne (Sco) bt Yasir Butt (Pak)
                   11/9, 11/8, 11/7 (46m)               to play Gaultier
Shaun Le Roux (Eng) bt Campbell Grayson (Nzl)
                    11/3, 11/6, 7/11, 11/9 (74m)     to play Willstrop
 

Nicolas Mueller (Sui) bt Chris Gordon (Usa)
                  9/11, 11/4, 11/4, 12/10  plays Illingworth

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO…

One of those games you really wouldn’t want a loser to come off court.

Two gentlemen of the game, both young, both with a perfect sportsmanship spirit, both tall, lean, fit, loving volleying, loving to counterattack and counterdrop, both accurate, patient, with flair and intelligence.

Ouuuuffff.

It gives a superb match, with Chris starting really well and Nick a bit lethargic, but waking up in the second and third, pushing the American bothton the back and into the red! But Chris is a stubborn boy, and wouldn’t let the Swiss get away with it. You want the game, he seemed to say in the fourth, come and get it, I’m not giving anything to you, mate.

The end of the match was breathtaking. Extremely long rallies, with two players mirroring each other’s shots, in a perfect respect of the spirit of the game. Very few decisions, fluidity on the court…

It’s Chris who loses today, and Nicholas who comes to realise his dream of playing at the ToC. But what a match that was, and the standing ovation both players received was well deserved….

First of all, he took the ball in short exceptionally well, and I had a lot of work to retrieve his shots in the front corners.

Over all, I’m happy with my performance, give or take a few points, where it could have been a bit different.

It was a very physical match, the pace was very high, and he was up on the Tline constantly, I had to match it if I wanted to stay in the match, and I had to make a big effort there.

In the second and third, it’s not so much I run out of steam, but that I played the wrong game, slowing down the pace and not getting up the court enough. And it took me two games to realise that. In the 4th, I picked up the pace, and was able to get more pressure on him.

Any regret? Hitting the tin on match ball…

My first super series! I know I don’t show much, but inside, I’m really happy!

I fell in love with NY at first sight, and so far, it’s been very good to me… Playing in Grand Central is a dream come true, when I walked in there, it was the most beautiful venue I ever saw in my life…

In the first game, I didn’t pick up the pace enough, but still, he had to do a lot of work. In the 2nd and 3rd, I played the game I would like to play all the time, I didn’t play a lot of errors either.

In the 4th, I lost my head a bit, and he surprised me with the way he dug in there, I thought he had done a lot of work… But at 9/10 game ball down, I hit the best shot I ever played, a volley crosscourt nick that roll… I don’t know what I thought when I played that…

The last rally of the match, well, just ridiculous, and I’m so happy he tinned it… Looking forward to the draw now, I hope I get a good one…

Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt Mohammad Abbas (Egy)
                   w/o    plays Ramy

AND AGAIN...

"There are good days and there are bad days", told me Abbas yesterday, and I could hear in his voice this was not a good moment for him. I must say I wasn't surprised to hear that he just couldn't play because of his recurring back injury. I guess that Jethro's match put too much pressure on the Egyptian and the body just couldn't hold it....

How frustrating for Gentleman Abbas and for us, as we were really looking for a good match against Mathieu, and who knows, maybe to the pleasure of seeing this lovely player back on the Major Scene again....

I’m very happy to play in my first ever ToC, of course, although I feel somehow I didn’t win it. Normally, you win your matches, you win the right to be there, whereas in those circumstances, I didn’t and I don’t feel I deserve that spot really…

Now, I’m going to use this opportunity to play on the glass court of the TOC, the best ever venue in the world….

Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Scott Arnold (Aus)
                  12/10, 8/11, 11/7, 11/6, (68m)  plays Tuominen

I’m having a great time so far!!!!!!

For the first two games, we were very close, it was tight all along, and could have gone either way. In the second, he stepped up, and put me under a lot of pressure, taking that game.

But after that, I was able to adjust my length a bit better, and to prevent him to get to the ball by moving him around more, and that created more opportunities for me to attack.

At the end, it became a bit disputed, as it would, it was a good attacking game, and I was lucky there, I was up 5/2, but he made a good come back, 6/6, and I just was able to finish it off…




Yes, it was a long match, and I didn’t intend to play that long!!!

For too many patches I was too passive. There were times Adrian was playing too well and I just couldn’t do anything, but some other times, I just not accurate enough.

Too many unforced errors, I’m not too happy with my game tonight…

This was a good game, I’m happy to play, I’m happy to compete and make it as hard as I can, and let the card lay as they fall…

I didn’t feel that tired, and to be honest, I felt better and better as the match went along, but Ryan played really well today.

The referee’s decision disrupted both of us, although I’m not for a minute saying that it had any incidence on the end result, but it was very frustrating at times. Maybe I’m just old school….

I’m maybe carrying the flag for the old guys, I guess, a way to say “never give up on your dreams, just make it happen for yourself, no matter how old you are, you’ve got to take the risk. And I must say I took great strength and comfort with the number of emails I received after my victory yesterday…

I’m pretty happy really…

Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Chris Walker (Eng)
                  11/8, 11/5, 11/7 (50m)    plays Matthew 

FRUSTRATING RYAN….

If a few people had hoped for a surprise victory from the Englishman, I was fearing that his 70m match the day before had emptied the energy tank a bit… And it did. Yes, I know, the man denies it had any effect on his performance today, that he felt better and better as the match advanced. But I don’t think so.

And that's what makes his performance even more impressive really. Chris was running on fumes since the middle of the first game, and he never gave up, slowing down the ball superbly, taking any sort of pace of his volley drop shots to let it virtually die to the front tennis like, you know, the kind of shots Fabrice Santoro used to play.

And he was also able to stop start a “few” times, frustrating his young opponent who knew exactly what was going on there, but just couldn’t prevent the Fox to dig in, and get points here and there….

The first game lasted probably two thirds of the match, and was crucial. Don’t believe that Ryan had it easy today. Not for a minute. He could never relax, or take it for granted. Chris never stopped running, and lobbing (his return of serve in particular is so dangerous, and should be taught in schools), and loved his outraged discussions with the ref.

The show between those two lefties was brilliant, the crowd supported their man (Chris has been working and coaching in NY and Greenwich for years now, joined now by Mark Chaloner), and got enthusiastic every time the Englishman was sneaking a point! A lovely atmosphere really…

I had to keep my focus, I knew that from the start… He was a good player, and for an “old guy”, he is still pretty good! Of course, I knew he was going to use every trick in the book to slow down the pace, so keeping my concentration at all time was paramount.

This is my third time in the main draw, last year I reached the second round, I hope I could do as well this time…

Yasser El Halaby (Egy) bt Grégoire Marche (Fra)
                  11/8, 11/9, 11/2 (33m)   plays Hisham

Unfortunately, I won’t be playing on the Grand Central Glass Court. I just couldn’t do anything today, I was up all night thanks to a good gastro, I never closed my eyes, and spent the day in bed!

I was aware there was no chance I could win the way I was, but hey, I still gave it what I could, and was able to compete let’s say for two games, but the third was touch and go to run to the bathroom at basically every point….

Not a lucky US tour for me, first my ankle that I twist on the ice right before coming here, and that troubled me the first week, and then this. That just a bit too much…

Oh well, I’m going to try and recover as quickly as possible, to be ready for the next tournament…

En Bref #1:
Paris to New York ...

Princeton Club

"I’ve just taken a few month off recently because I got engaged, and my focus was on other things! I took a break from squash, and concentrated on my fiancée, we are both living in Greenwich…

"I’m still coaching of course, and matches like this one shows me that I still have the passion and the excitement about the game, and I hope it will give me the spark and will to go and get back in that game I never stop thinking about…"

Ryan Cuskelly (aus) bt TG Raubenheimer (Rsa) 11/5, 11/5, 11/5

RYAN COMFORTABLE…

… Well, sort of!

Looking at the score you may think yeah, no pb for the Australian. WRONG!!!

TG is what one may call an unconventional player. Obviously very gifted physically, although it’s obvious that he is lacking in squash fitness, the South African’s got a pretty supple wrist, that allows him to find some strange angles on his backhand. God he loves his crosscourt, he does.

The first game was pretty much point by point, and Ryan did well to grab the opener. I’ve seen the Australian play a few times, and he can get in a bit of a hurry to finish the point when under pressure, but with the first game under his belt, he soon relaxed, and gradually got his opponent more and more at the back, while he was able to adjust his excellent attacking shots on a very warm and bouncy court.

TG never said die, and at 2/0 and 8/3 down, he still argued with a ref about a few decisions that went against him, which proves that he is still pretty much into winning and didn’t come here to play extras…

A nice opener for me, in a lovely club, Princeton, minutes from Grand Central Station…

"I had a nice time over Christmas, over here in NY actually, with Scott, Aaron, and Phil Barker, the brother of Peter who lives over here now. A nice “quiet time” between us. But since the start of the year, I had already two tournaments, one here in NY, where I lost in the final against Ali Anwar Reda, and then one in Vancouver, so already, a busy time…

"TG is a player who stops a lot and finds winners all over the place. So, difficult first round, when you are trying to find a rhythm, and he plays crosscourt drops… And he lives in NY, so, I knew this was not going to be easy…"

Nicholas Mueller (Sui) bt Wade Johnstone (Aus)
                  11/8, 11/8, 11/7

NICOLAS UP AND…

Bless that young man… He is 20 after all, and allowed to have little “junior moments”… What I mean is, there he is, in control of the situation, like 8/1 in the first, to let Wade come back at 7/9, or 4/0 in the second, and letting it go to 4/5…

Gifted, Nicolas is, and it’s not Wade who will contradict me, he had to pick up all his attacks, and saw his own great shots coming back with a vengeance. But he needs to be more focused, especially when he is ahead…

Wade, well, lacked physical fitness, it was obvious. After two very hard rallies in the first game, the Australian took 8 points to recover, but he found his second wind, and came back to threaten his opponent enough to force a few errors out of him.

It’s such a shame Wade doesn’t have the opportunity to train in better conditions, as he really had some great rallies today, but unfortunately for him, he always seemed to finish on the wrong side of them…

An excellent match, with two big boys who attacked, retrieved, ran a lot, and the numerous crowd at the Harvard Club thoroughly enjoyed it…

"The ball was as fast as a gun tonight, I really had trouble controlling it. I’ve suffered a bit today, because I’ve been working only on my fitness, but my last match was a month ago, I’m lacking matches…

"I’m so lucky to get through in 3, Wade is pretty dangerous when it gets close. I played well in patches tonight, but I need to work on the mental side of things to play more consistently…"

"He started very well, putting the pace up, and as I’m not getting enough exposure to that kind of pace, it took me around 8 points to get used to it!

"It’s frustrating and heartbreaking not to be able to train as often as I would like, and play those guys who play day in and day out, whereas I get to play every fourth or fifth day if I’m lucky, and never as hard as that. But hey, old and married, it’s not likely to change is it, is it…

"Nicolas played very well, every time I was trying to put it deep, he would take me short, and I just couldn’t respond consistently enough…"

"I’m studying mechanical and Aerospatiale engineering at Princeton University, I’m in my third year now, and focusing on my studies for the next year and a half. My goals at the moment are to win both individual and team Championship here in the US, but after that, I would like to start and play on PSA.

"I’m training with Bob Callahan and Neil Ponphrey, who are working very close with me.

"Chris didn’t give me anything tonight, I had to win every point. His basic game was pretty solid, he didn’t make more than 8 unforced errors tonight I think and he picked up pretty much everything.

"After losing the second game, I remembered what my coach Neil always tells me, that I have to hurt him with the whole rally, not just a good shot. And that’s what I was able to do, be more persistent and concentrate on in the third."

Chris Gordon (USA) bt David Letourneau (CAN)
                11/4, 11/5, 10/12, 11/4

IMPRESSED BY DAVID

We all know Chris Gordon's solid game, and mental focus. But tonight, I was particularly impressed by “Tiger” David Letourneau.

That young man is not only extremely honest, calling his shots down at crucial times, but very focused for his game, his shot selection is impressive, he plays a tight, patient, yet at times inspired squash.

I truly believe this player has an enormous potential, and should be nurtured and looked after pretty closely. He could be the future star that Canada is desperate for since the retirement of Jonathan and Graham…

Chris didn’t lose his head tonight, although he got himself under a lot of pressure tonight. His experience and mental strength paid off, along with his fitness (young David was a bit tired in the fourth), and he rightly moves into the next round…

"I knew that David was going to be good, but how good, I didn’t know, as he is not playing on the tour yet. And I must say he surprised in the third, being two love up, I thought I was home free, especially with the way I won the first two games, where it was close at the start, and then pretty easy. So I was really taken by surprise with the way he dug in the third.

"In the fourth, I was able to get a good start, pick the pace up, get a few points ahead, and roll that cushion throughout the game…"

Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) bt Esteban Casarino (PAR)                       11/3, 11/7, 13/11 (47m)

I’m 33, Fram, I’m a father of two, I’m an amateur player, I stopped playing PSA I was 21, I used to be around the 90 mark at 19, I was not too bad, but… I kept playing a bit, regionally, and two years ago, I started playing again more seriously, and last year, did my first appearance in Richmond, where I’m wild card this year.

I’m not used to that kind of pace, I played at that level what, maybe 3 times last year? So this week, I’m going to stay around here to train and get more pace in those legs…

But Mathieu’s pick ups!!!! Oh my God! He made a few nice ones, but really, at the end, really impressive. I wish I would have taken the 3rd, though, as he was not on top of me in that game anymore, and had I taken that game, I may have been more in it…

I’m not sure why, is it the fact mentally I’m not strong enough throughout, or that physically, I’m a bit off, but I’m not able to finish tournaments as strong as I start them at the moment.

I guess that the long break I took over Christmas did me a heck of a good and will pay off for the rest of the season, but at this point in time, I’m not 100% back yet, I’m at 80%, here and in St Louis last week….

Esteban played better and better, he was well coached! And I think he probably got used to my game as well…

I’m in a stage of my career where I try and go for more shots, and I was pretty successful till 4/2 in the 3rd, where I maybe relaxed a bit too much and took him a bit too lightly. And it nearly cost me a lot, I was lucky to get off in 3 there, but it cost me energy I may need tomorrow, and also, you’ve got doubts about yourself that creep in, never good…

It’s always the same, I seem to pick up the short straw every time, I just hope it’ll change soon

Mohammed Abbas (EGY) bt Jethro Binns (WAL)
                11/7, 11/6, 11/5 (35m)

At the moment, I’m on the recovery period and I have good days, and bad ones from my back injury.

Why do I keep trying to come back while my body is crying for me to stop wearing shorts, and wear a suit?? Because Fram, squash is the only thing I do. And I wouldn’t look good in a suit anyway…

Grégoire Marche (FRA) bat Kashif Shuja (NZL)
                 7-11,12-10,11-6,12-10 (58m)

Today, first day of the quals of my first super serie! And I win 3/1 against Khashif in a very close match.

My ankle is still a bit sore, but I'm moving as well as I can! Tomorrow, I'm playing Yasser, it's a very crucial match for me, but I've got to take it as casual as possible, as if it was a normal day at the office, because I've been dreaming about playing on the Grand Central Glass Court like forever....

Greg Marche

Alan Clyne (SCO)  bt Tom Pashley (ENG)
 11-9,10-12,11-3,11-7 (49m)

In the first game, I tried to play too fast, and he ran away with the score, 6 or 7 up I think. I came back, by slowing down and controlling the game better, I was a bit unlucky to lose that one I thought.

In the second, I was feeling pretty comfortable at times, but made too many errors, I still take it 12/10, but those two took a lot out of me, so I let the 3rd go.

In the fourth I think we were pretty close at times, 7/7 I think, but I made too many unforced errors whereas I was controlling the game. All credit to him, he kept digging in and was pretty solid all the way through…

Campbell Grayson (NZL) bt Johan Bouquet (FRA)
                  11/4, 11/6, 11/7 (31m)

Johan managed to pick up a lot of shots today, but I was able to get in front of him, and volleyed a lot. He was moving and retrieving very well I thought, but I kept the pressure on, trying to prevent him to get into the game, but on a warm court, he made it very difficult for me…

Shaun Le Roux (ENG) bt  Liam Kenny (IRL)
                11-6, 11-7, ret. (20m)

I heard he was injured, that was the rumour anyway, but I went on there to play as well as possible, because sometimes, when somebody is injured, you get dragged down and it can become a bit scrappy.

He was still pretty good with the racquet, but I could see he was struggling movement wise, and that he couldn’t change direction…

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