Merry Christmas!

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's Boxing Day here in Oz so that means it's time for the Boxing Day Test match with the South Africans. (that's cricket for those who didn't understand the last sentence...) Should be a cracking game. The Aussies have to win this one to tie up the series 1-1 in the best of 3 Test matches.

Getting back to squash, it's been good to have a couple of days off but tomorrow I'll be back into the grind of training. I've got a few weeks till ToC in New York next month, and I'm really looking to put a good showing in there to kick the new year off on a good note.

Cam

Saudi Arabia 2

I played Greg Guiltier tonight in the 2nd round of the Saudi Arabian event and unfortunately he won 3-1. I played very well in the 2nd game (the one I got) but didn't play like that enough throughout the match. There were patches where I controlled the game quite well and made him do some running but he's a quick little bugger! I'm bac in Australia for a while now before heading over to the States for the Tournament of Champions in New York. Looking forward to putting the feet up for a few days, re-charge the batteries, then getting back into it!

Saudi Arabia

I'm competing in Saudi Arabi at the moment in the World's richest squash event. The setup here is pretty impressive as we're staying at the resort which the Squash Club and Glass Court are setup! I won my first round match against Olli Tuominen 3-0 today. This was a match I really wanted to win as it's the last tourny of the year plus I have never made the 2nd round here in 3 previous attempts. I didn't play amazing but I kept it pretty solid for the whole match. Olli had a decent lead in the 3rd but with a few unforced errors let me back into it. Now I play Frenchie Guiltier the No.2 seed on Tuesday - have a rest day tomorrow.

Guest Editor - L.J. Anjema

Ok, so without further ado, I present my guest editor, Mr L.J. Anjema and his post.....


In my quarter-final match during the Qatar Classic about one month ago I got confronted with –apparently- a ‘new’ rule in professional squash and also with my own frustration. After an important hard fought rally which I won, I yelled to myself in encouragement: “Come on!”, and as I’m Dutch and as I was talking only to myself, my spoken language during my outburst, was Dutch.

I think every professional athlete knows that an exclamation of this sort, though it might sound aggressive, is not meant in a hostile manner or directed personally to your opponent. It is a positve reinforcement/encouragement to yourself. After all, we’re not delivering pizzas, we’re trying to perform under high pressure at world class level in sometimes brutal conditions.

After my “Kom op!” I was surprisingly asked by the referee to refrain from speaking my own language on court. I don’t get angry quickly, but this comment infuriated me! This comment pressed all the wrong buttons I had! Why should I speak another language if I talk to myself? Where did this rule suddenly come from? Do I have to first: think it, then: translate it and finally: yell it out? And all this in the heat of the moment? The fact that I can speak a few languages doesn’t mean I have to choose the language of my referees preference. What if I was from China and I could only speak Chinese, should I then not be allowed to say anything at all on court?

The referee said that he couldn’t tell whether I was swearing or not. This I could hardly understand because ‘kom op’ and ‘come on’ look and sound mysteriously similar, especially after a long rally you’ve just won. And besides that, if I WAS swearing and the referee couldn’t understand my native language, how many people in the Qatarian crowd could have? Isn’t the most important reason behind the language abusal rule that it might be offensive to the public and therefore not to be tolerated? The fact that the referee can’t understand my language: is that supposed to be MY problem? Well… that day, it was!

I don’t generally make a lot of fuss about umpires’ calls or argue much but this went too far. Of course, besides calling lets, strokes and the score, they should watch players’ behavior and make sure rackets are not flying all over the place. But referees are referees and shouldn’t take up the role of policemen.

And lastly, let’s look at behavior: I get the feeling that it is more and more expected that players should become quiet emotionless squash ball hitting robots. And this for ‘the good of the game’ and a ‘professional image’!

I couldn’t disagree more. We have a great tour with players from different countries, backgrounds, cultures and with different personalities. We should allow them to come out and show themselves without being shut up every time they open their mouths on court. It is the personalities of the players that first-time-squash-viewers are attracted to and might or might not indentify with.

Let’s not put one boring mold on the definition of ‘good behavior’. It is not only the sport itself but also the personalities that make a sport entertaining to watch. Let’s allow and bring back some emotion and some passion in this awesome sport! And yes, that is for the good of game.

L.J.

Friday night I lost to Willstrop in the Quarters of HK 3-0. After playing quite well in my first 2 rounds I was a bit disappointed to lose in straight games. But to honest, James was far too good on the day. I played pretty loose and gave him way too many angles to work with and he made me pay the price. Overall I'm happy with my tournament and can't wait to get to Macau and try and do even better. It was my first quarter final appearance in a Super Series event and hopefully not the last. Definitely a learning experience I'll take on board with me.

I had a good win today over Nick Matthew 3 - 0 in the 2nd round of HK. I felt pretty good on there tonight and everything I did seemed to work, which is nice to experience after some poor form recently. The first game I played quite solidly and won it ok. Then in the 2nd game after having a bit of a lead, I let it slip and he got back to 9-10. He served from the right side and I slotted a nick off the serve to go 2-0 up. In the 3rd I got off to a great start going 5-0 up. He managed to get a few points back but I pulled myself together again and some how ran away with it. I play Willstrop tomorrow night in the Quarter finals. Hopefully get some revenge from losing in the final of the Canary Wharf Classic to him back in March. He beat Beng Hee today.

Today I won my first round match in the HK Open against Wael El Hindi, 3-0. I was 2-0 and 6-3 up in the 3rd when he had to retire through injury. He came on court with his wrist strapped so there was obviously something wrong, but even if you're playing someone who is not 100%, you still have to get the job done. It's sometimes tougher mentally playing a match like that! There were't too many upsets in Round 1. Borja beat LJ 3-2, Ali beat Olli 3-1 and I think that's about it. I play Nick Matthew tomorrow night in the Round of 16 and I hope I can continue hitting the ball nicely and get into a tough match!

Hong Kong

The PSA Men's World Tour is now in Hong Kong and it's a nice little weather change to Europe that's for sure! After bowing out in the Quarter final's of the Santiago Open last week, I'm looking forward to getting some form back this week. We start play on Wednesday and I'm playing El Hindi from Egypt first round. The HK event has been around for years now and there's some great player's who have their name on the trophy. HK is definitely one of the favourite events for both the PSA guys and WISPA girls. People are so friendly and the food is awesome. I'm here for a week before jumping over to Macau on the ferry.

My guest editor will be posting this week from HK on an incident which he was involved in in Qatar.

Santiago De Compostela!

Well after winning my first round match against Johnny Harford in the 1st round, I'm playing Columbian Miguel Rodriguez tonight in the Quarters. There was only one upset in the first round with defending champ Davide losing to Simon Rosner in a massive 5 setter. The court and setup here in Santiago is pretty impresive actually. The hotel is joined to the shopping centre where the glass court is setup so that's very convenient, and the glass court itself seems to play really well!

There's going to be a guest writer within the next week regarding an incident at the Qatar Classic so make sure you check it out...

The Qatar Classic has just finished and Darwish took the title over Shabana. Unfortunately I had a disappointing loss in the first round to young Egyptian Tarek Momen. I’m in The Hague at the moment for a few days, getting ready for the 3 Star event in Santiago, Spain, which starts next Wednesday. I’m seeded 3 for the event behind LJ (Laurens Anjema) and Bozza (Stewart Boswell). The guys who played the tournament last year gave it the thumbs up and it’s being played on an all glass court in a massive shopping centre so it should have a good atmosphere. Defending champ Davide Bianchetti is playing along with a bunch of other guys ranked between 20 and 30 so it’s going to be a tough tournament. 10 days after Spain I’m off to Hong Kong and Macau for a couple of events. Hong Kong is one of my favourite events and it will be the first time I’ve been to Macau!

Busy times ahead

This next period up until Christmas is a pretty busy one for the squash world. I've got 5 more events which I'm playing before I head back to Oz for the 'festive period'. I can't wait to get home and chill out for a bit really. It will have been a hectic few months by the time I get home. I think I'll be playing some golf, having a surf and relaxing...
Next up is the Qatar Classic which starts on the 27th. I've got Mr Lincou first round which will be a tough one, but I've never played him before so i'm looking forward to it.
The bulk of my training is basically done for the year as we pretty much travel from tournament to tournament from now on. If I have a week or 2 without an event then you still train but it's just to keep you sharp and on your toes. You don't want to be ruining your body right before the tournament. With 5 days before I play, preparation starts now.
Cam

World Open is on!

With the World Open qualifying starting on the 11th of October, all eyes are going to be on Manchester and some of the world's best athletes. There's going to be some great matches during the week long tournament as all the players are no doubt trying to peak for the event. I'm heading there on the 12th and due to play a qualifier first round, with a possible meeting with the young fella Ramy Ashour in the 2nd round.

Shabana is the defending champ but there's so many players who can win the title. There's guys who seem to do well in every world open and there's guys who are hitting form at the right time. Should be an interesting fight for the title....