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TODAY
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Issue 4:
SUN 15th August |
En BREF
Everything
you didn't know you needed to know |
NICK MATTHEW HAS GOT A MOTHER!
Yes, I’m sure you knew that, but what I mean, is that I eventually met her.
Up to now, I had only met Hedley, Nick’s father.
I find the lady extremely nice, well, I would, wouldn’t I, she likes my
articles, so… Joke apart, we had a lovely chat after the semi-finals, during
the party that Eventis organised in the Crucible Foyer.
By the way, the food was absolutely gorgeous!
During the party, Peter made a little speech to thank all the people who had
made this second edition of the Mamut English Open hosted by the Sheffield
Council a wonderful event. I started to write from memory all the people he
thanked, but I called this column “en bref”, so, it wouldn’t fit the format,
trust me.
Sue, Nick Matthew's mother, was very appreciative of James Willstrop’s
career and raise. “He is such a beautiful player, very down to earth, even
when he was a young boy, he was always very sensitive, very caring. I don’t
think that success will ever make him change…”
With such great parents, no wonder Nick Matthew is going up, up, up. Yes he
is, you people. God, he had one bad tournament, and like he told me at the
Super Series finals earlier this month, “you can’t win all the time”….
DOUBLE TROUBLE!
Terry Dudley and Ann Kerison are among the hundreds of
volunteers that have made the English Junior Open possible. They have
worked extremely hard this week of course, but they put in a tremendous
amount of effort during the year on behalf of the juniors, as do the
Hallamshire and Abbeydale clubs where the junior open was hosted.
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AND THAT’S IT, FOLKS…
It was my first English Open (which by the way lives up to its name, as only
English players have made it to the semis…), and I have to say, I hope it
won’t be my last.
 The
organisation was spotless. Tim Garner and Angus Kirkland were
everywhere, always with a smile, always available, always efficient. One
evening, I saw them at the bar of the Hilton, and I thought something was
wrong about their appearance…. They actually didn’t have their earpiece on,
and I had the impression they were naked!
 During
the party last night, Peter Nicol mentioned that the tickets sale went much
much better than the previous year, and that’s very good news. It was very
nice to see those great players being supported by a very large crowd, and
that is the result of the incredible amount of work the Eventis trio has put
into the event day in, day out.
The Hilton, one of the sponsors of the tournament, was wonderful. I
personally had a large room where I spent hours and hours (no, you bad
people, I wish I had the time!), while Steve Cubbins was camping in the bar
with his laptop to get some wireless reception.
 |
 The
staff was extremely helpful, smiling, coping with a bunch of mad squash
people, and wondering why a strange French woman was spending her life
taking picture of complete strangers!
I had to feel comfortable in the Crucible, now, hadn’t I? It’s a Theatre,
so, home to me. I love the corridors, up and down, large Green Room, huge
tournament office, lovely bar and there again, smiling and helpful
people.
 The
referees were familiar faces, Peter Kramer, tournament referee, Tony
Parker, Wendy Danzey and John Massarella. They did a perfect tournament, and
apart from one player’s bad attitude, the event went wonderfully smoothly…
Thanks lady and gentlemen…
I can’t say I enjoyed Sheffield though, as I didn’t see much of it!
But the view from the hotel was beautiful, the canal and the boats, the
quays… and last night, after the party, I walked home, and the surroundings
of the Crucible are really breathtaking.
So, Sheffield, lovely to nearly meeting you, and let’s hope that during my
next visit, I’ll have more time to walk around and discover the region…
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The view from the Hilton
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Issue 3:
SAT 14th August |
En BREF
Everything
you didn't know you needed to know |
 MISTER SQUASH
The man who is in the bar of the Hilton, at 7am, working his socks off
(literally) is Steve Cubbins.
Steve Cubbins is a name that a lot of you know, without knowing what he
looks like, or even sounds like.
He is the creator and the webmaster of SquashPlayer.co.uk and .fr.
The best friend that you can have, he is probably the only person in the
world that can cope with working with me.
He copes with my bursts of impatience, my short temper, my doubts, my fears,
my tears, my insecurity… Who else would?
Always there, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, always ready to work, always
ready to follow all the mad ideas I may have, always there to put on air the
dreams I have in my head. Quick to react, quick to adapt, quick to help,
quick to solve, he is the best thing that ever happened to the world of
internet as far as squash is concerned.
I wouldn’t be much without him, so go on, Steve, take a bow… |
ULSTER RUGBY PLAYERS
 Life is sweet…
If you read my column regularly, you cannot ignore that, like Mr Malcolm
Willstrop, I’m not that mad about football, to stay polite, and that I LOVE
rugby…
And more precisely rugby players…
And here I am, slaving away in my hotel room, and I’m suddenly disturbed by
men shouting.
Annoyed at the disturbance, I look out… and happiness of happiness, just for
me, they brought a whole rugby team under my window…
I knew of Tim Garner’s organisational talent, but I have to say that really,
he spoils me…
So I took my camera, and daydreamt for a little while…
Life is just WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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MCKENZIE’S DOOMED…
 You
may know (or at least have heard of the man, or read his articles or
magazine) Ian Mckenzie, the New Zealander editor of Squash Player Magazine.
Ian is what we women call “a typical bloke”. Emotions? Isn't even sure how
you spell it. Don’t talk about those things, don’t show them…
Well, I suddenly realised that, every time the man seems me at an event, I’m
in tears!
In Canary Wharf, he arrived just for the final day, and I was exhausted, and
my private life was hurting, and Points of View had been devastating once
again… And Ian wanted very logically to have a business meeting, and I was
crying.
In Rennes, he arrived again for the final day, and I had just taken pictures
of Thierry Lincou, his wife and Jade, his baby girl. They had now gone. And
by mistake, I erased the pictures. I was hysterical in the press room. At
the same time, Ian was trying to solve a problem with one of the
photographers, and once again, very logically was trying to talk to me. In
tears again, the French woman.
And need I mention last night?
The man must be thinking “Is it me or is she just like that all the time???” |
 THE
PASSIONATE LADY
You may have read that the Mamut English Open is hosted by the Sheffield
City Council, and like in all the squash events, the front seats are always
kept for the big people - no, not fat, you people, the important people, the
people that give a lot of money that allows us to have such a great show.
But most of the time, those people don’t come.
But then again, sometimes they do.
Like last night, I had the pleasure to have in the seat just in front of me
Councillor Diane Leek, ex Lord Mayor of Sheffield.
She is not a squash player, but she attended the event last year, and
enjoyed it very much. So she came back this year.
What a lovely lady. What a passionate lady. She was obviously enjoying the
evening, the matches, the rallies. And the emotions.
Thank you Mrs Leek, for your presence, your support, and your passion. |
NEIL O’NEIL, NUMBER 1
FAN…
 Last
night, I started chatting with a lovely man in front of the Hilton Hotel.
Well, he looked like a rugby player, so, you know me…
It happens that he is one of the most regular squash fans in the UK, a
webmaster by profession, and trains during the week at Lambs with Tim
Garner.
He reads carefully Squash Player, bless him, and was even able to mention a
mistake made on the site that Steve missed out…
Passionate about squash, he is about to launch a site for squash lovers,
tongue in cheek. We’ll let you know all about it as soon as it’s ready to
roll!
Keep it up, Neil, it’s for people like you that those guys work so hard…. |
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Issue 2:
FRIDAY 13th August |
En BREF
Everything
you didn't know you needed to know |
MIND THAT SERVE…
On the court in the Crucible, there is a spot on the front wall that must be
slightly odd, as two players served two services out each, from the right
box, and with the same style of serve…
Peter Barker called himself “you donkey” after the first "Out" call, but
after the second one, he realised that maybe, it was not him that was to
blame.
And the same unpleasantness happened to Mansoor Zaman, who also served out
twice …
Mind you, James won his match ball with an ace, as the serve rolled off the
floor of the back wall.
That goes to prove that you lose some….
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HAPPY FAMILIES…
So, in the family, we had Tim, then Ben, and now Jeremy, Andrea, and to make
it all complete, Sue!
Yes, I am of course talking about the Garner family. Tim, no need to
present him, nor his younger brother Ben, who gave us tonight what I presume
is the best match of his life. But Jeremy, the other brother, and his
beautiful and efficient wife Andrea are in charge of the tournament office,
a biiiiig job in an event of this size, believe me.
And of course, of course, Sue, the mother of them all…
“Ben played beautifully tonight”, said the proud mother, “it’s such a shame
he didn’t win, it would have made it all complete”…
Well, Sue, I’m sure you are extremely proud of your family because they have
all achieved something extraordinary this week….
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 YUSSEF,
THE BUSY BOY
He didn’t stop all evening.
He encouraged the players, a bit too much sometimes… He cleaned the ball,
and kept on waving the cloth until I made him understand that waving a
white cloth just behind a glass court was maybe not the best of actions…
 He
mimicked all the players’ shots, of course, especially James Willstrop’s!
In the first game of James’ match against Scott Handley, the young
Pontefract star was trying very hard to follow his father’s directive,
“play the ball, no matter what”.
Scott being nearly in front of him, struggling as the ball had passed him,
James decided to play it… between his legs, and to give himself more
chance of staying alive, with one leg in the air…
Well, that was just what Yussef needed!
We had a few demonstrations of the mimic skills of the young boy, and
trust me, he will be a good squash player… He knows a good swing when he
sees one…
God bless the young boys who have been extremely well behaved, patient,
cleaning the court and the ball.
Thanks to you, guys…
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Issue 1:
THURSDAY
12th August |
En BREF
Everything
you didn't know you needed to know |
 I'M
BACK
BABY ...
Anthony Ricketts is really glad not to be injured anymore for obvious
reasons, but also a more personal one. As he was injured, he had to stay in
Australia, away from his girlfriend, the 24-year-old WISPA player Shelley
Kitchen, from New-Zealand, at the top of her world ranking at the moment at
14.
“The 6 months where I have been injured have been really hard, because I
have been back home receiving treatment, but now that I’m back playing, we
spend much more time together, and now we live together in England, in
Reading.”
Another good reason to be happy for the young man to be back on the tour…
Welcome back Anthony… |
CHALONER HITS
IT ON THE HEAD
 When Mark came on court today, Simon Parke was already hitting the ball.
Mark then saw another ball on the court, picked it up, and threw it out.
And the ball landed on one of the young volunteers! (the boy on the left of
the photo, actually).
“I’m ok” said the boy, a bit shocked by the experience, a bit uneasy of the
unwanted attention he got.
Well, at least, and I was surprised/relieved, it didn’t land on MY head.
That makes a change… |
I’M RESPONSIBLE
FOR DAVID’S DIET!
In Rennes, I did a small portrait on David Pearson, called, “it’s a cultural
thing”, for which I logically took a picture.
Well, Mr Pearson had a bit of, how can I put it nicely, flesh on the bones.
I personally find that extremely attractive, but he didn’t!
So, he decided to lose weight, and he did! There’s nothing left of him now.
And I’m sorry, but I preferred him before, not that it matters in the least
actually…
So there you are! You want to lose weight? Just ask me to take a picture of
you…
Before ... ... After |
WITH FRIENDS
LIKE THAT…
Joey Barrington came with two friends of his, as support. Well, one of them,
James Powley, who coaches squash in Qatar, told us that Joey's nickname is
Borington, in front of Joey of course, who was killing himself laughing….
Charming really, isn’t it?
Don’t you just love having your friends around in your hour of need…
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THE FRENCH GIRL WHO
CAME
TO SEE THE MATCHES
 We had a surprise appearance today!
Isabelle Stoehr, 25, French number one, came with some friends to see a bit
of squash.
I must say it was nice to be able to speak my own language for a few
minutes.
Isabelle comes to England quite often, and plays with Sarah Fitz-Gerald.
Talk about a top class sparring partner… |
BABIES EVERYWHERE
Is it an epidemic at the moment? After the marriage season, we have now the
babies season… Now I think about it, it would be logical, wouldn't it? After
the birth of John White's twins Sam and Max, Stacey Ross’ announcement that
his new bride is expecting, it’s now Scott Handley and his lovely wife Raluca's turn! Mrs Handley is 16 weeks pregnant.
“Look, that’s why I'm so
fat…!” Raluca, you couldn’t be fat if you tried… Good luck to the beautiful
couple, and to Scott for his match against James Willstrop. He may need it…
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JOEY BARRINGTON
Yes, I know, just because my first article for Squash Player was on him,
everybody on the circuit thinks I have a soft spot for the young player.
I’m not even going to comment on that one anymore….
Anyway, saw him this morning, at breakfast again (you should definitely
stick to breakfast dear, it’s good for your health… And your column!). He
was on his way to the gym to get a massage after his 7 minutes short of 2
hours match of last night.
“No, I feel alright, not too tired actually, not
bad at all”. Joey is back training with his dad in Somerset. Well, when you
can get one of the best coaches, and for free, you would be stupid to ignore
it, wouldn’t you?
Some get all the luck! |
KNEE SORTED FOR MARK CHALONER
Mark Chaloner and I, we have a common point. No, I don’t think you will find
that one.
 We are being treated for knee problems by the same therapist,
Caroline Glain,
a “fasciatherapist” from France.
I won’t even try and explain to you what fasciatherapy is, I am preparing an
article on it, but suffice to say that it helped Mark tremendously.
“Caroline succeeded very quickly to reduce the swelling, something that
nobody else was able to do for weeks. You can’t explain the way she works,
but the benefits were immense.”
So, keep posted, as very soon, you’ll be able to learn everything about “the
miracle frog”, as she is nicknamed by the players she has helped…. |
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