Framboise Gommendy catches up with ...
Nick MATTHEW:
BETTER THAN
I EXPECTED!
 
When you see Nick Matthew today, it’s hard to believe that he was not behaving himself very well on court until about 18 months ago (that’s what I was told anyway). Nowadays, he has a very mature attitude, he is not argumentative with the officials, respects his opponents, and always shows perfect behaviour on court.

And he’s got his head firmly on his (large, sigh) shoulders.

Last year, did you think,
“next year, I’ll be at the Super Series Finals”?

No, and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t one of my goals, I didn’t think about it at all! It just came out of the blue. I lost in the first round of the first three Super Series events so it didn’t even occur to me until after the fourth one that I might be in reach of getting into the finals. It’s only then that I realised I actually had a chance.

Did you feel a difference of status
between this tournament and the others?

No, not really. I was playing all the big tournaments, even if I was losing in the first round, getting the odd second round, I wasn’t staying there for the full week. Last year I saved some money to stay the whole week at the Tournament of Champions, and watched all the way through the event. But it’s still different from being involved.

The first time I was involved in one this year, I learnt so much more about myself, like trying to play day after day, instead of just one or two matches, and that was the biggest change really! Before, I’d get to, say, my third match, and my level would have dropped off drastically. I maybe had to qualify, and by the time I’d get to the third round, I was nowhere near the level I was playing the first round qualifier.

Were you naturally gifted?
No, technically, I had to do a lot of work. A lot of people around me got through because they were gifted, but I got through on hard work.

How do you find the fact that
everybody is talking about you?

It’s different. Even when I was on the fringes, I was never really talked about. People who were ranked the same as me, around the 20s, were getting more mentions, as having more potential that I had.

Why is that?
I don’t know! Maybe the way I played? My game was traditional, it wasn’t anything flashy or anything. Also, a few people had the impression that I was older that I was. I have been on the tour since I was 18, and I’m only 23 now. I can remember an article by Martin Bronstein, I was only 21 or 22, where he called me a 'journeyman', maybe he thought I was 26 or something.

Do you like the attention?
It’s different to be talked about, but “you can never believe your own press, whether it’s good or bad” anyway! You’ve got to just get on with what you are doing. As soon as you believe what someone says about you, then you are in trouble. Every time I’ve listened to what people say about me, I've played worse! In New York, people said, “oh, I think you have a really good chance to beat Peter”, and I got hammered, because suddenly I thought I had! Instead of just doing what I was doing. And then, what happens happens.

Is that your dad talking.
My dad has a good background in sport, he was a P.E. teacher, so he always guided me from when I was younger in preparation and in the mental side of things, so I was always strong.

We know that there is not enough money in squash. Financially, how are you getting on?
Well, we have been lucky, thanks to the Lottery funding money over the past few years (I had the funding one year before turning professional). We don’t have the worries of not being able to pay for the travel expenses to attend tournaments for example.

Is the money that you receive enough
to help you make a decent living?

We get a figure that supplements the income that we earn from the tour, so when you get to a tournament, you are not afraid of not making ends meet. What you win is yours to keep. But most of all, it allows us to have a coaching team behind us (David Pearson and Paul Carter), which is priceless, plus the physios, the film video editor, not to forget the English Institute of Sport as well behind us so, it makes us feel strong, you know…

How do you feel about your performance this week?
It’s a weird feeling, because I could have played like I did against Peter Nicol on the first day, and still not get through, so the most important thing for me was to just get through. I have got the feeling that, whatever happens next, I will look back on this week as being a good week, as I’ve done things I haven’t done before, like beating Peter, even if he wasn’t even near his level, but believe me, he doesn’t give in, he doesn’t let you beat him, you have to beat him.

What was your ambition when you started the week?
When I started the week, my goal was to give myself a chance by winning one of the first two matches. That first victory freed me, I was full of energy which carried me through to the semi-finals.

And what happened tonight?
Thierry pushed me into the back, his width was too good tonight, and I was yards away from where I wanted to be. That forced me to cover extra yards on each point, and when you add all those extra yards, it's a pretty long distance! I had the feeling that I didn't have anything left in the legs. At every game, around 6 up, I couldn't find any energy to fight back. Maybe the week caught up with me, or maybe it's that Thierry's length was just too good today.

But I've played four world No.1s in four days and I’d like to go out in style by winning the 3rd place play-off.

 "Nick"

 


Hedley & Nick Matthew

 



One scalp ...


Two scalps ...

 


but no joy against John ...


... or against Thierry