There, the marquee tent rattled with the wind and the venue was bare, white and largely soulless. , though, was a perfect setting. It was too for 33-year-old Gaultier, who believes he still has several years of top- level left in him. He was a class apart in Dubai. In the past, he might admit to having played too many tournaments in any one season, but his enforced two- month break at the start of the year due to an ankle injury aided him here. With his family in tow, Gaultier looked refreshed, relaxed and happy to put his arm around any one of his opponents, as is his wont. The Frenchman was up for the fi ght and even poured cold water on the idea of introducing shortened-format, best- of-three matches during regular World Series events.

I like the marathon “ SQUASH CONNECTS battles. Gregory Gaultier ” By forming a ‘Road to Dubai’ template, He lost just one game in the group stages, squash has fallen in line with other sports blitzing past Simon Rösner, Cameron strides to the front who have focused on raising their profi le Pilley and . If there was an of the court on her way to beating with Middle East backing. end-of-term feel to proceedings to some Raneem El Welily in the Dubai That’s the view of Ziad Al-Turki, the PSA of the matches, it meant little to Gaultier, World Series Finals decider chairman (pictured below), who combined who was clearly still in revision mode. several years of meetings with Dubai Meanwhile, Mohamed Elshorbagy, the in the year-end Finals is worth fi ghting for. municipal chiefs and some hard graft to world no.1, was in need of a holiday. The There is a new meaning to the event and bring squash to the emirate. season was catching up on the Egyptian, players should rightly structure their season “By being in Dubai, big companies have after winning six World Series events and to make reaching the top-eight tournament started to take notice,” says the 50-year- playing the most matches of all the 16 a priority. old, who has overseen the World Series players in Dubai. It was no surprise that Finals since 2009. he wasn’t a fi nalist against Gaultier, With the promotional images and television though Pilley, the lowest-ranked player pictures offering a glamorous feel to “I have been dreaming of a major brand (at 13) in Dubai, was a welcome one. proceedings – players were handsomely with a world tour sponsor and I am hopeful looked after and enjoyed several outings of this happening soon. That is all down to Aiming to become the fi rst Australian since to tourist attractions - there’s an extra us being associated with Dubai.” in 2006 to lift the title, incentive to qualify for Dubai. it was Gaultier who thwarted Pilley’s bid With the help of Falcon and Associates, as the brilliant Frenchman added to his Location clearly plays a pivotal role in who run all PR activity on behalf of the back-to-back victories in 2008 and 2009. squash’s need to be seen - and Dubai has Dubai government, squash will be hosted it in spades too. The sport is about to be for another two years in the emirate. Like Elshorbagy, world women’s champion lifted once more in 2017, as the World “Before, we weren’t very and world no.1 looked Series Finals will move a few minutes’ short of her best, so Raneem El Welily secure with the Finals. walk to the Dubai Opera House, a multi- Now everything is emerged as Massaro’s opponent in the million dirham project which opens at the female fi nal. connected and it’s end of August, when Spanish tenor Plácido easier,” Al-Turki Massaro became the fi rst British player Domingo performs. Nearly 50 concerts are added. since in 2001 to win the title, planned for the fi rst few months, before because she wanted it more. “Squash squash moves on to the stage next June. “The sport is just players go through so much pain and unbelievably This isn’t unique to squash and the sport exciting and I suffering, but I told myself at the end of is no newcomer to theatre over the last 30 the fourth that it was now one fi nal game don’t get tired years, but from Bromley (in the early 1980s) in the season,” said the 32-year-old world of it. I could to Rotterdam - the city’s Luxor Theatre no.2 after her fi ve-game win, which made watch it all providing the venue in 2011 - squash will her $45,000 richer. day long.” be transcended like never before at Dubai’s Pilley’s superb run to the fi nal should make 2,000-capacity Opera House. These are The 2017 PSA World Series Finals will take the top 20 across the men’s and women’s changing times in commercial sport and place from June 6-10. For travel and ticket rankings sit up and take notice that a place squash is at the forefront. details www.worldseriesfi nals.com

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