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Matter over mind Richard Eaton reports on a Men’s World Open as mentally revealing as it was physically spectacular ears by the Persian Gulf as a racket face. The resulting shot scuttled he returned from his lachrymose out. great young talent loses the along the wall like a gecko, and Ashour “All I can say is that he played very World title to his friend, and could not scrape it off. well. He was more consistent than I disappears from the seaside Shabana was helped significantly by was. The referees fucked me up,” Tshow-court for a quarter of an the introduction of a rest day before the Ashour said. hour's solitary grieving. It delayed the final, for he had had a tough, 80-minute Shabana did not sound so prize-giving, had the officials in a flap, semi-final with James Willstrop. Indeed sympathetic to that. “It’s a difficult job, and provided a nice little story for those this innovation may even have and it's never going to be 100 per wanting to extract human interest from influenced the destination of the title. cent,” he said. “You get calls you don't the World Open to project squash onto “It was good to have that – it’s as it like, and you have to live with them.” a wider stage. should be,” Shabana said. “Often in the Shabana's maturity made Ashour's But it had a less superficial, more past you didn’t get a good final because instabilities appear more conspicuous. squash-specific meaning too. Ramy someone was tired by the time they got Year by year he has become more aware Ashour's tears after his straight-games there. But we should be rested, and of himself, of his surroundings, and of loss to Amr Shabana in an unexpectedly should be fresh for the final." what his sport requires of him. one-sided final expressed the frustration The Egyptian is the most successful The substantial Egyptian and Muslim of a talent which many were certain player of the millennium. His four World support in Kuwait was delighted by his would be the sport's most successful Open titles place him level with the habit of answering questions in Arabic, by now – and raise the question as to great Geoff Hunt, who was watching, even though they were posed in English. whether it ever will. and behind only the two Pakistani Master of ceremonies Robert Edwards Shabana had no doubt about that. legends, Jahangir Khan, who was also occasionally jokes, as perhaps he has “He's going to get to quite a few finals watching, and Jansher Khan. to, about the possible insults which before he has done,” he reckoned. “It His greatness became evident Shabana might be sharing with the was my day today, but I am sure he will relatively late in his career, but he has crowd while he himself smiles on, get plenty.” developed excitingly since, although oblivious. But it is not a joke. Shabana, They were words you might expect whether it will continue to is a matter intentionally or not, is making a point. A from someone who now has an for debate. Shabana claimed he is okay major event in the Middle East could do indisputable place in the pantheon of “for a few more” World titles yet, but with being appropriated, for a few the greats, and whose performance in skilful management of his schedule may moments at least, by Middle Eastern his 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 win contained be the key. His body has become more culture. sensible, highly accurate squash, a injury-prone. Shabana's style – accurate, patient, steady attitude and seeming But is Shabana right about Ashour? conservative and seasoned in a way invulnerability. But are they true? Was it really “my turn to win this time, which would have seemed quite unlike that's all.” There seem reasons to him not long ago – were a striking SHABANA VS ASHOUR doubt it. example to his young compatriot. Shabana's was perhaps a modest Ashour can still be the most exciting For these were not Ashour's only attainment against an opponent who fell player of all in the way he attacks in wayward moments. He had become disappointingly away and wasted too unstoppable bursts. But in addition to sucked into racket throwing against much emotional energy fretting about injuries, which have held him back, a Peter Barker in the quarter-finals when the refereeing, but it did reveal his worrying problem seems to be the he allowed the seventh-seeded increasing adaptability. This was not the doubting that goes on inside his head. Englishman back into it in the third and brilliantly creative player who captured It is a weakness which by now we fourth games. And there was a his first World Open six years ago in thought he would have grown out of. strangely fruitless dialogue with the Lahore. Ashour was arguing with referee referee despite his encouraging semi- Shabana tailored his tactics to the Nasser Zahran as early as 6-8 in the final win over Gregory Gaultier, the world occasion, kept his mind under control, first game, and by the second he was number one, 11-5, 11-9, 12-10. volleyed plenty, preserved his physical banging the handle of his racket angrily resources, contained well, and on the wall. When he lashed the ball ASHOUR VS GAULTIER respected the orthodoxies. Only when furiously against the back wall in the Ashour benefited from Gaultier taking a he was two games up did he unleash a general direction of the Egyptian official nasty fall at a crucial moment in the flurry of winners, taking him to 4-0 and after being refused a let, he got a code- second game, though later, on match deflating Ashour's already punctured of-conduct warning. ball, he was painfully denied the match morale irreparably. In the third, Ashour sarcastically when the ball was drilled right up his The most memorable of them was a asked “Can I get that?” and on being backside. sudden, stretching volley to a ball of told by Zahran that he could, he “He had plenty of the court to hit good width, which Shabana somehow proffered an ironic “Thank you.” Hardly into,” complained Ashour to the referee, reached whilst maintaining perfect critical maybe, but perhaps symptomatic his mildest criticism coming in the most balance and sensitive control of the of an attitude which he expressed when stressful circumstances of all. It brought 20 THE SQUASH PLAYER KUWAIT MEN’S WORLD OPEN SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 a warning from the referee to Gaultier. “Sometimes when you feel like it's he had a hard, five-game, 83-minute “Do you think I did it on purpose?” the stolen ... you know I am really an tussle with the British Open champion. Frenchman retorted. honest guy, and I like honesty. I don't The slight physical diminishment Ashour won because he found like injustice, that's the thing,” adding which ensued may even have something brilliant and different when he enigmatically: “Sometimes you might be contributed to the fall which Gaultier most needed it, catching his opponent wrong, thinking of this. But sometimes suffered when 9-8 up in the second unawares, and on this occasion it was it's the truth and you have to deal with game of his semi-final, his front foot Gaultier who self-destructed. He these things.” sliding away from him during a lunge in unaccountably let slip leads of 9-8 in After Gaultier's consistent the front left corner. It almost dragged both the second and third games, excellence this year, the loss was a big him into the splits, and caused a three- afterwards himself launching into a blow. minute injury time-out. It also affected tirade about refereeing. “I have to recover quickly from this Gaultier's mind, and when he returned “It was one European, one Egyptian and focus on the next tournament [the he lost the next three points and the and one South African, and I still get Qatar Classic] straight away, as I'm very vital second game. screwed,” he alleged, although he did disappointed with what has happened,” Matthew therefore almost certainly not quite have the nationalities right. “I Gaultier commented. “I don't want to had a part in the world number one's didn't get one single let throughout the think about it.” downfall. match. I can't believe it.” But will he be able to do that? His He was not far from reaching the As with Ashour, one of the biggest remaining years at the top may well be semi-final himself – a remarkable factors in Gaultier's loss was affected by his capacity, or incapacity, to achievement considering that doctors psychological. True, the Frenchman did block such thoughts out. Gaultier had predicted he might still be not argue with the referee as much as certainly appears to have improved his rehabbing from his ankle injury during he sometimes does, but dissent was on mental skills with the help of his mind the World Open. Instead, the his mind, and it affected his coach, Mathieu Benoit. But without Yorkshireman avenged himself performance. In his post-match despair, further progress, he may always find the impressively in straight games for his it became an alibi too. World Open elusive. loss to Cameron Pilley in the Petrosport Gaultier had explained why his mind Open, and looked capable of beating gets trapped in these authority- GAULTIER VS MATTHEW Gaultier when he led 3-1 in the fourth challenging cul-de-sacs.

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