Peter Barker: Defining Moment, Turning Point ?

On this past Saturday in the men's semi-final match between Peter Barker (Eng) and Borja Golan (Esp) there was an injury. Peter had hit a ball that was loose down the right side, just in line with the edge of the service box. Borja moved into a position just off the T, turned to the side wall to hit a forehand. Peter came up behind Borja, stood right over the center line.

Borja hit his forehand and his racket follow through swung up and was headed over his left shoulder as he started to turn forward with the swing. Very unfortunately, Peter being as tall as he is, and having taken up a position that was essentially in Borja's back pocket, the racket head and Peter's nose were on a perfect collision course.

Pretty much a knock out blow. Peter went down, and then up and out of the court. The skin was broken, and volumes of blood pouring out of the nose. The event doctor and medical staff attended to Peter off court, lots of ice and packing of the nose. The doctor's evaluation indicated a probable broken nose and advised a trip to the hospital. 

In the end, Peter chose not to go to the hospital, and the match was postponed until Sunday morning at 9:00am. This with the Men's final scheduled for later on Sunday at 3:00pm.

The end result on Sunday was that Peter had not only shown up in the morning to finish off the semi-final, but then came back less than five hours later to win the final against world #10 Tarek Momen (Egy).

What's significant about this? Well most will comment and then compliment Peter on his physical ability to tolerate pain, the extra endurance required to withstand that, AND finish off the semi-final, along with the final all within a 7 hour window. The ability to fight the distractions both immediate and lingering, are a testament to Peter's mental focus.

But what I'm wondering is: Will this event become a quiet moment of strength for Peter and his upcoming season? Will the intestinal fortitude ("No Guts, No Glory") that Peter found, to endure and prevail, auger in a new stretch in his career that will see him record more success?

Peter is a hulking, almost 'Spartan' like squash player. Someone who moves about the court extremely well for his height. An imposing player to be on court with. But he's a nice guy..... yes he's up for standing his ground on disputed calls, but he's fair and a gentleman. Ya, maybe too nice. Maybe the opponents know he's nice, and that actually gives them an advantage. 

I don't think Peter is going to change his personality, and certainly wouldn't wish it. The sport of squash is better for having such players at the upper echelon, as an example of what squash should be. Might say that he has a similar sense of fairness that Amr Shabana exhibits. 

Peter is sitting solidly in the Top Ten. But he's not made inroads to break into the top 4 or 5. Certainly with the quality of the players in the world top five, it's not an easy task, facing Ramy, Gregory, James, and Nick, a fearsome group of competitors. And of course to get to them in the later rounds, usually requires working one's way through a draw of hungry, fit, skilled challengers.

What I'm watching for over this coming season, is whether Peter will now have the confidence, the belief that he can push himself further than ever before, and start winning a few more of his matches against the top four. Was this past Sunday a 'Defining Moment' in Peter's career? 

Nicol David... Ascending, hither to unseen heights....

(Sunday, September 15, 2013, Kuala Lumpur)

The final this afternoon was not only highly anticipated, it was literally standing room for all three levels of viewing room inside The Curve Mall. The lines were queuing up an hour before the men's final, which was played first. By the time it was over it felt like the whole of Kuala Lumpur had showed to see their national sports hero: Dato' Nicol David.

Tour de Force, that's really all one can say. Nicol has laid down the gauntlet, and in spectacular fashion. Let the world of women's squash start all over, fighting over the scraps. Nicol's new attacking game is firmly in place, confidently played and now one can see that she's trusting it. 

Not sure if there is anything scarier for an opponent than seeing a Dato' Nicol David playing with NO FEAR. Yes today was another test, to discover how her new attacking style would fare against Raneem, an opponent renowned for the ethereal control within her soft hands, a right hand that so often finds the nick.

Sure it was tough, Raneem found plenty of nicks, and soft misdirection. And yes, Nicol hit some errors, and some errant shots into the middle. But it was obvious from the start, that Raneem was in for a monumental task, already half way through the first game she was showing physical signs of of the work rate. That's how high the pace of the match was, with both players in constant pressure and attack mode.

Nicol has taken the Malaysian Open Squash Championship for 2013 on  a stormy weekend, and fired off an enormous lightning bolt across the landscape. The rain is on the parade of all those who want to be world number ones. No longer will it be enough to find the attacking combinations that will break through a defense that has won 7 senior world championships, and 2 junior world championships.... Nope,  it will not be enough....

Dato' Nicol David is no longer waiting, and reacting on the court, she's become the hunter. She's setting the pace now, she's forcing the issue, add these to her speed and fitness.... and now it is a new Mt Everest for every opponent..... One that they've likely never seen the likes of before. Still with the speed of Peter Nicol, the Nicol David stamina, the David Palmer-like pressure tactics and the mental fortitude of Jahangir Khan..... we witnessed - Nicol is Ascending.... again..... 

Nicol's attacking game takes her to the finals

(Saturday, September 14th, Kuala Lumpur)

This afternoon Nicol David played her semifinal of the Malaysian Open Squash Championships against the French #1, and current World #12 Camille Serme. Actually, these two ladies very recently played in the finals of the World Games, this summer. So both come in to this tournament quite fresh and ready for competitive matches.

The first game was tight, and closely fought, and end up going Nicol's way in extra points. Both players were aggressive throughout the first game, and this kept the rallies fast and strenuous. Actually the first game could have gone either way, but Camille made a couple of mistakes at the end, maybe even early signs of fatigue.

As it was, at about 4-2 down in the second game, it became obvious that Camille was slowing down. In the fast rallies she was clearly a step behind. The first game, with its all out fast attacking pace, had taken its toll on Miss Serme. From 4-2 down, she was a spent force. She did smartly adjust her game going for a more comfortable slow and high strategy. Doing this only prolonged the inevitable, as Nicol simply kept running with her own attacking tactics, and the end quickly became a foregone conclusion.

As discussed previously Nicol's evolving attack still has its rough edges. In particular she's still developing an awareness of how her attack is affecting her opponents and where she needs to position to follow up and either maintain pressure or go for the kill. What's great to see, is that Nicol is now exhibiting an approach of positive pressure (meaning that she's hitting shots that intentionally pressure the opponents). 

In the past Nicol was content to rally and let her opponents either wilt under the accumulated physical demands, or self-implode as they tried to consistently breakthrough Nicol's defense. Now, Miss David is a different player on the court, she's 'taking the game' right to her opponents. She's dictating the speed and direction of the rallies, games, and thus the matches. Two days in a row now, her new tactical prowess has steam-rolled two world class opponents. 

What's really important for Nicol, is that even when she was making errors, she stuck with her new game. She's willing to lose a few rallies to errors, because the overall benefits are far greater. She's dominating rallies, she's forcing the opponent in to errors, and probably the most important factor, she's discovered that attacking her opponents is draining their energy reserves faster than ever before.

For eight plus years, Nicol's opponents have had to stuggle with her fitness, her tenacious error-free defense, her rock solid mental strength. In the past year and a half a couple of women have risen to that challenge, both Laura Massaro, and Raneem El Weleily having taken multiple matches and tournament titles away from Nicol. But now, it truly looks like Dato' Nicol David is "raising the bar" once again. 

With this positive, aggressive attack now on display, opponents are going to be under heavy pressure, and Nicol David's fitness will again come to fore, as very few women will be able to keep up both the attack, counter-attack, and defend, at full speed for three games, much less a full length 5 game match. The future foreshadowing these past two days, is that all those who wish to challenge for the mantle of the 7 time World Champion, are going to find that attacking is not enough, even higher levels of fitness are now required. Fitness not just to attack, but to defend the attack as well.

9 World Titles, and Now Comes the Evolution

(September 13, 2013) 

Tonight, Nicol David, current world #1, and the only woman to have won the senior world squash championship an amazing seven times, played her national teammate, world #6 Low Wee Wern in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Malaysian Squash Open. 

Now that fact that Nicol won is not surprising, even given that Wee Wern has dramatically improved her game over the past year and a half. No, what was surprising was that Nicol has started to evolve her game, at this relatively late stage of her career. Late being relative, tonight she was looking fitter, than she's been over the past couple of years, and certainly fitter than her young opponent, whose legs couldn't keep up in the end.

Miss David won two world titles as a junior, and has since won 7 world titles, and one would think that whatever got her this far should be just fine. And why not, most folks will say, stay with a winning strategy. The problem is, even though Nicol won her seventh senior world title at the end of last year, she's been struggling against two players in particular for the past year and a half. And both of those opponents play an aggressive attacking game.

Most observers, and coaches could be forgiven for thinking that Nicol just needed to sharpen her game a bit, make a few minor adjustments maybe, and hang tough. The problem is, Miss David's game has always been founded on the idea of 'hanging tough'. Nicol has, from her earliest years, been a tireless, defensive running type player, all the way through at least probably the first 8 of her overall 9 world titles. Last year she showed at times an attacking mentality, but it appeared to be more of an experiment than anything else.

This past spring Nicol suffered a loss to Laura Massaro in the final of the British Open. And that was one of three losses to Laura in their four most recent matches on the world tour. What was obvious tonight is that Nicol and her coach, Liz Irving, haven't been just revamping, tweaking, or refurbishing her game. They've retooled it. Her game has evolved.

Obviously Nicol or maybe Liz, or together, someone came to the realization that in order to beat them, you're going to have to join them. So what was on view tonight? 

Nicol's footwork has become much more aggressive and attacking, in particular the first step. She is now looking for the volley first, every time. Whereas in the past, she only went for the volley when she saw it coming. Now, she's positioning herself to take advantage of volley or intercept opportunities even before they become evident.

Second, Miss David has 'lowered' her long game, while keeping the length essentially the same. Meaning that her drives from mid-court and the backcourt are being hit on flatter trajectory, basically all her drives are now hitting the front wall more often than not, below the service line. At the same time she's still maintaining the length of her drives. This is significantly increasing the pressure on her opponents.

Third, Nicol has added the attacking boast to her repertoire of shots. Tonight it looked like she hit more attacking boasts in the first game of her match, than she's averaged in a whole tournament.  So now, her opponent will not only have to deal with a flatter drive from Nicol's racket, she has to cope with Nicol's being drastically more positive, and frequent in her attacking the ball on the volley, and then add on top of it all, attacking boasts. 

Nicol David has shown tonight that she has made a leap of light years, in evolving her game. And while this new strategy of constant pressure and attack will take more time to sharpen to its finest, there is no doubt that Nicol's opponents are going to struggle, because she's raised her game, and her legendary fitness is still as good as ever, if not better.

The semifinals are tomorrow, and then the finals on Sunday. Let's look for two things: 1. Does Nicol keep with her new evolved game, and 2. How does it stack up against her recent nemesis. One of them will be waiting for her on Sunday.

The third most important shot in Squash

Third most important shot in Squash ...  the Mid-High Crosscourt

Okay, so we've previously discussed our belief that the second most important shot in squash is the high cross court lob hit from the front court. As we noted in that article post, the high cross court lob is most prevalent at the higher levels of play, and not so commonly seen at lower levels and even intermediate levels of play. It is a shot that is very very useful in the pro game, and certainly would be an advantageous option to have in one's repertoire at any other level. 

Now, it's time to venture a bit further out on the limb and offer up what we consider the next important shot to have in one's overall game: The Mid-High Crosscourt.

First, when we say 'Mid-High', what we mean to say is a shot that is hit to the front wall at or very near the service line. Typically this would mean that a backhand would be hit somewhat above the frontwall service line, and the forehand may be hit on the service line or possibly a bit under it, depending on the player's strength of shot.

At lower levels of play, meaning beginning, all the way up to high intermediate, it is common to see players in a slashing, dashing, speed game of lots of drives, and in particular low crosscourt drives. 

The propensity for these low hard crosscourt drives probably comes from seeing the occasionally spectacular crosscourt drive that whistles by the opponent who's stuck somewhere around the T, unable to react, or not in reach of the ball. But, that's all this is, an occasional winner. Generally, when you meet a player who is regularly getting back to the T area, and is ready for the next shot, a low crosscourt is not a very effective way to attack. 

If your opponent is in decent position and ready, it often does not take anything more than one step and reaching out to block the ball, and you are left scrambling from the back corner to run diagonally to the front to pick up the drop shot that the opponent has comfortably sent into that front corner.

And this is more often the scenario, hitting the low crosscourt, and then rushing to the diagonal front corner, rather than that of the outright winner. 

So my advice to players is to simply stop trying to hit winners like that. The occasional, one out of ten winners, does not compensate for giving up outright winning drop shots or handing dominant court and rally control to the opponent the other nine times. 

The reason we need a crosscourt, is because most, if not all opponents know that the number one shot in a rally is the long drive. Knowing this, as players become accustomed to the game, they will start to edge over towards the near side and try to intercept these long drives, either by volley, half volley, or at least getting an early step towards the back corner.

To counter the opponent's 'encroachment' upon the near side, to prevent them from starting to feed on our long drives, we need the crosscourt option.... to keep the opponent 'honest'. 

This is where the Mid-High Crosscourt comes into play. When we hit a Mid-High cross, aiming for the front wall service line, and hitting relatively close to the center of the front wall (midway between the two side walls), we're hitting a shot that will very often go past the opponent and force them into the back opposite corner.

The Mid-High cross is a difficult shot for opponents to intercept because they're focused on the near side wall, and when the cross is hit near the front wall's center, the ball will travel towards the back corner, often hitting the side wall near the back of the service box, or even behind it. This means that the ball will get to the back, and stay on that side of the court. 

Hitting the Mid-High cross will force your opponent to the back, force them to deal with a ball that's probably going to hit the side wall, bounce on the floor, and quite possibly hit the back wall, before they can get their racket on it. All this, while you may comfortably make your way back to a central position in the T area. 

Please understand, this Mid-High cross is not a desperation shot, or used to get out of trouble. It is used when the rally is equal , or near equal, and we're in a position to get our racket around the outside of the ball, so as to hit a good cross. The shot is used to shift the rally, preventing the opponent from anticipating and poaching a straight shot. 

Against some players one might find that this change of direction gives the opponent a lot of trouble with the turning and twisting that they need to do, in order to position effectively for the ball now in the back opposite corner. At the intermediate and higher levels this won't be so common, as the opponent's movement is more capable. But the value is still there as you're preventing the opponent from raising the pressure on your 'straight game'.

If you're in deep trouble, a desperate position, the best option is to go high on the front wall...... but that's a conversation for another time......