SQUASH SHOTS V

I am a solid believer that if you cannot laugh at yourself, then you have no right poking fun at others. In this article of “Squash Shots”, I have decided to take this opportunity and place myself in the position of being the punching bag. Nick Matthew became the first Brit since Peter Nicol six years ago to gain the world number one ranking this month, June 2010. In light of his remarkable achievement (given the recent dominance of the Egyptian players), I immediately thought of this photo when Nick was ranked only 6 in the world. Clearly this match inspired him to greater heights (cough, cough).

Look at the photo and answer the following question:
This is…?

A) Me, just about to give Nick Matthew a lesson
B) One of the best players in the world… and Nick Matthew
C) Nick Matthew, 10 minutes before he hits the showers
D) Me, 10 minutes before I hit the defibrillator
E) Me, photo-shopped in the picture to make it look like I’m playing Nick Matthew
F) A lamb to the slaughter
G) The one match Nick Matthew will never forget
H) The one match Nick Matthew will never remember

Answer: C) and D) and F) and H). Motor City Open 2005. With the wild card into the main draw, I had the pleasure of playing Nick Matthew first round. For the record, I did stretch him to 3 games, lost a lung, and can now claim that I have been on court with another world number 1. One year later, I played John White – who also reached world number 1 in his career. I stretched him to 3 games as well, and lost my other lung.

To view the full current world rankings (as of June 2010), you go to : http://www.psa-squash.com/ and click on 'rankings' halfway down the left column.