23 March 2011

(FAIR)PLAYING THE BALL II.: RAMY ASHOUR vs. JAMES WILLSTROP

One of squash's problem is that the beauty and the enjoyment factor of the game depends - beyond the physical and logical skills of the player - also on their fairness level. I am not only thinking of blocking, but also and mainly of 'fishing', when a player stops in search for a cheap stroke. I am not going to cite negative examples here, I rather prefer to have a look at a positive one, at one of the fairest pairings on the tour, Ramy Ashour against James Willstrop. The last winning mid-court trickle-boast was such a generous thing to play from Ramy - I don't mean generous to James, but generous to the sport itself and to the spectators.