WE WILL MISS YOU, MR. PALMER

David Palmer is retiring, he announced to have played his last PSA match when he lost to Karim Darwish in the quarter finals of the 2011 World Open in Rotterdam. In this blog, we have mentioned and analysed several times the amazing professional qualities of the 'Marine'. His main weapon was always his physical and mental strength; just by appearing on the court he made opponents doubt, and at crucial stages of a match his concentration and self-belief might have achieved at times 'Übermensch' levels. Technically too, he was very complete, very solid, steady basic game coupled with a beautiful backhand volleydrop (enabled by great anticipation qualities). Palmer made himself also a reputation for his spectacular dives. With age he also made his squash evolve into a very intelligent lower-pace high-percentage game with looking to fade the ball into the sidewall instead of going for the just-over-the-tin shots (even though there were of course exceptions, like his hilarious and famous drop shot against Ramy Ashour at 2011 TOC in New York). However, there is also the other face of the coin; Palmer, in many regards, is also a representant of a type of squash that is less to our likings; the squash of the eighties, nineties, the squash of subtle and less subtle blocking, the squash of asking for 'Let' at the slightest interference (nevertheless caused by yourself due to a loose previous shot or going initially the wrong way). If PSA were capable of recording bit more elaborated statistics, I am pretty sure that Palmer's name would lead the list of most 'Lets' played in avarage. And that's no good for the general image of the game and also a bit of a shame in an era where the likes of Peter Nicol, John White, Shabana, Willstrop or Ramy (just to mention the main ones) have proved that it is possible to get to the top by playing free-flowing squash. Of course, the below rally is an extreme example, as Jonathon Power and David Palmer had a specificly tough story of their own within the history of squash, but it is still demonstrating the strange kind of rugby player qualities of this great squash player. Let's finish this post by emphasising that the positives of Palmer's game weight still heavier than the negatives, and he will definitely leave an unfilled hole in the pro circuit of squash.

NICK AND RAMY KEEP IT ROLLING - AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2011

After a long break on the tour, the squash elite came back on scene in August in Camberra/Australia. As so often in the last 24 months, it was Nick Matthew and Ramy Ashour to decide about the title. It's been a thrilling 5 gamer, with Ramy coming out fresher and more concentrated in the fifth. Absolutely no doubt, the below rally is good material both for our 'greatest rallies ever' and squash-analytics section. First thing that hits the eye is the speed and quality of some of the retrievings that are out of this cosmos, with probably the most surrealistic one at 0:48 by Ramy after a perfect nasty trickle-boast by Nick, and then the next one at 0:52, again by Ramy after a really good over-head volley-drop by Nick. Second thing to note is the way Ramy plays the cross-court: he turns the bust towards the side-wall and lets the ball slip almost behind himself to fake a straight drive, and indeed Nick is pretty much each time on the wrong foot (most noticeably at  0:22 and 1:04). Last thing I would like to note, even if it might seam a heresy in the middle of a celebration: I think at the last winning volley-drop (at 1:07) Ramy was considerably blocking Nick's path to the ball. The least to say is that the drop was far from being lethal and he cleared the ball in the wrong way. I know Nick was not asking for a 'let' (nor the commentators, Lee Beachill and Paul Johnson were contesting anything), but in my eyes this is only due to Matthew not wanting to spoil such a great rally with a 'let' outcome; I know my theory might sound naive, but I feel Matthew's general attitude (highly professional, conscious and also intellectual) enables him to look at the 'big picture' and sacrifice a point in order to raise the profile of his sport.

WEEKEND BAGATELLE I. - FUNNY SELF-PARODY: DAVID PALMER vs. GREGORY GAULTIER

WEEKEND BAGATELLE is a new series at No Let!, showing humorous or just strange situations from the pro squash circuit. Eventually we could have started with our previous post where John White produced that funny little scare to Gregory Gaultier. As for now: well, as far as I can judge, the majority of club players cheer for Shabana, Jonathon Power, Ramy, John White and Thierry Lincou. I've hardly ever heard that David Palmer would be someone's favourite player. I think people also look at sports as circus, and Palmer's personal appeal lacks maybe some charm. Well, myself I am almost a fan of his squash, of his steadiness, mental strength, shot selection, but one thing has always disturbed me: his clearing after playing  drop shots. A part from Anthony Ricketts and El Hindi, nobody blocks that much tendentiously in this situation. The below rally is a perfect demonstration of this, with the funny addition that Palmer, realizing maybe that he really exaggerated the blocking this time, thought it might have been useful to emphasize his action even after Gaultier was calling for 'let'. I guess Palmer intended to demonstrate his opponents behaviour, but instead - as Gaultier is all but a blocker - he ended up doing a slightly absurd self-parody.


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