UNORTHODOX III.: OLLI TUOMINEN

What a great hold and deception by Olli Tuominen to finish off this rally! Tuominen is a very special phenomenon on the PSA tour, a lonely guy from Finland who's been top 20 for about a decade, has beaten the majority of the top players (quiet a few of them more than once or twice). Tuominen's playing style is very physical - okay, I hear you guys saying that squash in general is very physical, but still there are players who move like a panther, and others like a terminator. Olli is rather from the latter type. Also his racket-preparation, his backswings are a fraction too hectic compared to the average of the pro players. All this sounds like a slight lack of squash culture (lack of education in junior times maybe). However, there are a couple of things that compensate for all this. First of all, Tuominen's fitness and athletic capabilities: you will not want to go for a little jogging with Olli in the snowy forests of Finland: it will take easily two to three hours and the speed will be more similar to a 1500 race - you'll end up left far behind, lost, starving and freezing in that forest. So you better stay on the squash court if you get to train with him. But there then you'll have to cope with his ultra fast pace and his surprisingly good deception. It's strange, as he looks less fluid compared to the average top player, but maybe this is exactly what gets him to disguise the deception; you would expect basic shots form a robot-like mover, and indeed he'll play straight twenty times in a row if he has to, but then still ends up hitting accurately chosen and unorthodoxly executed volley-drops and trickle-boasts at the right times. Welcome to 'No Let! The Squash Video Blog', Olli!

UNORTHODOX II: MOHD AZLAN ISKANDAR

There are by now around thirty posts in this squash video blog, and this is only the first to feature Mohd Azlan Iskandar. Shame on me, but it also shows in what an undeveloped stage video sharing still is, there is not that much to be found about him. Anyway, Iskandar is a great player with a very particular style, beautiful to watch. He is soft and strong, gentle and dynamic at the same time. He has an amazing wrist which allows him those out of the world flicks as the one which made him win the below rally, but at the same time he is also one of the most classy players on the current tour with that long, old-fashioned follow-through on the after-swing of his drives (reminiscent of the heavy, wooden racket-times) as it can be seen for example at 0:15. Another particular thing is his backhand from the back after the re-bounce from the back-wall: it's not the typical static 'two-legged' type, he is going very deep with the legs and lounges with the right leg extremely forward - more than anybody else on the tour. That he's stuck in the top20 is a real shame for him. There are not many players outside the top10 who have beaten Amr Shabana, Ramy Ashour, Nick Matthew, David Palmer, Thierry Lincou and Lee Beachill at least one time each. But then again, he can lose to anybody. Azlan, if you listen, could you please take a bit seriously the next 12 months? I am afraid it's your last chance considering the age factor. Congrats for having just won the Malaysian National title, but back it up please, it's just not worth to retire with the label "former world #11", and mainly not with your talent. May the force be with you.

UNORTHODOX I.: BORJA GOLAN

Let's say, historically there are 7 great squash nations: Egypt, England, France, Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Canada. These nations have produced at least one world number ones each and they keep producing players regularly inside the world top 50. Outside of these countries, it is really tough to come through to the highest levels. First of all, there won't be many great coaches around, and secondly you will face the lack of serious training partners. Nevertheless, some guys have made it through and managed to become the lonely representatives of their nations in the top 50: Borja Golan from Spain, Laurens Jan Anjema of Holland, Olli Tuominen from Finland, Simon Rosner from Germany, Nicolas Mueller from Switzerland, Mark Krajcsak from Hungary, Rafael Alarcon from Brazil, Julian Illingworth from the USA (even though newly joined by Gilly Lane) and Davide Bianchetti from Italy.We are going to have a look at each of them in the near future. Let's start with Borja Golan, who has reached the highest ranking of them all. He got to world number 10 in September 2009, and basically at the same time suffered a serious injury. He now is back and starts to win again all the smaller tournaments that he has to go through because of his dropped rankings. Golan proves that you can make it through to a very high level even if technically - let's say body language wise - you are totally out of the conventional patterns. Look at his backswing, the way he waits for his opponent's shot, the way he lounges to the ball. Everything is strange, though still accurate and effective. I guess it's above all in the head, and only after comes the body(language).