2011 US OPEN, ANOTHER SUPERB DIVE AND TOUCH: WAEL EL HINDI vs. AMR SHABANA

It's not the first time that Wael El Hindi is showing his exceptional touch and balance by playing a drop shot on the run, behind his body on the backfoot! This time add to the bill that he was just recovering from a dive in order to lob back a good faded drop by Amr Shabana. EL Hindi, in general might not be at the levels of a Ramy or a Shabana, but in this respect - playing drops from behind his body - he is probably the greatest on the PSA tour. Without looking specifically for the subject, we've already had previously three other similar solution by El Hindi here on the no-let blog, check'em out in this video at 0:33, in another one at 0:37, and in this one at 1:02. But don't try this at home!

WEEKEND BAGATELLE VII.: FAIR PLAY AT ITS BEST: JAMES WILLSTROP vs. PETER BARKER

This is not a very special rally from a squash quality point of view. However we include it in our blog as it shows a very rare moment of an extreamly high level of fair play: James Willstrop overrules a 'let' decision against himself and concedes the point to Peter Barker. I've been watching now pro squash for a few years but I do not remember to have ever seen a similar situation. Hats off to James, really! It's another question that, even in the heat of a live pro match, how the hell could come to any referee's mind to give a 'let' in this situation? James then, in the rally that follows, shows his other great quality: his incredible touch, that allows him to play probably the best deep backhand drop on the tour.

LIKE AN INVISIBLE MAN ON THE COURT: JAMES WILLSTROP vs. RAMY ASHOUR

It's a shame we don't have the outcome of this rally, but that behind-the-body shot by James Willstrop at 0:18 itself makes it a must for the blog. Extra pleasure to listen to the commentator's amazement in the box. Another thing to note: I often observed that Ramy Ashour, whilst running and stretching towards the front, in extreme situations puts his hand down to the ground in order to help to keep his balance, just as you can see it in this rally at 0:15.

WEEKEND BAGATELLE VI.: NO COMMENT

At first sight this video seams a simple demonstration of Hisham Ashour's exceptional touch (and nerves, as he was finding the nick at game ball down). If you keep watching the video after the end of the rally you will hear Hisham shouting towards the referee, and this is why we included it in our 'Weekend Bagatelle" section. Then in the replay even the reason of the shouting becomes clear: Peter Barker deliberately hit Hisham's hand whilst the latter was looking the get the ball from him. No comment.

WEEKEND BAGATELLE V.: NASTY SQUASH, AHMED BARADA vs. JONATHON POWER

That's pretty much the worst in terms of ugliness I've ever seen on a squash court (to be fair am only following squash in the last five years) and I know in the eighties-nineties sportsmanship was on a total different level compared to today. Well, what happened there? Ahmed Barada, whilst running and stretching into the front right corner to recover a drop shot, simply decided to kick with his back-foot into Jonathon Power's leg. You wouldn't believe it if you wouldn't see it.

DON'T RUN, WALK! II.: ONG BENG HEE

It's another debt we are trying to minimize by showing finally some stuff with great player Ong Beng Hee. To be honest, as exquisite it was, that final nonchalant backhand volley into the nick is not that much a main characteristics of his, however, as you can see, under no pressure (6:10 down against the world #1) he is pretty much able to demonstrate his geometrical skills. More significant and characteristic about him is his movement: just as in Azlan Iskandar's case, it's funnily slightly square - but that's just an aesthetic note; more important is his economy: he is basically walking all the way down the rally! We've showed some time back John White doing the same, but he was doing it against a lower ranked player, whereas Beng Hee is doing it against the world #1! It's a one minute rally, with quiet a few short balls and swifts in momentum, and it's Beng Hee's perception/reading of the game that allows him to be that economic. On the other hand, Matthew seams to run all the time, not only because he is mostly dominated in this rally, but apparently also because that kind of dynamism is in his nature; he is also one of the hardest trainers on the tour so he can allow himself to spend more energy on the court than others; and running instinctively to every ball also enables you to be early on the ball which has its obvious advantages. However, if I were allowed to advise one thing to Matthew, then nothing else would come to my mind than telling him to observe and implement at least partially into his game the Beng Hee type of economic movement.

EXQUISITE TOP SPIN VOLLEY WINNER: by KARIM DARWISH

This is a short few seconds rally, however with a very unorthodox and exquisite shot that you will not find in the books. To understand it better it makes sense to rewind and watch Karim Darwish's previous volley, a lot more conventional one: he hit the ball at service line heights with mid-low pace slice, looking to make it as tight as possible and as dying as possible. In comparison, the winning volley was hit with a totally unconventional top spin pretty low (however without risking to catch the tin); funnily even though it was a full pace shot, the ball died exactly in the back-wall nick, even if that was not necessary as Nick Matthew was going totally the wrong way, due to Darwish turning his upper body in order to fake a cross-court. Also, his backswing/swing was so quick, that it might have indicated a cross-court (straight drives, as they require more accuracy, are executed with slightly slower backswing/swing). Anyway, amazing shot from an amazing wrist as it has already been noticed in other examples too.

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.

FOUR-CORNER SQUASH II.: KARIM DARWISH vs. WAEL EL HINDI

After our last post with the same two protagonists, here we have another example of 'total' or as I allowed myself to call it: 'four corner' squash, even if the right back corner was only visited once (this is how much they mutually respect each other's forehand). And if in the previous rally Darwish finished it off at full stretch, here he concludes by keeping the arm close to the hip at the moment of impact to enable him to control the drop as much as possible; interestingly this drop was not looking for the nick, Darwish preferred to find the front-side-wall angle to make the ball bounce quickly twice on the ground. He had to play this drop with a pretty fast swing, and it was the angle's task to brake the speed of the ball and make it bounce quickly twice in a row close to the front-wall. Last time Darwish maintained control and pace whilst flicking the wrist, in the current example he could hold the wrist firm all the way down of his swing for this drop winning shot (it was the 8th drop in this 40 second rally!)

FOUR-CORNER SQUASH I.: KARIM DARWISH vs. WAEL EL HINDI

If we've said that one of the most entertaining pairings in the current pro squash circuit is composed by Ramy Ashour and James Willstrop, then closely after them follow Karim Darwish with Wael El Hindi. You might remember an earlier example of hilarious attacking/retrieving squash by them, here we now another rally where they make each other visit all four corners of the court a couple of times within those 50 seconds. In the current sample I would specially like to point out Karim Darwish's wrist. We've talked a lot about his extremely compact backswing that enables him to hit any shot from any position without allowing the opponent to anticipate it; however, normally the compact backswing involves decreased power/pace. So how come Darwish can still hit the ball so hard notwithstanding the lack of momentum of the arm? The only explanation I can see is his wrist, the extreme stiffness of his wrist in the moment of hitting the ball in any position of the racket. As it can be seen, he is able to handle that wrist even in such extreme situations like at the last shot: he still managed to deploy power and total accuracy in a situation where he had to use an extreme flick of the wrist. "Well, that's what they call the Egyptian wrist" - says the commentator, Robert Edwards. Well, yes, Karim Darwish disposes of a pretty complete package in terms of an ideal squash arm: compactness, power and touch.

DOUBLE FAKE, THE CORRECT WAY: JAMES WILLSTROP vs. THIERRY LINCOU

In our last post we've had a slightly over-confused double fake by Amr Shabana, here we have James Willstrop showing the most classic way to employ it correctly right after a highish counter-drop; after a good drop your opponent digs deep to 'grab out' a counter drop, he is still about to get back from his lounge when you threaten with a big swing and a quick fake swing-through to hit a hard cross-court kill; that makes him stuck or even move back slightly and that's enough for you to execute quiet securely a second drop.On club level you might expect it to be a winner straight off, pros like Lincou might get there again to scrap the ball off the ground, but without the time to recover your next winning shot (volley in the below case). The point is to employ the double fake only when the ball (and both you and your opponent) are pretty close to the front-wall, I think.