One year ago at this exact moment I suffered a nasty ankle injury on my left ankle, only 10 days before the World Open in Qatar. I still pushed through and played it, losing out 3-0 to the world no60 Oliver Pett.
This year one month ago, I suffered a deja vu as the same ankle injured on the same place. After a descent start of the season in Herentals, the injury affected me strongly during the euro club champs in Italy and I continued rehabilitating for 3 weeks after my return to Holland. The injury gave me a good chance to do some solo hits and apply the final touch on my technique that has been a bit of a project over the last years. The last touch still requires a while to get automatized, and I still didnt feel 100% comfortable with it. I managed to get 3 hits on court with a partner before taking off to Manchester. Preperations were far from optimal.
However, talking it over with coach Mark Hornby, we thought it still would be a great experience and learning arena no matter the result. If it didnt go the right way in the tournament, we could still use the time we had to work on my game a bit.
On matchday I had a good preperation with a good hit on the glass court with Shahier Razik, the number 1 Canadian player, as well as a chat w Nick Matthew and some movement/activation drills at Northern squash club, also in Manchester. The body felt good and ready for a fight. The racket handling was not as good as it has to be.
I drew the no5 seed in qualifying and PSA ranked 39 in the world, Karim Ali Fathi. A fast player with good racket skills, liking hard hitting and a fast pace. After a good warm up, I felt ready to run down every ball and die out there if necessary. I had to, as I had little confidence in my technique.
The first 3 balls played hit all the nicks in the back, and the rest hit all the nicks in the front. Typical egyptian style squash was enforced by a dead court with huge nicks. 11-2 loss
I was told to step up the court, volley more, close down the court, run everything down, while I had to try to hit the ball properly. I could only do one thing at once ( I am but only a man), and then the other parts were not completed very well. I still managed to sneak a few extra points in the second game by keeping the length and width better and slowing the ball down more, pinning him into the back. Still the difference in ranking shone through as I lost 11-5.In the third game I snatched a bit too much, focusing more on running than hitting, making a lot of tactical blunders to lose it 11-2
Even though it was the quickest loss in the first round qualifying, I cant beat myself up about it, thinking of what I have been through the last months. But naturally one always want to perform better on a stage like this.
All the things missing at the moment has been working well for me at one time or another lately. I just need to get them all in at once. I know I am almost there. I just need a good year of training now to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It will be hard, as I now support myself with working, but it is not impossible. Hopefully I will better myself until next year and come back to the tour stronger than ever.
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