2009 Super Series Finals - Queen's Club, London

This year the Super Series Finals moved from a tent in Broadgate to the world famous Queen's Club.

Along with the venue change came the involvement of Greenspace in the design of the venue graphics. They produced a series of display panels and banners that really upped the standard of presentation. Quite a thrill to see one's photographs reproduced 25 feet tall behind the players as they sat either side of the court. (You can see David Palmer in the slide show)

The final was graced with the presence of the Duchess of Gloucester who seemed to enjoy the match and certainly made the presentations something special for Greg Gaultier.

2009 Davenport North American Open - Richmond Virginia

Our first visit to the Richmond tournament turned out to be rather more event filled than we had anticipated.

Suffice it to say that due to "irreconcilable differences" Squash Site was not permitted to provide its normal in-depth coverage of the event, and so this will be your first opportunity to see our view of the action during the first two days.

2009 Tournament of Champions - New York

J. P. Morgan stepped in to replace Bear Stearns as the title sponsor for the event, allowing the TOC's run in Grand Central station to continue. Posters at the tournament promoted it as "The World's Largest Squash Spectator Event" and with the non-stop flow of foot traffic past the back wall of the court, who would deny the voracity of the claim. Not only do people see the game, but form the comments overheard while photographing just in front of the crowd, many of the "free" audience were knowledgeable about the game and had taken the opportunity to come and watch, rather than just being passers by.

Highlight match was the quarter final between Ramy Ashour and Thierry Lincou, which could so easily have gone the other way. Great squash, and electrifying competition, well worth a look in replay on PSALIVE.TV.

2009 Comfort Inn Classic - Vancouver

The Comfort Inn Classic has a great deal to recommend it , not only the venue, a wonderfully friendly member owned club on the north side of Vancouver, but also its proximity to one of the best ski areas in the world, Whistler!

Despite the relatively small prize pool ($20K), or perhaps because of it, the competitiveness of the matches and the concomitant entertainment value they provided was as great as those in much more prestigious tournaments. In particular, Tarek Momen showed that attacking squash can win matches, as well as being very exciting to watch. Daryl Selby demonstrated how much he has matured over the last few months as he kept his concentration and with it, enough of an edge over the more volatile Momen, to triumph in a great final.

No glass court, and no player ranked higher than 26 in the world, but lots of member involvement producing a great atmosphere, and well balanced matches even in the early rounds producing more entertaining squash than all but the later rounds of other tournaments often offer.

2008 Saudi International

Support from Atco and its Vice Chairman, Ziad Al-Turki, brought this year's Saudi International prize pool to $250,000, making it the biggest squash tournament ever staged. All of the top players were there and the quality of the matches was very high, with the standout being yet another monumental clash between David Palmer and James Willstrop.

The glass court was set up in the sports complex of the Sunset Beach Resort on the Gulf Coast of Saudi Arabia, a short car ride from Bahrain. Saudi TV covered the entire tournament with a full outside broadcast crew which included cameras in all four corners of the court, somewhat constraining the angles available for still photography, but as you can see, the blue and red lighting on the roof area above the back wall provided a wonderful background to the shots that more than made up for it.

World Open - Manchester - 2008

Last year's British Open in Manchester was a practice run for this year's World Open, with the title of World Champion available to the men's and women's winner. And the result was an immaculately run tournament which fully utilized the impressive facilities at the National Squash Centre to stage 111 men's matches and 55 women's matches!

Strangely, in a lot of the matches, PAR scoring didn't seem to elicit the attacking squash that brings the game alive. The notable exception being the semi final match between Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour. This match was a joy to watch, played at lightning speed with sportsmanship and even some humor, showcasing the two best stroke makers firing shots back and forth at machine gun speed but with sharpshooter accuracy. Take a look for yourself at PSALIVE.TV

Local enthusiasm, and even press coverage, was high as Vicky Botwright (the Head Squash Coach at the National Squash Centre) made it through to the final in her last WISPA tournament.

Atco Super Series Finals - Broadgate - 2008

For 2008 the Super Series Finals returned to the custom built marquee in the center of Broadgate, a huge tent with the glass court, stands and hospitality areas, just a stone's throw from the heart of the City.
While the venue was great for the spectators, it offered some photographic challenges with the afternoon sun adding significant light to the spectator area, and light with a much bluer color than the lights on the court.

There is undoubdtedly a slightly different atmosphere in a round robin tournament like this, and while the critical matches are fought with considerable determination, the "consolation" matches can provide terrific entertainment as the players indulge themselves with a demonstration of their skills with some more unconventional strokes, and even some good humored play acting! The local crowd was large and enthusiastic and the event even drew some attention from the BBC.

We were lucky enough to get some shots of David Palmer with his new training partner, to go with the main match action.

Dunlop British Open - Liverpool - 2008

The British Open is one of the events that all professional squash players aspire to win, rather like Monaco in F1. This year the final rounds were held in the very impressive, newly opened, Echo Arena in Liverpool, and brought us a truly memorable final between David Palmer and James Willstrop. If you saw the Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer then this match had all the drama (take a look at the shots where James thinks that he has won it!) and skill that that one had, with the addition of some great demonstrations of the top squash players' ability to push themselves beyond the point of physical exhaustion.

The earlier rounds, including the first two rounds of the main draw took place at the Liverpool Cricket Club, which produced the unusual spectacle of the world's top players battling it out on a glass backed, and, in some cases, even an old fashioned solid walled galleried, court. Fortunately we had "The Box" (PACE En Bref ... Issue #3) with us and were able to get some good looking shots of a lot of the matches.

H.H The Patriarch Amir Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salem Al Sabah Trophy - Squash Kuwait Open 2008

This was our first visit to the Middle East, and thanks to the tremendous hospitality of the Kuwait Squash Federation we had a wonderful time. Matches took place in the recently built federation headquarters; eight glass backed courts and a huge auditorium with a permanent glass court.

With a $200,000 prize fund, the tournament drew all of the top players, and the quality of the matches was excellent from the qualifying all the way through to the finals.

Because of the sun streaming through the auditorium's glass roof, there were less matches than usual on the glass court, so you'll see quite a few conventional court shots in the gallery.

Canary Wharf Classic - 2008

With the growth in the number of high prize tournaments, and injuries to some of the top players, the entry list for this year's Canary Wharf Classic might have left you wondering how good the matches would be. The answer turned out to be, absolutely cracking! The first round battle between Alister Walker and Gregory Gaultier was one of those epic games that those fortunate enough to see, will never forget. If you would like to see what we mean, you can purchase a high quality download at www.psalive.tv

Cameron Pilley continued to show that he is becoming a contender for the upper echelons of the PSA rankings, reaching the final with eventual champion, James Willstrop, and really stretching James in a great match that the Canary Wharf crowd found a fitting climax to the tournament.

Pace Canadian Classic - Toronto - 2008

Unfortunately, the PSA has not yet found a good way to schedule tournaments geographically, and the English Open clashed with this great tournament in Toronto, Which meant that none of the top English players made it to Canada this year, even though it was the third event in John Nimick's new Player's Cup, North America Series.

However, with 4 of the world's top ten players being Egyptian, that still left plenty of really stiff competition. Jonathan Power, looking fit and happy with fatherhood, was the present to help with the introductions and color commentary. After the first (4 minute!) game of the final it looked like it might be so short that we wouldn't get any photos of the play and the venue, but Shebana picked up the pace enough to make a match of it, but still one in which he offered no real threat to Ramy's repeat of his first ever PSA tournament victory.

Bear Stearns - Tournament of Champions 2008

Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station provides yet another spectacular venue for a tournament.

The tournament always attracts the top players, and this year, was extra special for the American fans with Julian Illingworth having his best PSA result ever, making it to the second round with his victory over Oli Tuominen. Hopefully the demise of Bear Stearns won't be too much of a problem for next year's tournament.

We were fortunate to snap this shot that gives away the secret of how the world's best known squash photographer, Steve Line (www.sqaushpics.com), gets such great action shots!!

Endurance World Open Bermuda - 2007

Leaving the cold of St. Louis in November for the warm beach-front venue of the World Open in Bermuda was one of those tough assignments that one has to take on from time to time!!

The slipperiness of the glass floored court didn't help the quality of the play in some of the matches, and the low level of the court illumination didn't help the photographs any, but the event was worthy of its World Championship title, proffering some epic matches, presented with elegant showmanship, in a massive custom constructed "tent" with seating for 1,400. All culminating in Amr Shabana taking his historic third World Title and fourth PSA title in a row!

"MetroSquash with Sue" at the Field Museum Chicago

Squash has seen some spectacular venues over recent years, including the Pyramids at Giza, and Grand Central Station, and been viewed by spectators of all ages. But few events have had such a grandiose location as The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and none have had spectators ranging in age from schoolchildren to Sue, the 67 million year old Tyrannosaurus Rex!
We were happy to be able to support MetroSquash in their fundraising efforts, and through reports on SquashSite, bring the event to the worldwide squash community. MetroSquash runs a squash program for inner city children in the Chicago area that not only gets them interested in the game, but also provides a structure for support in all their academic and leisure activities.
Peter Nicol played Jonathan Power and John White played Amr Shabana in exhibition matches that were a lot of fun for everyone. If you have ever thought that you could easily beat one of the WISPA women pros, you should have seen Natalie Grainger take apart the best of the local club players, one after another!

The 2007 British Open

England's National Squash Centre in Manchester is a great facility, made even more impressive with the addition of the glass court in the Athletics Hall. With Men's and Women's pro tournaments as well as massive Masters' and Juniors' tournaments there were literally hundreds of squash players at the venue. The English audience were disappointed to see an all French final, but still enjoyed some great squash.

The 2007 ISS Canary Wharf Squash Classic

This was our first visit to the Canary Wharf Classic, and we were blessed with some terrific matches. Thanks to the presence of several other photographers, we weren't under the usual pressure to shoot every game. That meant we got the chance to see the bigger picture as the action unfolded, that we don't normally see when peering through a viewfinder!

John White's matches against Bianchetti and Lincou are well worth a look on Psalive.

The 2007
Infor
Windy City Open

Hosted by the University Club in Chicago, this is always a terrific tournament. Everything takes place in the one building with the players able to get to the court from their "hotel" room just by riding the elevator, so the sense of community is very strong.

As a Super Series event for the past two years, there are a lot of matches, which makes it difficult to find that special shot. Fortunately, Jean de Lierre was there with his Squashlive crew to film the later matches, and his video lights created a great shadow effect on the side wall, giving the impression of Amr and John playing two phantom opponents.

The 2007 Pace Canadian Classic

The Pace Canadian Classic took place in the theatre at the Toronto Exhibition Center. From a photographer's point of view the venue was great with the ability to move easily around the back of the court while the match was in progress, and plenty of space in the wings to work.

The squash was historic, with Ramy Ashour winning his first major PSA Title. Good sportsmanship was much in evidence as you can see here with Anthony and Greg. The qualifying took place on club courts in Toronto and there are some shots from the "Box" included in the gallery.