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[1]
James Willstrop (Eng) 3-2 [3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra)
7/11, 11/6, 11/4, 15/17, 15/13 (118m)
WHAT JAMES SAVED….
 What
a match that was people, I hope you were watching on SQUASHTV,
if you were not, just get on line and download it as soon as
possible. This match should be shown in Squash Camps all over
the world, as when played at this level of skill, it goes beyond
a sport, it becomes an art.
Let’s look at the stats first. Time wise, 27m (11/7 Greg), 12m
(11/6 James), 8m (11/4 James), 35m (17/15 Greg), 23m (15/13
James). For the unforced errors, James kept it to a minimum, 7
errors in the whole match. As for Greg, 24. Completely
uncharacteristic of him.
Now, just with those figures, you can analyse what happened on
there. Greg was going for too much, playing a much higher
percentage game than he is used to, for probably two reasons.
One, he was not confident with his fitness – his girlfriend just
had a baby boy, just in case you’ve been on the moon at the end
of August, and quite logically, his preparation got affected.
Second reason, it’s all credit to James’ amazing retrieving, yet
again, like yesterday against LJ. Whatever Greg was throwing at
him, and trust me, he threw anything but the changing room sink,
James was stretching, or in three steps was crossing the court,
north, south, east and west. In my opinion, James’ retrieving
tonight was the key of the match.
The length of each game gives you when Greg was in the match, or
focus/fitness wise off it.
 If
the 2nd and 3rd were completely controlled by James, the 1st,
4th and 5th were, like I said, Squash Masterpieces. The angles
those two found, the immense rallies, the cat and mouse game
they played all along… not one rally was thrown away. Every
point had to be won 6, 7, 10 times, with very often Greg
directing the attack, and James retrieving and counter attacking
with a skill rarely attained before I must say, and the
confidence that comes from knowing that your body will held and
held and held…
When we arrived in the 4th game, James was looking bleeping
good, 2/1 up, and Greg looked out of focus and ragged. Out of
nowhere, the Frenchman was leading 5/1. James came back 5/5.
Very close all the rest of the game, but it’s Greg who gets the
first game ball, 10/9.
Here we have, in my opinion of course, probably one of the worst
calls in the history of refereeing. Greg is on the right of the
T. James is on the left of the T. Greg sends the ball on the
left side, in the back corner, in James’ direction, and James
still gets a let!!!! OK…. What happened to the “creating your
own interference”… Why Greg didn’t review it, I’ll never know.
 Anyway,
James will get two match balls in that 4th, 11/10 and 15/14. But
it’s finally Greg who grabs it on his 6th game ball. He managed
to take it despite making 7 tins, bless him, against 1 for
James… Emotions were running high under the French shirt I tell
you.
In the 5th, Greg with the momentum will take a good start, 4/2,
only to be completely dominated by James, 9/6, with again each
and every rally that was bringing the appreciative crowd to
their feet (your servant included!). Greg, now finding shots
that I can promise you are not in the book, which I still
haven’t been able to process or name to be honest, claws back to
9/9. And get his first match ball 10/9.
A ridiculous rally, yet again, where James is really impaired by
Greg in his way, but doesn’t ask for a let. Greg, feeling a bit
unsettled I guess, asks for a let. Awarded. “It’s my shot, and I
didn’t ask for a let” shouts James. “Video review please”.
Decision overturned, no let. 10/10.
Amazing, breathtaking, heart stopping rallies will follow, with
Greg having one more match ball he won’t be able to transform,
and it will take James 6 match balls to finally clinch the
victory, 15/13 in the fifth after 118m of truly out of this
world squash.
Like Nick stated in his after match speech, “that was a hard act
to follow”….
 "I’m
lucky we have a great physio, thank God Jade is here, she’s got
her work cut out…
When it’s played like that, Squash is the hardest sport on
earth. There was some twisting and turning tonight, there was no
easy point on that court, you needed to plot and plan each and
every one…
This was a pretty special thing Greg and I could play such
quality squash for such prolonged period…"
 "Well,
I had a speech all prepared, I thought I was going to win!!!!
"I really enjoyed playing today. I couldn’t have my normal
training preparation with the birth of my baby, but I thought I
did not too bad, a bit up and down, but I managed to get through
most of the match. I got a few cramps in the left quad at the
start of the 5th – that’s lack of preparation really – but well
done James, and good luck for tomorrow.
"Shame that tin was just too high for me tonight…"
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