bosartek - liked your enthusiasm in the post.

Now, if anyone has ears in the right places in England, why cannot the new Marketing Division explore these types of matches where there is high skill, attacking, athleticism, humour, and mess around with some footage suitable for TV replay; even the highlights in slomo with good commentator remarks. Surely this is the only way the public can be exposed to what the game is about, the excitement, the fitness, the skill, player personality, and with a bit of advertising thrown in too.

Things like White being 34 years old, father of 4,  and really firing is a great promo for the sport itself. 

I hate this commentator stuff where they wait till the rally is over and then everyone claps and the bloke in the commentary box says "what a great rally, he was scrambling all over the place", if you get me - woww!!

I would like to hear comments about the game, eg "white is cracking the ball at 200klhr, Gaultier is controlling the T just waiting for something to cut off into the nick" etc "if white wants to gain the upper hand he will need to tighten up the drives. half a metre from the side wall makes a feast for Gaultier" - oh you know what I mean, talk about the basic things in tactics and shot making....oops there I go again, off the topic!

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Yeah, I meant "in the flesh" so to speak. I don't know about you, but I thought the recent broadcasts on Foxtel were garbage, couldn't see the ball at all. I think you are better off downloading from PSALive (if they have covered the tournament).

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"I only wish we could get to see these guys in Oz"

If you have Austar/Foxtel it'll probably be on Fox Sports in a few months, but I presume you meant watching a live match :)

Would be good, I don't know of any major tournaments in Australia.

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Mike, I was just kidding around (I am sure you guessed that). Trying to inject some humour into the forum.

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I can't say with any certainty that I remember that specific point, but I would have to say no, the point was not won on the drop. Ramy is quite possibly the fastest player on tour and rarely misreads or fails to return a shot. In fact, he had Chris stretched all over the court, as in this example, and won handily in three straight games. Though it might seem that Ramy is out of position here, you can see he is actually quite calm and focused, up on his toes and ready to move without so much as a single doubt as to where the ball is going. If ever he does find himself falling behind, Ramy quickly destroys whatever confidence his opponent might have had with an overhead-backhand crosscourt-kill into a dead nick, hit matter-of-factly but with such authority and confidence. I must say, his final today against Willstrop was absolutely spectacular. James played extremely well (perhaps the best I have ever seen him play) but Ramy was just too good: tremendous speed, lightning reflexes, and a supernatural array of backhand volley-nicks from all over the court. Ramy is not only unbeatable but untouchable right now. We will have to wait until Shabana recovers to see what happens, but I have never seen anyone else play with so much fire and raw talent.

For anyone who is interested, the other highlight of the event was John White vs. Greg Gaultier. This was White at his absolute best, complete with his signature ball-flattening drives/kills, mix of attacking boasts from the backcourt and philadelphia boasts (corkscrew for those outside the US) from the frontcourt, lunges, dives, and full splits. Not to mention his great sense humor and on-court antics, which included a playful racquet exchange as well as an obvious stroke from behind Gaultier where White, rather than stopping play, chose to blast the ball into the side wall full-speed to give poor Greg a friendly little scare! White was absolutely relentless and refused to give up, and the match went point for point into tiebreak in the fourth game (you can read the recap at tocsquash.com under the link for "News" dated 14 January 2008). And all at 34 years old!!!

Whew! That was a long post, but I am still in awe of these last few matches. I highly recommend watching them if you have the opportunity. Squash at it's very best!

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bosartek - you were the player watching I trust,  who on my computer only comes up as a blur?

The question I asked was the point won by a drop shot?  That very point in the photo.

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stevo -- I think bosartek is referring to the spectator in the background, outside the court :)

And yes, very awkward foot placement. I wouldn't want to make a habbit of doing that.

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Hey, that's me standing in the background (just off of Chris' fingertips in the photo)!  =)

Nice to see Ramy Ashour posting on the squashgame forum, good luck in the final.

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His foot is positioned awkwardly and it is absolutely potentially dangerous. However, as you probably know, in the heat of a game ituation you hardly ever think about not injuring yourself, the only thing you see is the ball, wall and nothing else.

Nice pic!

Kevin

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Yeah, it looks like a drop in the forehand corner (arm is so extended he could not do a power shot), and provided he did it well (into the side wall nick) he made a good choice of shot; considering he was in such an awkward position, and fully outstretched.  By the look of his opponent's position on court (back beyond the short line), he was expecting a cross court drive, and suddenly got onto his toes to go forward - but, was he too late to return the drop?

Deceptive drop shot I think.

About the footwork and stance.  Yes, he has extended himself to return this ball, and just as well he is wearing a court shoe that will roll with his foot; I bet a shoe with a ledge would have tipped his ankle over.  Perspiring too does not help as the sweat runs down into the shoes.Maybe his shoelaces were not very tight also. In fact I have seen a player lose his shoe during a rally, and this could have easily happened in this situation.

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