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THE OPEN - 2002 EDITION
London April 11 2002 © 2002 SquashTalk.
Photos special to SquashTalk by Fritz Borchert, © 2002

First round action at the Lambs Club

David Palmer, defending champ, couldn't contend with Lamb's hot courts.

The Open 2002. Well, here we go again!

The British has arrived a little earlier than last year (it was in June 2001) but all the players are here and hungry for success.

Mike Corby, the owner of Lambs Squash Club (where all the age group events and the first 2 rounds of the main draws are being held), is the man responsible for digging into his pocket and effectively underwriting the costs of the tournament to ensure it's continued success at the very highest level.

For it was only a month ago that the event date and venues were secured because of financial worries that needed to be overcome.

So we have the unusual situation of the qualification and first 2 rounds being played in London at Mike Corby's 'Lambs Squash Club'.

Then on Friday, the designated rest day for competitors in both men's and women's events, the whole tournament moves 200 miles North to Manchester where the new Commonwealth Games Stadium awaits the quarter finals onward.

This state of the art facility features a full 4-walled glass court set permanently in the building and compares to some of the facilities I have had the pleasure to see at colleges throughout the USA.

The Lambs courts are conventional plaster walled courts which are warm to say the least, so those players that make it to Manchester are going to be tested on their ability to adapt from the bouncy London courts of rounds 1 and 2, to then perform on the cooler and less lively glass court in Manchester.

The first round held a couple of surprises with David Evans going down convincingly to Pete Genever 3-0, and Peter Nicol going to five against qualifier Renan Lavigne.

And I smiled last night when I turned on the TV to watch CNN and what came up on the ticker???? "SQUASH: David Evans, unexpected winner of the British Open 2000, surprizingly lost to a Qualifier last night in this years event"!! So who said squash hasn't made it to the big time!!!

More from Manchester, including some pictures of the Commonwealth Games Squash Stadium venue.

In Squash

Chris Walker