Amr Shabana Wins Crowd, Overcomes Demons, Loses Match
Patient Palmer Earns Third British Open Title
© 2004 Ron Beck, Exclusive to Squashtalk, all rights of reproduction reserved.
November 6, 2004

Shabana and Palmer were in a close battle on Palmer's backhand side, © 2004 Fritz Borchert

David Palmer has finally completed his comeback from his disastrous bout with Appendicitis two years ago. The road back to the top has been hard and steady, but finally successful.

Today the mercurial Amr Shabana stood in his path. Amr was in every way the opposite of Palmer - wearing red to Palmer's white, flashy in contrast with Palmer's workmanlike approach, lithe in contrast to Palmer's bulldozing approach to occupying court real estate.

Amr Shabana came out with a great game plan, and he at first appeared patient enough to carry it out. This game plan was called, "Palmer's backhand at all cost." The lefthanded Shabana was at a clear disadvantage anytime the play went to Palmer's forehand. Palmer's electrifying pace on his forehand was rare today - because Shabana for the most part kept the ball on the other side. This allowed Shabana to play off the less formidable pace that Palmer was able to generate from his backhand.

And play off it Shabana did. His rapidly-developing explosive shots were at times much too much for Palmer, who often had to resort to diving for the ball or bulldozing into Shabana to get the let.

David Palmer was the more patient player today, © 2004 Fritz Borchert

Shabana for the most part was able to accept the bulldozing with a sense of humor. At one point exclaiming, "I love squash" near the end of the first game when Palmer was awarded a no let. And on another occasion stating, "That is a GIANT let," when he was denied a stroke. He also very much played the injured party, lying spreadeagled on the court when Palmer clipped him in the mouth with the racquet.

"Are you bleeding?" the referee asked, with Shabana showing Palmer his mouth. "Not yet!" replied Shabana.

So Shabana very much had the crowd on his side, not so much for his timely quips but rather for the electrifying excitement of his shotmaking, that was at times explosive, at times subtle, and at times totally creative and unexpected.

Shabana also showed patience, which got him game one at 16-14, and almost got him game three, which was the critical moment of the match ,because when he lost game three 13-11, the end of which was marked by a host of refereeing decisions which were sometimes excellent but also at critical moments inexplicable.

But in the end it was Shabana's loss of patience in games two and four that lost him the match. Steady and determined David Palmer beat explosive but inconsistent Amr Shabana. But Shabana's mature performance in this British Open Final gave him great credibility within the squash community. This week has rescued for him a year which has been filled with disappointment after his World Open win in Pakistan last December.

[Complete men's Draw]

British Open Finals:

Men's Finals:
[3] David Palmer (AUS) def [5] Amr Shabana (EGY) 10-11(4-6) 11-7 11-10(3-1) 11-7.

Women's Finals:
[1] Rachael Grinham (AUS) def [4] Natalie Grainger (USA) 6-9 9-5 9-0 9-3

White versus Willstrop at the 2004 English Open - Now on DvD