Jonathon Power:
July/August Player of the Month

Jonathon Power looked his usual relaxed self as he lounged behind the court to watch Shahier Razik win his first round match in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

He swapped stories with Gene Turk, the Canadian team manager while keeping an eye on play and quietly applauded the good shots.

He is as fit now as he has ever been and says it's all due to 'body maintenance', candidly admitting that until this year, had never done any stretching. None! In a candid interview he also admits that he completely underestimated the importance of the Commonwealth Games four years ago and has no intention of repeating the error.

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By Martin Bronstein

WHEN YOU LOST AGAINST JOHN WHITE IN THE BRITISH OPEN, THE COMMENT WAS THAT YOU WERE SO FIT YOU FORGOT ABOUT YOUR FLAIR.

Power Fell a Few Shots Short of John White in 2002 British Open.

I don't know if it is about flair. Against John White, the worst thing you can do is use flair. I think I played too much of my game. Against the other players I can impose my game and I don't have to think too much about tactics.

But there are a couple of guys who attack so well that if I don't concentrate on every shot they punish me. I didn't play particularly well on the day, I hit a lot of loose balls and John White hit a lot of winners and he punished me. I don't think it was a lack of flair, it was a lack of tactics. I didn't play straight enough, I played too much across the court.

I could have played like Peter Nicol does and keep it straight along the wall, counter everything and let John self-destruct. It would have been more in my interest to play a game like that rather than play my game where I open up the court and give a lot of angles. I like to play fast and react and use my athleticism but against John White, he'll punish you.

HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN YOU LOST?
It was just a couple of points at the end , a couple of calls that could have gone either way. It was a close match, he got and it was meant to be on the day. I definitely was not overconfident - if anything I was a bit too wary of him. I was certainly surprised when I lost because I thought I had been playing and winning all my matches comfortably. I felt comfortable on the court, not that the score was comfortable.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN YOU QUITE AS FIT. YOU WERE PREPARED TO TAKE ON ANYBODY FOR AS LONG AS NEEDED.
Yes, but it was not because I had been doing any more fitness training - it's just that my flexibility is better. I have been working on details like flexibility and my movement is better so I am more like I was when I was younger. I'm on the ball so early, I don't have to do so much running. And it is also more difficult to get me out of position and running corners. It's down to working more on body and not getting back spasms, or getting injuries. That has been my focus. And I am enjoying my life much more and not feeling sore or stiff.

IS THAT BECAUSE YOU GETTING LONGER RESTS BETWEEN TOURNAMENTS? I never did anything body maintenance before in terms of stretching. I would go straight to the bar all sweaty - old style squash from the eighties. I wasn't really thinking about taking care of my body and as you get older, your body doesn't respond as it did. I had been on the circuit ten years and never done any stretching. I had never stretched a day in my life until this year and that's been the big difference. Now I've got some flexibility and can now move like I did when I was younger, when I didn't have to warm up. When I was 23 or 24 I used to walk on court and I was ready to fly. But as I got older my body was locking up and getting spasms.

Power and Nicol are always closely matched

YES, I REMEMBER MIKE WAY WALKING ON YOUR BACK DURING THE FINAL OF THE US OPEN IN BOSTON IN JANUARY.
Well I was just coming back at that stage and I had started doing stretching and then three weeks later in New York in the Tournament of Champions, I was much better.

YOU'VE BEEN IN MONTREAL FOR A YEAR NOW. DO YOU STILL SEE MIKE WAY IN TORONTO?
I see him when it goes wrong and I talk to him on the phone. I never working daily with Mike when I lived in Toronto. I'd see him once a week and he would talk and give me some drills. But I always worked at my own pace.

WHO DO YOU HAVE TO WORK WITH IN MONTREAL?
There's a couple of young guysmy little brother (Ian) and Shaun DeLierre and Dave Philips. DeLierre moved to back to Montreal when I moved and there's also ViktorBerg. So there will be a group of about six or seven guys who can work out together.

They are not the quality of Graham Ryding, but he moved to Amsterdam last year to be in Europe and get more games and different styles rather than playing me and Shahier Razik all the time. So when Graham left I decided to move to the place I like best and be nearer my family. I am now a three hour drive from my family rather than nine hours from Toronto.

YOU HAD THREE CONSECUTIVE WINS OVER NICOL EARLIER THIS YEAR. WHAT DID YOU PUT THAT DOWN TO?
I was in shape and I was able to stay with him and his pace. If I'm not in shape his pace will break me in 2 -21/2 games. If I'm in shape and 100 percent fit, my pace will break him in the same time. And that is the difference in squash at all levels is pace of the game, how fast you can play. It's a very explosive power and hard to sustain. It's a different kind of fitness than it once was when it was long endurance rallies up and down the wall, which is another kind of fitness. Today's game is explosive fitness.

Jonathon's Game always has that flair to it.

HAS YOUR GAME CHANGED IN THE LAST TWO YEARS.
Yes, I think it's changing all the time. It's more conservative: I'm taking less chances with my choice of shots, not making errors. I'm not doing spectacular fakes or playing to the crowd.

When I was a kid I used to like people watching me and I would show off my racket skills. I'm trying to play more tactically now, but I don't forget what got me there, what separates me from other playersholding the ball. It changes every year, shots come in and out of your repertoire.

YOU HAVEN'T HAD A WHOLE LOT OF TOURNAMENTS. DO YOU PREFER THAT?
I would rather compact seven tournaments in a five month season and then take the rest of the years off, so you can get a break from the squash. They way it is now, one a month, you don't have time to take a break, you always have to keep training.

But when I have a two month break, I lose everything because I don't get any match practise. I don't play the other guys and I don't play leagues. But when I play two or three tournaments in a row, then I find my game. I was playing well in Boston up until the final, that gave me confidence into New York and then it was boom , boom, boom. I was playing well in the British Open until the semis; I beat Beachill in the quarters and was happy with that.

Power's Next Move is always Unpredictable

YOU ARE 28 NOW. ARE YOU STARTING TO WONDER HOW MUCH LONGER YOU'VE GOT AT THE TOP?
No. Now that I have learned how to take care of my body, I think I can play as long as I still enjoy it. I think I can do a Chris Walker and play till I'm 36. As long as you do the work there is no reason why any of us can't do that.

YOU HAVE NOW WON EVERYTHING EXCEPT A COMMONWEALTH GOLD MEDAL. DOES YOUR LOSS TO NICOL FOUR YEARS AGO STILL WRANKLE?
You know, at the time I didn't rate the thing at all. It was the first time that squash was in the Commonwealth Games and there was no money and I was a kid and I was like: 'what the hell are we doing here?'.

I just didn't put any importance on it and went to Bali for a six day vacation, surfing. I didn't have a clue and then I realised the kind of impact the Games had on squash back in Canada.

And after I lost to Peter I realised it was more important than I thought. I had beaten Peter six previous times leading up to that match and he gained a lot of confidence from the win and he beat me the next two times. It was a very important loss.

Now I am treating this like one of the majors. So for the last month I have been training full out and it has been in the back of my mind all this year, no doubt about it. I'm here to win the tournament make no mistake about that.

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Jonathon Power: July/August Player of the Month

Jonathon Power:
July/August Player of the Month