Hiddy Jahan :
July Player of the Month

Hiddy Jahan, an international star from the 1969 through the late 80's, picked up his second British Open Over 50 Title this June. Martin Bronstein talked to Hiddy at the Bath and Rackets Club, and asked him about his lifelong love affair with squash.

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By Martin Bronstein

Never mind your Hashims and your Jahangirs and your Janshers; when it comes to British Open titles, Hiddy Jahan is king.

Hiddy (l) against Maqsood Ahmed

He has amassed 16 British Open titles: Six over 35s, five over 40s, three over 45s and two over 50s. Nobody in squash comes close to that total. The giant Hiddyat Jahan Khan, now 51 years old and still winning titles, is also known for his longevity. Considering the fuss that was made when 34 year old Chris Walker reached this year's British Open final, we should remember that Hiddy played Jahangir in the final of the British Open when he was 32.

He was still ranked in the world top 16 when he was 39 years old, the year he reached the quarter-finals of the British Open and won the over 35's. In 1991 he went one better when he won both the over 35 and over 40 titles after losing to Jansher in the second round of the main draw.

The famous Jahan temper was aroused the next year when the SRA changed the rules and would not allow a player to enter more than one draw. Since then he has been entering one draw and winning the titles with comparative ease.

I spoke to him at the Bath and Rackets Club in London, one of the plushest, best equipped clubs I have ever seen --- Persian carpets on the floor of the gym and green marble in the showers. Hiddy is there three days a week from noon, giving high-priced coaching to members who pay $4,500 a year for the privilege of membership - and still have to pay court fees. He has two assistants to deputise on his days off. Hiddy is cutting down to two days a week to concentrate on his golf. With his reputation as a hard hitter in squash, what are the bets on 300 yards?

WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT YOUR DREADFUL ACCIDENT WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG?

Hiddy (r) against Mohibullah Khan (younger)

It was in1967, I was 17 years old and the best junior in the country: I was stuffing all the others. I went to the Pakistan team trials in Peshawar but was not invited to the final trials that were in Karachi. There was a lot of politics: you were a Pathan or a Punjabi. Suddenly I got a phone call to report to Karachi the next morning, a 24 hour train journey away. I had to borrow the money and got a third class train ticket. I got out at one station to stretch my legs. It was 3:00 AM and then the train started to leave the station. I couldn't get in because of the crush... So I am hanging on and the train is moving... And a signal hits me on the back of the head and a steel rod went into my thigh. I was thrown on to the track. Luckily it was the last carriage - otherwise I was gone. I didn't know what hit me. The next thing I knew I was in hospital in an area I did not know. Luckily the police Inspector General was a friend of the family, he put out a search party to find why I had not arrived in

Hiddy (top, far right) on Pakistani Squash Squad, 1969

Karachi. When I was found I was taken to Karachi for the trials! I have a passport picture of me with the bandage around my head. I still played in the trials and lost to Gaugi Alaudin 9-6, 9-6, 9-6. And when I got home I contracted typhoid fever. I had 105 penicillin injections. The injury had affected my eyesight and I got more into playing badminton. Eventually the eye cleared up. And the second time I should have been in the Pakistan team I was dropped because of politics; the chairman of the organisers had a son, whom I had beaten, so he was selected and I was told 'You are young enough to be selected next time.' That sort of thing.

WHO WERE YOUR INFLUENCES?
My father and Hashim were very close, they had grown up together; my father had learned squash from Hashim and was reasonably good player. He had got to the finals of the Pakistan professionals tournament. My father was my first coach and then my brother Shah Jahan, who worked in Paris. They were the two people who influenced me the most.

NOW WE COME TO YOUR SIZE. MOST PAKISTANI PLAYERS WERE ABOUT 5'8" AND 120 POUNDS. YOU'E SIX FEET BUT YOUR BROTHER ZARAK IS A FOOT SHORTER
That's true. My elder brother Shah wasn't as big as me but Zubair, my youngest brother is as tall as me. My father was 5ft 11". My mother was big and tall - I look like her. It's funny, I almost had a fight in Australia about my size. I'd just come off the court after beating Geoff Hunt and somebody made a remark about me being more like a rugby player. Torsam held me back and said don't say anything. But I trained and watched my weight so I was only 12 stone (168 pounds) which for my height, 6ft, was perfect. I have kept myself below 180 pounds for the last ten years. I've been lucky with injuries, just one hamstring injury in all

Hiddy joins the England team - 1983

those years. That injury put me out for six months. I was about 39 years old and I said 'That's it, that's enough it's time to quit'. I told my brothers that if I had to qualify for a tournament, I wouldn't go. I don't have to prove anything anymore. I enjoy my squash now, being in the seniors and seeing old friends and old faces and having a good laugh. I play in the German seniors league. This weekend I had a match in the evening and lost 10-9 in the fifth to an over 35 player; next morning I beat another Over 35 player 3/0 and was tired as hell. Then the same day I had to play Uwe Peters [the losing finalist in this year's British Open Over 35 tournament] and lost. Three matches in 24 hours is hard at 51.

WHY DO YOU KEEP WINNING?
It is experience, but I am very competitive. Doesn't matter who I am going on court with, I'm putting my name on the block. I have the racket skills which I think were better 20 years ago than the players have now. I did better with my wrist work using a wooden racket than I can with the graphite rackets. I play the game like chess now. Squash is a physical chess. I play my shots and I know where my opponent is going to put the ball and I'm there before he's played the ball. Qamar Zaman was the same - when he was at the top he was standing, waiting for the ball to come to him. I look at my opponents, their swing, their style and just work it out.

IS THERE GOING TO BE A CUT-OFF POINT?
I still enjoy seeing Hunt and Barrington at the British Open and all the other players and it brings it all back. It's part of my life and I owe it to the game because I earn my living from it. I would love to see all the other guys do the same thing - show their faces. I would like to Jahangir and Zaman playing in the seniors. The public would love to see these great players, to be reminded who they were. I had Jahangir play an exhibition at the Cumberland Club. In fact Jahangir was in London for a sportsman's award, couldn't stay until the exhibition, flew back to Pakistan for a meeting and then flew back to London and played a beautiful exhibition match with Zubair. And the people loved it, just loved it.

I remember two or three years ago Jahangir was trying to put together a Seniors tournament but couldn't get the sponsorship.

WHEN YOU WATCH A TOP PRO MATCH NOW, DO YOU SEE A FASTER GAME OR A MORE ATTACKING GAME?
It's a different type of game from my era. They seem to be telegraphing each other which shot they are going to play; 'I'm gonna play a drop shot, you play a lob' kind of thing. They way I see it, in my time it was more bang-bang-bang, it was quick. Jonathon Power is different from the rest, he plays like we used to do, quick, quick, bang-bang.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE TWO SCORING SYSTEMS?
When American, point-a-rally scoring came in, I thought it made life easier for me, you got more chances to take the point as a stroke player. And I laughed when they made the tin lower. I said if a player never hit a nick stroke in his life, it doesn't matter if they take the tin out, they are never going to hit a nick shot. I remember when I was refereeing a match between Jahangir and Jansher, they played for twenty minutes and hadn't scored a point using American scoring and the lower tin. Neither of them wanted to take a chance and in a way, it made it negative. With hand-in scoring, you've always got a chance. If you serve you go for the nick knowing you can't lose a point, you just lose serve.

WHO WAS THE BEST SHOT PLAYER YOU EVER SAW?
Qamar Zaman was the best and then Rodney Martin. Zaman was a touch player and a stroke player whereas Martin used to smash the ball more. And then there was Mohammed Yasin; he made Jonah Barrington cry on the court when he beat him.

WHAT ABOUT ROSHAN AND NASRULLAH?
That was a different era and their style of play was completely different. It was more of

Hiddy (r) in one of his battles with Jahangir at the PIA Centre in Pakistan

a feel. When I teach I say: 'when you are going for a drop shot, you don't hammer it. Put feel into it, like you're cuddling your girl friend. That's what Roshan and Azam used to do. Another great stroke player was Mohibullah Senior, the one who died in Boston. He could hit that ball! I was known as a hard hitter, but he could really hit it. And he was quick. He was playing a final against Roshan. He would hit the ball, drop his racket on the floor deliberately and somersault and then get the ball back no matter where Roshan put it.

YOU MUST HAVE BEEN UPSET THAT THERE WAS NOT ONE PAKISTANI PLAYER IN THE BRITISH OPEN MAIN DRAW.
That was sad, very sad. The Pakistan administrators did not concentrate on what would happen after Jahangir and Jansher. Pakistan has got a lot of juniors, but there is no unity there. Zaman's son, Mansoor, can be a very good player but someone has to take him in hand and take control. If that doesn't happen to Mansoor within a year, it will be too late.

GOING AROUND THE CLUBS AND WATCHING HACKERS LIKE ME, WHAT IS THE COMMON ERROR?
They like to play the shots and they forget about the basic things like good length. I teach my players that if they can hit the ball ten out of ten in the middle of the racket, they can play any shot. I f your basic stroke is no good, you've got problems. At the basic club level, if you hit a good length, you'll win the point.

Hiddy Jahan : July Player of the Month

Hiddy Jahan :
July Player of the Month