Pro Doubles Scene 2001 by Rob Dinerman


	SquashTalk> Doubles > ISDA Team Reshuffled for 2002 [last update was 24-dec-01]

	SQUASHTALK TODAY WISPA Vassar NAO Doubles WISPA Greenwich CT WISPA Rye NY RECENT EVENTS Junior Mens Worlds Men's World Open US 5 Man Teams Weymuller US Open CURRENT CONTENT Hall of Fame News Index Club Links Gear Links E-boast Newsletter (sign up now free) Also see: 2001 Doubles Season Hamilton Cup Hamil Cup Singles To reach Rob Dinerman write to robd@squashtalk.com
			Waite sticks with Mudge for 01-02 by Rob Dinerman

			*ISDA STARS REALIGN PAIRINGS FOR UPCOMING SEASON - Chris Walker to focus on Doubles next Season*

			New York. June 27, 2001 © 2001 Rob Dinerman for Squashtalk.com Pro Doubles Scene, By Rob Dinerman As the recently-formed and highly successful International Squash Doubles Association(ISDA)gears up for what should be a richer 2001-2002 season, there are a number of surprising developments, as new partnerships are forming at the game's top-echelon level. Undoubtedly the most noteworthy change involves Jamie Bentley and Willie Hosey, who played together in every professional event for each of the past two seasons, during each of which they only failed to reach one final(the U. S. Open in 2000, Heights Casino is 2001) while winning two tourneys each year --- the Heights Casino and Worlds in 1999-2000 and the Greenwich and Cynwyd events this past season. These exploits earned them the No. co-2 ranking for 2000-2001, and not even runaway No. 1 rankee Gary Waite, who wound up winning 9 of the 13 ranking events with three different partners(Damien Mudge, Viktor Berg and Anders Walstedt), was able to match Hosey's and Bentley's tour-high total of 12 ISDA finals or their 27-1 pre-final record in ISDA competition. Hosey, a record nine-time Irish National Champion, displayed his continuing versatility by winning the 40-and-over British Open (which fortuitously occurred within weeks after he turned age-eligible)this past spring, while the 38-year-old Bentley, who won the last Canadian National Hardball Championship in '95, was a solid performer for years on the WPSA Pro Hardball Tour. Possibly frustrated by their continuing inability for the last several seasons to defeat Waite, or perhaps just in search of a fresh start, these two veteran performers amicably decided to part company and start anew this fall. Ironically, each will be joined by a member of the team that won the only tournament --- Heights Casino --- in which they failed to reach the finals last season. Michael Pirnak and Victor Berg came out of the blue to make a significant impact last winter, going from qualifying losses to the semis of the Cynwyd tourney to an upset-filled advance through the draw in Brooklyn in what may have been the most noteworthy result of the entire ISDA season. Both Berg---who then went on to win a half-dozen events in the late winter and spring with Waite while Gary's normal partner, Damien Mudge, was recovering from a severe wrist injury---and Pirnak,(who in early May won the pro-am portion of the Hamil Cup while upsetting Walstedt and Mudge to become Waite's co-finalist in the softball-court hardball singles main event)implicitly enjoyed plenty of additional success. So the upcoming pairings of Pirnak with Bentley and Hosey with Berg will each consist of one young player with plenty of serious firepower allied with a decorated veteran protagonist who possesses a wealth of experience and a record of long and continuing success. Rounding out the top ten(in addition to the Waite-Mudge, Pirnak-Bentley and Hosey-Berg pairings)are the aforementioned Walstedt and Scott Stoneburgh(who engineered an ISDA first when they had to qualify for the main draw in the early-January Wilmington tourney, then snapped Waite-Mudge's spotless career eleven-tournament skein in the opening round and went on to win the entire event!), who are set to play together again this season, as are the veteran Canadian duo of Scott Dulmage(another WPSA top-ten holdover)and the recently-married Dean Brown, who reached the semis frequently last season and were finalists in Greenwich in late January. The only other switch of note in the top fifteen involves Dave Kay, who played virtually every event with Josh MacDonald in a 2000-2001 campaign that saw them advance to the semis a half-dozen times, but who will be paired next season with Chris Walker, a long-time softball star who at the age of 34 reached the finals of the recent 2001 British Open. Notwithstanding this career-highlight latter singles achievement, Walker plans to move to Greenwich, CT this summer and concentrate on the ISDA Tour, as another softball stand-out, Brett Martin, did so successfully with Scott Butcher this past season. Sometimes the entire personality of a doubles season can be determined by these offseason maneuverings, and it will be interesting to see how this current series of developments plays out when the 2001-2002 season gets under way this September.
	SquashTalk Opinion Global Gallery The Spin (Beck) Rob Dinerman Team Kneipp Walker's Notebook Sarah Fitz-Gerald Clios Corner (Zug) Guest Columns Letters to Editor What's New News Index Features Index Web Links E-boast Newsletter (sign up now free)
			Contribute regional news anytime to: editor@squashtalk.com