WISPA Year End '03 ... Kiwis, Roller Coasters, Cairo Tyro ... Global Gallery, WISPA Sepcial January 2, 2004 Martin Bronstein, the most respected Squash Journalist today, reviews a new book on American Squash. © 2004 All rights reserved. photos © 2004, Suashtalk, D. Tessier,

AN ECONOMIC ACCOMPLISHMENT
Due to the untiring behind-the-scenes work of Andrew Shelley, the Women's International Squash Players Association managed to stay level in 2003 despite a very difficult economic year. I sometimes wish that some WISPA members worked as hard as Shelley. Frustration is the word that jumps to mind when summing up the WISPA year. Sarah Fitz-Gerald quit while she was still at the top and still unbeatable. Why? I can understand that she finally tired of the travelling after fifteen or so years on the circuit, but why quit at the top when you are almost guaranteed a winner's cheque every time you play? Maybe the answer is that the winner's cheque is usually not that big and that she felt that with all the contacts of her fiancee, the former sales director of Dunlop in the UK, she could make more money doing exhibitions.

So we were left with a top ten that all knew they couldn't beat her. But most of them could beat themselves through lack of confidence or, as was sometimes obvious, a lack of training. One tournament I witnessed saw most matches finish in under 40 minutes. Now I know that judging a match by its length would get us back to the attritional days of Hunt, Barrington and Khan, but if rallies are all brief it means that errors are being made and/or the retrieving by both players is below par.

ANYHOW… here's my year end report (In ranking order):

1. CAROL ( The Kiwi) OWENS

Carol Owens photo © 2004 Debra Tessier

This is the one player who should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck on Fitz-Gerald's departure and firmly made the top spot her own. But she still has times where her confidence collapses like a house of damp cards and she simply blows it. Now it is true she is still number one with a healthy margin over the next player, but the way she is making noises about retiring (as she did after a straight game loss to Rachael Grinham in the British Open) her heart may not be in the game any longer.

She has been saying for a couple of years now that she dislikes travelling and being away from her home in New Zealand, which gives her an avenue for rationalising her bad performances.

Having made those points, it must be noted that she did make the semis or final of every tournament she entered last year. Which ain't bad. She started the year with five trophies and then lost to Rachael Grinham , Grainger and Cassie Jackman in the next three. She finished the year with her second world open title in Hong Kong and then took the next plane home to contemplate retirement. Why? When she was world umber two she told me that she did coaching so that she could pay the mortgage. She has now reached the stage that most players aspire to: world number one and world champion. This is when she should be cashing in.

2. NATALIE (Roller Coaster) GRAINGER
Her sadly brief marriage over, Natalie returned to her maiden name and her roller-coaster game: brilliant one minute, lamentable the next. In 2003 she played six tournaments, lost five but pulled out all her big guns to win the Qatar Classic, which gave her enough ranking points to put her back up to world number two. However, two weeks later in the world open, she went out to Nicol David. Whaa? In the British Open she had beaten David for the loss of four points and here she was a few months later losing in the second round to her.

When it comes to racket ability only Omneya Abdel Kawy can outshoot Grainger, but like all shooters, when it's not working, catastrophe. As the number one player in the US now, she should be getting tremendous support and that should be showing in consistency. In 2004 Grainger should be challenging Owens in the final of every tournament. She has to go on court in every match thinking "I am the world number two and nobody ranked below me beats me." And when her shots are not working she must learn to return to a basic game of length. Or does she like the sound of rubber on tin?

3. CASSIE (I'm back, back again) JACKMAN
Medal of Honour for Cassie for her guts in shooting all the way back up to number two after two career-threatening operations on her lower back. When she's hot, she's hot and every player on the circuit admires the way she strikes the ball. Once again she was denied a British Open title when Grinham the Elder hit top form in the final. But Cassie was also in the final of the World Open, which says much for her consistency. Considering she celebrated her 31st birthday just before Christmas.

Cassie is playing as well as ever and says she is moving better than ever since the ops. She has been world champion and she has been number one and she thinks she can do it again. She has beaten both Owens and Grainger in the last 12 months, but has lost three times to Grainger. 2004 should be a very interesting year for Jackman with every possibility of taking the top sport.

4. RACHAEL (The Cairo Tyro) GRINHAM
Two years in Cairo have gotten rid of the straightjacket imposed on her by the regimen of the Australian Institute of Sport. She says she is enjoying her squash again and feeling free to use her creative urges. Her British Open title was totally unexpected and totally deserved with all the other players dithering around like turkeys at Thanksgiving and Christmas. (How bicultural can one man get?) Rachael kept her cool and walked off with the Open trophy with a large smile on her face and while she hasn't done too much since then, the other players know that she can bewilder them with her own version of the game. She made four finals last year and won two of them. She was a consistent semi-finalist which means that she will be in the top four for the immediate future. Whether she can get to the top depends on whether she can keep to her game plans against the top three.

5. VANESSA (Ginger Snap) ATKINSON

Vanessa Atkinson photo © 2004 Debra Tessier

At the start of the year she lost in her first three tournaments to players she should have been beating and then recovered to win the Irish Open, beating Jackman in five in the final. I witnessed that performance in Dublin and wrote that Atkinson had finally fulfilled her promise. She played super, intelligent squash and looked ready to go through to the top. But then in subsquent tournaments she lost to players that should have beaten sleepwalking , her racket strung with spaghetti. Absolutely maddening. I bet her coach Liz Irving has ulcers.

10. NICOL (Mighty Atom) DAVID
It's good to see this lovely player back on form. (She's now working with Irving in Amsterdam) David got squashed out, lost to people she should have swamped, and then wisely took a few months off from the little white room. She dropped to number 35 in the list last June but the break did wonders for her and she came back, knocking higher ranked players over like skittles and thumping Omneya Abdel Kawy in three in the world open in Hong Kong. She saved her best for last in that tournament beating Grainger and Fiona Geaves before losing to Jackman in the semi-final. This is the player that could be top of the heap in two years; she has everything including a wonderfully calm personality.

13. TANIA (I gotta bug) BAILEY
By rights, Bailey should be world number one now. This former world junior champion skated up the senior rankings and , at number four, was ready to storm the castle. Then a strange virus hit her 18 months ago, and she has been unable to shake it off . She tried to play in six tournaments last year but was forced to give two of her opponents walkovers and retired from three others.

This is a tragedy; like David, Bailey had a good mental approach to the game, as well as the fitness and strength. WISPA needs her to give the top ten another dimension. I for one fervently hope that she gets rid of the bug and returns to full strength.

14. ISABELLE (If Lincou can do it, so can I) STOEHR
One of the biggest jumps in the latest rankings Stoehr, w ho started 12 months ago ranked 22, is now up to 14, due to a steady rise, like her French countryman Thierry Lincou. This compact player has shown her abilities by beating Omneya Abdel Kawy and Linda Charman in the Qatar Classic. Still only 23 , she continues to mature and I forecast a top six place by this time next year.

(Also read my PSA year end report)