We start the new  year with two new number ones, Nicol David and Jonathon Power. Well actually one of them is quite old: Power is probably just as surprised as the rest of us.

Even though we all suspected that those three huge tournaments – Qatar, the World Open and  Saudi Arabia – would have an enormous effect on the rankings, none of us would have thought that  the ageing Canadian would  have climbed all the way back up to top spot.

But that is what can happen when the top ten players are pretty close in standard and three tournaments offer something like $400,000 in prize money.  The winner of each tournament gets a massive  points injection and improves their ranking more than winninghalf-a-dozen small tournaments.  In days gone by this would have just made the dominant player (Hunt, Jahangir, Jansher, Nicol or Power) even more dominant and harder to catch. Now, however, the effect is to shake the top ten around like a maraca.

The truly exciting point was in Saudi Arabia when Anthony Ricketts faced Power in the final. The winner would also take the number one spot in the new rankings. How’s that for pressure?

LINCOU TOPPLED
Look at  Thierry Lincou: top player for 12 months and because he failed to win in the big ones he has dropped to fifth. James Willstrop won in Qatar, jumped to number two in the world and because he could not keep that startling run going in the next  two big ones, starts the year at number six.

Amr Shabana, by dint of his stunning performance in Hong Kong at the World Open, starts 2006 in the number two slot, jumping up five places.

David Palmer had a good year reaching five finals (did any other player achieve that level of consistency?), but only triumphed in Kuwait last March and so starts the year at number four.  These are interesting times my friend.

ARE THEY GRINHAMS GONE, OR  JUST TAKING A REST?

Nicol David Gets the better of the Grinhams in 05 photo© 2005, Fritz Borchert

In the women’s games, there are just two words, Nicol David. She had a dream year and quite rightly, having won the World Open, starts the new year at number one. As I have said before, she is the complete player and will take some dislodging.

I am surprised at Rachel Grinham’s  fall from the top spot, she was beginning to look and play like  the number one, using her position to intimidate (mentally) her opponents.  But Nicol David will not be intimidated; what she will find is that her opponents will now intimidate themselves. It is very difficult to walk on the court against the world champion and try to forget that she/he is the world champion.

The question is will Grinham and little sister  Natalie make a comeback? They are still occupying the third and fourth spots, so they are by no means out of the race. The question is will they be able to  find a chink in  David’s  mental armour?

No should we forget the world number two,  Vanessa Atkinson, who actually occupied the number one spot, the reward for a good year of classy squash. Her time at the top was short lived, but when she has her mind and body in synch, she is very hard to beat. I am quite sure she will be pursuing David  in an attempt  to regain that number one spot. Their meetings in 2006 should be  quite interesting.

THE THONG IS ENDED…

Vicky Botwright Had a Great 2005 photo© 2005, Debra Tessier Interview with Vicky B:

Vicky Botwright has surprised us all by finally shucking off that ‘thong’ image and proving to the world that she can play at the top of the game. After losing two five-game battles to Nicol David, she finally beat her in five in the Qatar Classic, the tournament where she also beat Rachael Grinham  before losing to Vanessa  Atkinson in the final. This was her best year yet by far and has earned her the number  five spot.

And a loud cheer for that grand old lady Linda Elriani who continues to earn her place in the top ten. Linda had thought about retiring last year, but now wants to get a medal at the Commonwealth Games in March.

I’m disappointed at the  downward slide of both  Natalie Grainger and Shelley Kitchen .   Grainger has the skills and shots to  be at the top, but the lack of fitness which has dogged her for the last five years continues. At this point last year I would have put money on Kitchen, New Zealand’s top player, being in the top ten  come 2006 and yet she has been unable to string together a decent  set of performances, often losing to players ranked well below her.

Finally, keep an eye on Alison Waters, a player who has often been praised but has only come into her own this year to notch up some fine wins. It is also nice to see
Tania Bailey back in the top ten, and I shall be watching her progress in the coming year to see if she can get back her old spot at world number four.

A  FAIR COP
News has come through that Stephanie Brind has given up the WISPA tour in order to join the police force. It was only a few years back that she was one of England’s brightest prospects. She played for England in the world team champs in Odense  four years ago and lost unexpectedly to  Natalie Grinham, giving the Australians the world title. Stephanie never seemed to recover her confidence  and the last time I saw her play in a small tournament in England, she lost to a player she should have beaten in 20 minutes flat.

ITALIAN FIGS ROTTING ON THE VINE
Readers with real long memories will recall the dreadful organization of the men’s world junior championship in Miland in 2001.  The Italian governing body (FIGS) couldn’t do anything right and received a severe roasting from Technical Director of the WSF Andrew Shelley. That was a relief to me because I had reported what  a mess they had made of things and the FIGS chief executive wrote several scurrilous letters (in both English and Italian) telling me what a dreadful person I was and how I had got everything wrong. When Shelley’s report came out they shifted their fury on to him, at one point insinuating that he was an incompetent inebriated nitwit. Anyone who knows Shelley will laugh at that description.

BIANCHETTI GETTING HIS ASSI IN GEAR
Things have not changed in five years. The same people are running FIGS and doing it just as badly. They will not allow Amedeo Bianchetti near their organization even though he is the only man in Italy who has the confidence of the elite players. So there are now two organizations operating in Italy: FIGS using the third grade players to populate their national team (when they can raise the money to enter a team for European or World championships) and Bianchetti’s new independent association called ASSI  where the top players compete.

Amadeo tells me that ASSI will be running at least four tournaments in 2006 and the eventual aim is to run even more and eventually run FIGS out of business.

VANCOUVER GETS CANCELLED
Sad to report the new Canadian Squash Invitational, due to run in Vancouver between Christmas and New Year had to be cancelled. According to some reports, not enough sponsorship was found and not enough tickets were sold even though the event had a star-studded line-up. Shawn Patton, the man behind it, had the good sense to call on Eventis to help him stage it and with Peter Nicol’s influence, Power, Nicol, Shabana, John White,  James Willstrop and Gregory Gaultier had all signed up.

There were other repercussions that came to light before the event. Patton had contracted to use the McWil court and when the Saudi Arabia event came on the scene, the PSA asked McWil to supply a court (they are the official court of the PSA).

When McWil told the PSA that they were unable to do that because their one touring court was committed to Vancouver, The PSA intiated a terrific dispute with their partner McWil. Dave Carr of McWil  pointed out that they agreed to supply courts whenever possible. The Vancouver event had made things impossible: they could not fly the court out to Saudi Arabia and get it back to Vancouver in time. At which point Eventis (here they are again) were contacted and their court (which they bought from McWil) was rented out to Saudi Arabia.

I understand that Shawn Patton has reimbursed all expenses incurred by players and other people affected, which does not happen very often when a tournament gets cancelled.  I do hope that Mr Patton will try again this/next year and give himself enough lead time to get everything in place.

CANADIAN CLASSIC
Maybe Patton should try holding his tournament in early January 2007, the week before the Canadian Classic.  This year’s Classic should have no trouble selling out with Power having risen to world number one. Toronto has always been a Power stronghold and this year, he’ll be hailed win, lose or draw.  I shall be there reporting from the first day of qualifying, so  stay logged on to SquashTalk.