Interview with Jonathon Power
May 4, 2004 by Ryan Barnett, SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004 

CANADIAN STAR SET FOR SUPERSERIES IN LONDON

The Superseries takes place in Open Air at London's Broadgate Arena. Photo © 2004 Ron Beck

Power's off to jolly old England.
It's going to take more than a pain in the butt to keep Jonathon Power from defending his Super Series title. In a telephone interview Power confirmed that he will fill the void left by the Anthony Ricketts withdrawal.

He says "I've pretty much decided to go. My plane leaves early Saturday and I will arrive in England Sunday morning."

After retiring in game one of his semi-final match at last weeks Canadian National championship versus Viktor Berg early reports pegged the injury as a bad leg/hip. Well it's not his leg that forced him out. "It's my glutious medias" he said. "As much as I hated to stop I knew that it was the smart thing to do and now after four days of resting I'm feeling alot better and ready to defend my title."

In the past Power has been accused as viewing the Super Series as somewhat of an exhibition as there are no PSA ranking points on the line. Using the words of Martin Heath "Only pride and money."

He has been accused of not going all out at this event. Having won it for the first time last year and with a purse of $75K I'm thinking now that Power's had a taste, he wants some more. Also, and more importantly, it's the competitor in Power pushing himself to go when perhaps he could be resting up, getting fully healthy, and focusing on the upcoming season.

"I really want to win it again. Two in a row would be great. Look at the competition. There are no easy matches. This is a tough tournament."

2004, SO FAR, YEAR IN REVIEW
Changing gears, and with the next major PSA tourney a few months away I thought now was the perfect time to get Power to reflect on how things have gone so far in 2004?

He says, "To be honest, it hasn't been that great" I've been struggling all season to get fit. My body has been letting me down. I'll play two really good matches in a row and then won't be 100% for my third. It's been like that all year."

Well there have been a couple of positives to draw on. Both Thierry Lincou and then John White briefly held the #1 ranking and Power managed to defeat both of them? "Yeah I guess that's true I never really thought about it. I've just wanted to stay healthy and be healthy and play like I can."

Here's something else to ponder. The PSA scoring change. Going away from the traditional PAR to 15 and now going PAR to 11? Perhaps this could be just what the doctor ordered to get Power back on track? "I think it's great I
think it's the right way to go. I believe it will cut down match times by
15-20 minutes plus it fosters more of an attacking style game. You're still
going to see some attritional squash but you should begin to notice a more
tactical game. Players trying to outwit each other by using more angles and
being more creative. Good move by the PSA."

Speaking of the PSA. Another good move by Briars and Co. was the
introduction of Live Streaming. Easy now, I believe we should all give the
PSA an "A" for effort. Sure we couldn't see the ball, the quality was
crappy, the audio flaky and it took forever to get a feed established during
the Tournament of Champions. But...but..it was a proactive move in an
attempt to do something positive for the sport of squash. Power agrees and
adds, "It's good that our association is looking at things like scoring
changes and live streaming to make the game more exciting and providing more
exposure. That's the way to go. Obviously it (Live Streaming) will get
better once we get a better feed. It's the future of professional squash.
We're moving in the right direction that's for sure."

One thing that's also for sure. The Super Series just got alot more
interesting and for the spectators, more entertaining with Power in the mix.
If only we could somehow squeeze in Palmer. Any suggestions?

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