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Picture this: you're in one of Europe's most majestic cities, you're a squash fanatic attending a tournament that is a who's who of world squash, and there's forty-five matches going on throughout the day. This should be a feast of squash. Unfortunately at the moment instead of it being a feast it's more like trying to order your favourite dish at a poor quality restaurant - you know how good it should be, or could be, but so far it just isn't satisfying your appetite.

There are two reasons for this.

Firstly the pool system. When you have an Australian team consisting of four players all ranked in the top 20, and they're playing against Russia, a very weak squash country making their tournament debut - it doesn't make for competitive matches . Imagine how the Jamaican bobsled team were when they first started, some of the Russian players are still at that stage. I'm not knocking the system that allows these players to participate - it's wonderful to see new squash nations putting in the time, money and effort to attend such an important tournament. It just doesn't make for nail-biting squash

The second reason that the squash isn't spectacular yet is because it's easy to forget how big the difference in standard is between the very top players, and the next tier. When you spend most of your squash time working with a top player, all you get to see is the top PSA tournaments and league matches. It's very rare for there to be a mismatch at the top level of professional squash. There aren't any easy first round matches and so most matches even from the start of the tournament are competitive and interesting to watch. This standard of squash is only played by an elite few - it's just that if that circle of players is all you usually get to see it's easy to forget how good they are.

There are a lot of great squash players at this tournament. Players that are the best in their country and the best few hundred in the world. But it doesn't do that player's talents much justice when they face a top player. Generally a player ranked in the top 10 will have a tough match and an occasional loss to someone ranked in the 20s, 30s and perhaps even 40s. But pit them against someone in the 60s or 70s and they virtually never lose. There's already a large standard difference. So when you have a top 10 player against someone ranked 120, or 220 the match can be a very one-sided affair that isn't too riveting to watch.

So I spent Tuesday wondering around the labyrinthine city-sized sports complex that is hosting the event, trying to catch closely contested matches. I started out at the Finland versus Egypt match that was being held on the main show court. There's endless normal courts throughout the centre (and badminton, and tennis, and swimming pools, and saunas, and aerobics, and probably something to do with cross country skiing as we're in Austria - this place is so ridiculously big). Most of the matches are being played on normal courts with just a glass back, but there's also a proper show court that has been set up on a basketball court. The setup is similar to how it was in Melbourne in 2001 for those who attended that.

TUOMINEN FACES DARWISH
Finland versus Egypt had the promise of being a good match. So far the only upset after 30 teams played 90 matches of squash was Hong Kong beating Finland and thereby probably relegating them to the 17-30 playoffs. The only chance Finland had of preventing this disaster was to cause an even greater upset of Egypt, a team that could win the (ugly) trophy this week. By the time I got there the #3s had already played and Finland had received a spanking. So Olli Tuominen, ranked 26 walked on court with Karim Darwish ranked 9, requiring a victory. Which was why I expected a good match and wasn't disappointed.

The first game was a monster, and it looked like Darwish had it when he jumped ahead 8-4. There's a big debate going on at the moment trying to come up with a unified scoring system for the club players, men and women. The men have a different scoring system playing point of rally to 15, but at World Squash Federation events like this they ignore the wishes of the pro men and make them play to 9. Which does have some benefits (the obvious disadvantages will be documented tomorrow). The benefit for Tuominen was he could be five points behind and still claw his way back to game ball. It's very difficult to do this when playing to 15 and it's a great asset of the traditional scoring system. I wondered if I would rue those sentiments by the time the day ended.

Olli clawed his way back into the first game in style. He started reading Darwish better, stopped letting him dominate the T, and started playing the way he does best - like a headless chook trying to volley everything. The only reason Tuominen lost this game was silly and impatient shot selection at important times. He was patient, and played the right shots, and waited, then BAM, stupid shot into the tin from the wrong position. It was a strange thing to see after someone had just done all of the work to save numerous game balls and change the momentum of the game. The Fin's shoulders looked slumped and he didn't have his usual confidence or swagger, even at 8 all when it was anyone's game. I think it was because he knew that even a victory here would be pointless as the third member of the Fin team had Buckley's chance of beating Mohammed Abbass. It didn't matter anyway as Darwish won his match against Olli and finished the Finish top 16 campaign.

By this time Australia had begun playing Russia. Palmer had a rest day, so Ricketts played at #1. The top Russian guy could play alright. Ricketts wasn't playing anywhere near full steam, but his opponent could hit the ball well and read the game. But there was an enormous difference between the Russian #1 and #3. Joe had a simple stroll through the park against Maxim Shokin and I didn't bother watching the game, instead hounding more courts for a competitive match.

England were playing Switzerland which meant a promising match between Peter Nicol and Lars Harms. Every time I watch Lars playing I think that he is far from his potential (which is a lot better than thinking he is as good as he'll ever get). Lars' cause of getting the most out of his game isn't helped when you watch him play Nicol. Nicol is so good at making an opponent feel like he's never going to end the rally with a winner. Time and time again he's able to scramble and return a shot that should be a winner, forcing the other guy to try for lower and lower shots that inevitably become tins. He scrambled unbelievably, kept Lars under pressure when the chance arrived, and won the match comfortably.

The Netherlands versus the Czech Republic offered the prospect of good matches, with the slim chance of an upset by the Czechs, with both countries obviously prepared to do anything to ensure victory. The 3s went on first and it was a whitewash for Holland, meaning Jan Koukal had to beat Tommy Berden for the next match. So both players were cautious to not make errors.

It was at this point that I remembered why I dislike the 9 scoring system for the men. If the two players are evenly remotely similar in standard it usually goes like this:
Long, long rally.....let.
Long, long rally....let.
Long, long rally...point to Holland - hand out 1 all
Long, long rally...let
Long, long rally...point to Czech - hand out 1 all
Long, long rally...let
Short, quick decisive rally (yay!)... point to Holland - hand out 1 all
Long, long rally...point to Czech - hand out 1 all

It's at this point that I feel part of my life is wasting away and that I'm being sucked in a vortex where time doesn't exist. Anyway more about this tomorrow.

The host country Austria had a huge crowd on the show court supporting their boys in a tough battle with Sweden. The Swede's took the match and relegated the home team to fighting out for 17th place. Hong Kong and Bermuda looked like they were having a great encounter.

BETTING POOLS
Throughout the last couple of days I heard stories of different teams having strange bets when faced against weak opponents.

One team's large entourage had a pool going for the number of points that their losing opponents would get (players couldn't be on themselves of course). Another team apparently had a bet for the most number of nicks that each member could hit.

But the best story I heard was the team that had a bet about which player would concede the least number of points - the loser being forced to wash the sweaty playing clothes of the other two team members. I didn't need this sort of betting to remain entertained. The good thing about the tournament being in Austria at a huge sporting complex is that if the squash isn't any good you can walk around meeting athletes in the hope of finding the next US Governor.

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