SquashTalk>Columns>Team Kneipp > Bermuda PSA Masters '05 > Report Card

Also see [Bermuda Masters Draw] and the complete SquashTalk reports from Martin Bronstein in Hamilton Bermuda.

Jonathon Power prevailed at the 2005 Bermuda Masters, Photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

Champagne & Strawberries
Jonathon Power
In the preview of this tournament we discussed Power’s ability to win matches, but questioned whether his fitness could hold up for the five matches in five days required to win the tournament. As a pro it takes a while to learn that fitness doesn’t just encompass court movement, speed and endurance but also includes the vital ability to stay injury free. That includes not overtraining, resting properly, recovering well and strengthening the right muscles to avoid injury. Power may still be one of the players most capable of thrashing an opponent quickly with winners (along with White & Shabana), but he also withdraws from matches with injury more often than any other player.

Not only did Power win the tournament, but he did it the hard way. He had a ridiculously tough draw that included beating three players in a row who have all been #1 in the world (Lincou, White & Beachill) and playing three five-set matches in a row. Prior to the final Power was on court for a total of 288 minutes (nearly five hours for four matches), compared to just 171 for his final opponent Lee Beachill. To give Beachill a two-hour head start and still win the final convincingly is impressive. 2002 was the last time that Power won a tournament of this size (beating Stewart Boswell in the final - Bozza is finally coming back from injury and you have to feel some sympathy for the players ranked 200 or so who get him in the qualification draw of a tiny tournament).

John White

It was a good week for John White at the 2005 Bermuda Masters, Photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

It was funny to read a press release during this tournament describing what an upset it was for John White to win his 2nd round match. McWhitey beat Palmer against the seeding, but it was only twelve months ago that he was the highest ranked player in the world, so it can’t seem that surprising whomever he beats. The men’s game is so healthy at the moment and so competitive at the top that it’s impossible for the same players to secure the top 8 positions which is why we’re having tournaments like this that have 2nd round matches like Lincou versus Shabana (2003 World Open
finalists) and Palmer versus White (2002 World Open finalists).

Whitey has difficulty beating Palmer in PSA. They’ve played each other five times in PSA over the past three years, and although Whitey has pushed Palmer to five sets in four of those matches, he has still lost them all.

Palmer uses Bermuda as a base so he has extra support and motivation to play well. Whitey should (and will be) very content with this win and his tournament performance.

Ong Beng Hee

Shabana and Lincou at the 2005 Bermuda Masters, Photo © 2005 Stephen J Line

Bengy hadn’t won a first round match for six months and has had a well documented struggle with motivation and form, making painstakingly difficult alterations to a technique that has flaws (whose doesn’t?), but nevertheless was a technique that won him the World Junior Championship and kept him ranked in the top 10 for three years. Reconstructing swing patterns that are ingrained from childhood and that have yielded that kind of success requires a lot of time and dedication, and an understanding that your playing standard has to go backwards before it will go forwards. Part of Bengy’s motivation for this was the ridiculously long matches he would always have, and a technique-based difficulty with putting the ball away and finishing the rallies (his words not mine – Bengy moves beautifully and when he wants to put the ball away he’s excellent at slapping it into the nick). A reasonably comfortable win and a hard-fought second round loss put a smile back on his face and moved him a step closer to becoming the incredible competitor that he was and will be again.

Olli Tuominen
This is the 7th tournament in a row that Olli has won his first match
against the seeding, beating Kneipp (damn it) in the first round here. You
don’t keep winning against the seeding without getting a much better ranking
and eventually becoming the seeded player. That will happen soon. He has
spent most of his career ranked outside of the top 20, but soon should be in
the top 16, and perhaps in the not to distant future, the top 10 – something
he is certainly capable of.

The seeds
7 of the 8 seeds made the quarterfinals. Pretty impressive considering that
meant getting past players like Shabana, Ricketts and Gaultier in the 2nd
round. Beachill again showed his rock solid consistency and would have been
as surprised as anyone at Power’s final form.

Vinegar & Rotten Tomatoes

David Palmer & Amr Shabana.
With the quality of the men, and the 2nd round matches we’ve already
discussed, someone had to lose. It’s very rare for Palmer to bow out of a
tournament prior to the quarterfinals. It has only happened twice in the
past three years. Shabana is more erratic that that, tending to subscribe to
the John White “Win the 1st tournament, lose in the first round of the 2nd
tournament” school of squash. But losing a close match to Lincou or White
can never be too disappointing.

Joe Kneipp & Paul Price.
Professional squash players ranked in the top 30 shouldn’t ever be beaten in
less than 30 minutes. I lost to Olli in 27 minutes, Price lost to Palmer in
22. Poor form.

Mohammed Abbas & Adrian Grant
There were only three first round upsets in the tournaments (let’s not
mention the third). Both Abbas and Grant had opponents who were ranked very
close to them, so it’s not so bad. We were expecting a grand performance
from Grant to show the English selectors that he wasn’t happy about being
overlooked for a place in the English team in favour of the lower ranked
Simon Parke. He was able to do that (although Parke lost in the first round
with a similar score).

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Mass Ave Suite 102, Acton MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Global Gallery Articles Copyright © 1999-2005 by Martin Bronstein and SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.