SquashTalk>Columns>Team Kneipp > Jonathon Retires in Style

Power at the TOC: He retires on his own terms (photo © 2006 Debra Tessier.

Our tournament report cards normally list the players who we think have had a good tournament or a bad tournament, relative to their ranking. Sometimes this is straight forward, and other times there are more obscure things to write about and discuss.

If we did discuss the players who we thought performed well in New York (Shabana, Matthew, Gaultier, Darwish), compared to players who didn’t (Lincou, Willstrop, Nicol, Power), then we would be missing the crux of this tournament. Although a lot of exciting results occurred, included Shabana replacing Lincou as the most consistent player on the tour, Gaultier and Matthew’s success, and Nicol’s last event in New York, the tournament wasn’t about that.

No, this tournament was about Jonathon Power.

The current World #1’s retirement from the game came as a huge shock.

No one can question Power’s ability or results over the past decade or so, and Bronstein has given a great account of that in his retirement article.
Whether you agree or disagree with the style or method in which Power has achieved this, you have to admire his contribution to the game and the manner in which he has exited.

Power and Nicol - the classic duels (photo © 2006 Debra Tessier.

Power’s influence on the popularity of squash in North America has been tremendous, and it’s not a coincidence that it’s such a growth area in squash at the moment. During an era when attritional squash was the norm, he had an ability to win fans to the game with his unpredictable, dynamic and entertaining style of play.

But Power didn’t just win fans, he made people passionate about his game.
People weren’t ever half-hearted in their opinion of Power. You either loved him or hated him. We always got along well with Jonathon off court, but not on court. If we ever wrote anything negative about Power in an article we’d usually get prompt emails from his league of devoted fans.

I think the manner in which he has retired is so typical of who he is. It had been four and a half years since he was the best player in the world, 2005 was a magnificent year for his squash, and he finally regained the top spot back. Instead of conceding that position to Amr Shabana in April’s ranking, he finished his career where he feels he belongs – at the top of the pile dictating his own terms.

His exit leaves a considerable hole in the ‘personality’ of the tour. We wrote in the TOC preview that it was ‘poor form’ that Power wasn’t attending the Commonwealth Games as defending champion. He wanted to retire in New York. He has retired in style.

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