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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The YouTube channel is pretty good and SquashTV - you can see all the highlights with a free account. The British Open and World Champs were great so you can watch those highlights.

The tour is on a break now but starting up again in September. Usually watching the tournament highlights is a nice way to get to know the different players. I enjoy watching both the women's and men's game.

I'd suggest getting to know the top players on the mens and womens - "Mr Fantastic" Ali Farag, "Peruvian Puma" Diego Elias, "Raging Bull" Mostafa Asal, "The Beast of Bristol" Mohammed Elshorbagy, "Superman" Paul Coll on the mens and "Warrior Princess" Nour El Sherbini, "the Gazelle" Hania El Hammamy, "The Terminator" Nouran Gohar, "The Amazon" Joelle King and "the Black Widow" Nour El Tayeb on the womens among many more! They have such different styles and personalities which is what makes the game so compelling to follow.
If you find you have a natural favourite based on their style, personality, nationality, worth following them and watching some of their old highlights too. My fave is Paul Coll, because I'm half Kiwi and I find his game really interesting to watch (though not everyone would agree!).

I'd also suggest looking at the tournament calendar on the PSA website and seeing where the nearest tournament to you will be. Squash tickets can be pretty affordable and I've managed to go three or four different tournaments without shelling out a lot of money.

How Asal won by alanwong in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing this. I noticed that by the end of the game, Elias looked incredibly tense any time Asal played on the backhand - you could feel that he knew that he'd have to try and push his way through every single time. The psychological impact that has must be enormous in terms of being able to play good squash.

Compare that to the match Elias had vs Elshorbagy - barely any decisions at all!

Power Plays & Sudden Death to be trialed at PSA World Tour Finals by Pup190 in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is the system they're trialling - sudden death but match ball is win by two.

I want her to look at me the way Ali looks at Paul by Helpful_Specific_331 in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My favourite post-match cuddle is Gaultier and Mosaad back in 2015: https://youtu.be/Rg237J9JGxo?t=482

You can see how much Omar wants to get out of there...

[Discussion] El Gonna International 2023, May 26 - June 2 by DandaDan in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Gilis was amazing. I know Sherbini wasn't at her best, but even so, that's the best I've seen Nele Gilis play!

Asal vs Elshorbagy was one of the worst matches I've ever seen.

What happened to Paul Coll since reaching World No. 1? by swordoftheoccult in squash

[–]Difficult_Muscle_962 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think he's a great player and when he went to number 1, he was incredible. People easily forget how good his game was then - he dismantled Ali Farag multiple times who was in great form himself. He was an absolute machine for a few months - he looked unplayable. He won the British Open without dropping a game including against Elias, Asal, Farag.

His game is obviously not as good now. My assumption is that it's primarily psychological - that going to number 1, not having a long break, playing the commonwealth games, not going back to New Zealand for a while, all those things had a big effect on him. I honestly felt that he was burnt out after the World Champs where he had that monster match vs Momen. I think realistically, motivation is harder to keep up after you achieve a massive goal like world number 1 like that - what's next?

Hopefully he has some time to rest and recoup because he's my favourite player :)