I woke up early today and took a stroll around old town Hull before most anybody was up. The pubs in Hull start serving pints at 9, and there are plenty of takers at that early hour. So as I was walking about well before then, the town was very, very quiet, and I found myself very calm and focused for what I knew would be a real battle ahead of me.
I arrived at the Hull squash center about an hour early, and met my opponent, the 3rd seeded David Youngs, as I was getting ready. What a nice guy. He happens to know two Americans who happen to be two of my favorite people in squash – Richard Millman and Andre Maur. Two very, very different people, but two true squash players through and through.
There is something about the way a good player talks which tells you that they are good. The better the player, the more they downplay their squash. 10 minutes chatting it up with David told me that this guy would be good.
Game 1 starts – He serves, I return down the wall, he hits a boast winner. So this is what it is going to be like. He attacks at every chance, and is always deceptive. He runs up the score to 5-1, but I feel good – he is attacking too soon, and under pressure he keeps trying to be deceptive which is putting pressure on his shots. If I can just mix it up with good deep rails and cross courts, and attack straight, I know I can do this. I pull back into the game, forcing errors and winning with my straight volley drop. I win the first game 11-9.
David comes out on fire in the second, takes the ball early and shoots well. Second game to David 11-5.
After the 2nd game I reminded myself to attack to the back two corners to set up my attacks to the front. It was just the advice I needed, and I took the initiative early and had David back on his heels while he still continued to go short. I started countering his short shots with counter drops and they were effective which to me is a sign that my opponent is working hard. 3rd game to me 11-4.
David was huddled with his mates from Norwich after the 3rd, and they must have given him good advice, as he came into the 4th working the ball high to the back corners, especially using a beautiful, high backhand crosscourt. This shot put more pressure on me than I liked, and he used my subsequent shot to set up his attack. He was looking very, very good. 4th game to David 11-4.
I had a simple piece of advice for myself after the 4th: Play to win. Attack to the back to set up the attack to the front.
The 5th started with a beautiful backhand straight drop winner from David, then a almost-perfect backhand cross-court that was just out: 1-1. Then I took over. Attacked, attacked and attacked some more to the back, then attacked to the front straight – straight drops and straight volley drops. If David did get my drops, I attacked to the back. 5-1, 7-1, 7-2, 9-2, 9-3, 10-3, 10-4, 10-5, 11-5. Game, match. I am into the semis.