Memorial US Open Sees Nicol Grind to a Third Title
By James Zug
Pictures by Jay D. Prince
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Mark Chaloner (R) and Jonathon Power get a little physical in a semifinal duel.
Asterisks dotted the tournament like stars in the night sky. There was one because the 2001 United States Open edition was being played in 2002; another lurked next to the name of Joe Kneipp, the dark and not-so-brooding Aussie, who by reaching the semifinals as a qualifier made the best debut in a US Open for a man not named Khan; one hung next to the deflating fact that for the first time in Open history every match was 3-0 (except an opening round match in which Lee Beachill, as if chastened by the notion of breaking the streak, retired early in the fourth game against Martin Heath); and observers sadly placed a starred dot next to the rivalry between the two biggest galaxies in the squash firmament, Power and Nicol, because their match in the finals was the most disappointing in their 26-match history.
Rodney Durbach (L) imitates a football ref in black and white while Martin Heath takes the win—and $2000 cold cash—in the tournament’s “Lightning round.”
September 11th wrecked havoc on America’s squash scene. The newly refurbished courts at the Pentagon were destroyed in the attack on Washington; the hoary Downtown Athletic Club, just a few blocks from ground zero, closed its doors, perhaps for good; almost every club in New York lost a player—New York Athletic Club lost four including its club champion; and the 2001 US Open, with first round matches starting Thursday the 13th, was inevitably postponed. Sadly, the spectacular site at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s august Symphony Hall would not be available until the following September, so US Open director John Nimick scrambled for another venue. One option was already booked: the Cyclorama, the old South End circular art gallery where the Boston Open reached its heights in the 1980s. Nimick found a fine alternative, though, in the well-appointed grand ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in the Back Bay.
The matches, although uniformly quick, thrilled the sell-out crowds of 650 spectators each evening. Canada had three players in the main draw after Shahier Razik, the wiry Egyptian-born Torontoan ranked a career-best 41 in the world, upset Rodney Durbach in the qualifiers to reach the opening round, where he ran smack into the human grindstone and world number one Peter Nicol. Simon Parke, who had reached four Open finals, winning the 1999 title in dramatic 15-13-in-the-fifth fashion, was making a comeback from an ankle injury, but he went down roughly to John White. Mark Chaloner, the chippy Englishman with the signature stripey sneakers, exhibited his newfound consistency. He had made the semis in Hong Kong and Egypt over the past few months and did again here in Boston. But he lost to a rampant Jonathon Power in a match that had more lets than points.
Jealous participants try to take back Heath’s prize.
The story of the tournament was the continued rise of Kneipp. Ranked as high as 13 in the world, the 28-year-old Kneipp is a knight with a creative game as shining armor. Based in Amsterdam, he thrives on league play and is on teams in a half dozen different countries. He knocked out seeds David Evans and White and put up a gallant fight against Nicol in the semis. At 10-all in the first, Kneipp knifed his way to a lead with a couple nicking volleys. When Nicol reached 14-12, he showed confidence in dropping off of Nicol’s drops, hitting for winners and not panicking when Nicol yanked him into back corners. He pulled even at 14-all and in the tiebreaker had two game balls, but couldn’t close the deal—one sensed he was remembering the fact he had never beaten Nicol in a PSA tournament. In the second it went to 10-all again, but, as Kneipp said with knitted brow afterwards, “Peter just wins the key points.”
As a flashy undercard before the finals, Nimick organized a “Lightning Round.” Two thousand dollars in cash, given by ASB, Dunlop, Harrow, Event Engine and this magazine, was laid in a steel box at the front of the court. Six pros played the best three out of five points, with a World Wrestling Federation style no holds barred lack of lets and soccer-style yellow and red cards for beyond the pale sportsmanship. Nimick, ever the barker on the midway, announced the matches clad in a full-length leather jacket. Gary Waite turned off his bloviating cell phone long enough to lose quickly to Heath in about half a minute; Durbach nicked a serve at two-all to reach the final and Heath snatched the instant payday with a three-one win.
Joe Kneipp, (R) a rising star in the PSA sky, traded points with Peter Nicol until the third game, where Nicol closed the deal
The adrenaline of the performance—it’s as if you are instantly at 14-all in the fifth and someone called set-three,” a glabrous Chris Walker said—proved to be the summit of the evening, as the Nicol v. Power match came a cropper. Power looked fit and focused as he fricasseed his opponents all week, just once giving up more than 10 points in a game. And he was typically casual, appearing courtside with just two racquets in hand, sans the usual appurtenance of a bulky hockey bag players normally tote around. Despite traveling light, a lower back spasm felled him, as it often does now, in the middle of the opening game. Normally, he can twist and bend his back and release the spasm, but this night he could not. From five-all, Nicol ran off seven straight points and took the game 15-7. During the minute break, Mike Way kneaded Power’s back as he lay stretched out on his stomach. But to no avail and Power won just 10 more points in the next two games. The standing-room-only crowd grew so restless that they began cheering for Power, the first time a Boston crowd has vociferously supported the galumphing star.
Nicol, regardless, played his lambent game of blindingly quick recovery and whipcrack length. In the semis he hit four tins and uncharacteristically bounced a serve out; against Power he made just one unforced error, a forehand drop that brushed the tin, at 9-3 in the second game. Power, on the other hand, touched the tin 15 times. “It’s not going to be an interesting year,” Nicol predicted, as he looked at the US Open silver plate (which in earlier days he would retire and take home, having now won the tournament for the third time). “I think I have that aura back as the unbeatable world champion. It’s going to be a boring year.”
© by James Zug, 2002
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