Squash: The Sport, Not the Food

On Saturday night I went on espn3.com to look for something to watch. While scrolling down the list of events being replayed, something caught my eye. It was the championship match of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions Squash 2013. I had never watched squash before and only knew that it was something akin to racquetball (not that I really know anything about racquetball either). I was intrigued though. So I decided to watch. I wasn't sure if it would be that exciting since I knew Frasier and Niles played squash on the show Frasier (although I don't recall them actually showing them playing) and they certainly are not athletic specimens. After just a few points though, I was fully engaged and could see that squash players are indeed great athletes.

The championship match was between Ramy Ashour of Egypt and Gregory Gaultier of France. (Just a little information about squash. It is a best three out of five match, each game is played to eleven, and games need to be won by two.) Ashour was the favorite coming in. However, Gaultier played a strong first two games and took a two to love lead. Then, in the third game, it was tied ten all and it looked like the match could be over quickly. This is when Ashour put together two solid points to take the game and get back into the match. In the fourth game Ashour showed off some magical play. One point in particular stands out. It was a long rally and twice Ashour's quick reflexes came up big. He was close to the front wall both times. The first time he kept the point alive. The second time he put the point away. After that magnificent rally Ashour strummed his racquet like a guitar. In the end, Ashour proved to be too much as he won the last two games 11-3 and 11-1 to take the match and the championship in front of a great crowd in New York City.

After watching this match I am somewhat of a squash fan and certainly a Ramy Ashour fan, who I feel is one of the best athletes in the world. Hopefully I will be able to find some squash on espn3.com again soon and hopefully squash can make it into the Olympic Games, as people in the squash community are earnestly working to get squash in. I would not mind playing some squash myself either. Unfortunately, I don't see myself being on a squash court anytime soon.