Where are the North American male pros?
You have the return of the biggest stage in the game: the $150,000 PSA British Open, the most historically significant event in the sport, held at the 20,000-seat O2 arena in London.
You have a 32-man qualifier and a 32-man main draw.
But shockingly, no North American male pros chose to participate.
It's hard to believe they had something better to do.
-TG
Do players have to have a certain ranking to qualify? What is your best guess as to why no North Americans?
ReplyDeleteJohn
John, the slots are determined by ranking.
DeleteIt looks like eight North Americans would have been eligible to play in the qualifying.
My guess is none of them wanted to travel to England without guaranteed first round money and points.
It’s not shocking. It’s economics. The costs of traveling to London and staying there would be greater than any money they would earn.
ReplyDeleteTherefore they decided to stay home. Sounds perfectly logical to me. Why spend maybe $2000 on the trip to London to lose early?
The numbers never lie. Never.
For argument sake, to play the best in the world's biggest (?) tournament, I guess. Are we talking a likely 30-minutes and out first round? Even then, we lowly amateurs run that risk but travel to, say, Atlanta, and take our lumps. Money is not the only motivator.
ReplyDeleteJohn
John, I agree. The window of opportunity for a professional squash player is small. To worry about the money is a mistake, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteOn the British Open women's side, Sam Cornett and Latasha Khan did the right thing and played the qualifying, and both made it through to the main draw.
The two North Americans whose absence puzzles me the most are Shahier Razik, Canada (PSA #34) & Julian Illingworth, USA (PSA #29). I belive that Mr. Razik is currently playing in the Hyder Trophy in New York.
ReplyDeleteAlso of interest in regard to the Hyder Trophy & the British Open - Ryan Cuskelly (PSA #39) played through the qualifying and lost in the first round of the British Open. Zac Alexander (PSA #41) won in the first round and lost in the second round of qualifying. Both are playing in the Hyder Trophy.
Well...just perhaps and due to the fact that there are only four players on the North American continent ranked in the top 64 may have something to to with it, i.e. Julian Illingworth from the USA at #29; Shahier Razik of Canada at #34; Shawn DeLierre of Canada at #47; Arturo Salazar of Mexico at #57. And...only nine players in the top 100, just two of which (Julian Illingworth and Chris Gordon at #73) are from the United States!
ReplyDeleteShould we be surprised by these statistics!? Should we "be concerned? I truly think not! To be sure, due credit and congratulations to Julian and Chris for their dedication, hard work and sacrifice in achieving a PSA top 100 ranking, as it is and has been, without a doubt, a truly long and "tough row to hoe." These two guys are unusual...that's why there's only two of them!
But where are the rest of our "best" squash-players you ask? Well, especially in this economy, they're out there taking advantage of the expensive and time-consuming education they've received, hoping to earn a living as a "professional" in the field of their academic choice...that is if they can find a job!
No...I believe we all know that earning a living as a squash-player is (at best) a "labor of love." Even being among and for the top eight or sixteen ranked PSA players, earning enough to survive is a struggle. With the training, travel and personal expenses involved, it's really a wonder (in my mind) that so many of these obviously great talented and dedicated athletes continue to "hang in," pursuing their dream of becoming one of the highest ranked squash-players in the world.
Certainly in America, where (I believe) that 99 % of our talented junior squash-players - who've come up through the ranks, first learning the game at their local clubs, then for the majority, going to boarding schools with squash teams, progressing on to a varsity college or university intercollegiate career, turning "pro" would be and is a far-fetched and ambitious chore, especially if their goal is to earn a decent living.
No...although the intercollegiate squash system just may be the largest, best organized and most active individual and team squash program in the world, (32 men's teams and 30 women's teams - with nearly a thousand players involved) it does not provide the opportunity to and for players to compete on the world circuit. If one is to "play" and compete with the "best," one must train (on a daily basis) with the "best." And even then it's a challenge - and certainly no guarantee that the ladder to the top will be attained.
As an amateur and a fan, I still don't get it. Where I live, the Memphis pro tennis and (since departed) racquetball tournaments drew pros (and amateurs in racquetball tournament) with no chance of winning more than a round, as does any regional or national squash tournament. You go to play and see the best. A fan can look at the draw for a tennis Grand Slam and pretty accurately x out the first-round losers, but they keep trying and once in a while score an upset. As for financial sacrifice, that goes for any of us who are self-employed or on commission. Finally, if the best Americans don't play in the best international tournament, why even discuss squash being in the Olympics?
ReplyDeleteJohn
Illingworth and Delierre were both signed up for the cancelled Mexico tourney which had conflicting dates. Gordon was seeded in Guatemala. Razik wasn't signed up for any of them. This is about PSA scheduling.
ReplyDelete