Christianson Classic Preview: Marrison Feeling No Pressure On Home Soil

The Christianson Classic is one of two events beginning on Thursday, January 26, with the men’s Challenger 5 level competition taking place on Canadian soil.

Mexico’s Alfredo Avila, who won five times on the Challenger Tour in 2022, will be the top seed for this week’s competition, which will be held at the Medicine Hat Downtown YMCA in Medicine Hat, AB, Canada.

His nearest competitor for the crown will be Welshman Emyr Evans, while compatriots Leo Vargas, Miled Zarazua and Carlos Vargas will also be in the Mexican charge for the title. The Canadian trio of Liam Marrison, Connor Turk, Cory McCartney.

We spoke to Marrison, the No.3 seed prior to the tournament, and he is going into the event with confidence in his game, despite a lack of competition action.

“I feel like I’m playing pretty well at the moment. There is not much competitive training for me currently in Toronto, so most of my training has lots of conditions,” he explained. 

“For instance, I play a lot of matches with players across the city where I can only play straight up and down the walls. As a result, my length and movement both feel great currently which is a massive factor in terms of generating wins on the pro tour.

“Something I learned from my first year of playing on the PSA Tour is that self inflicted pressure to win matches typically results in underperforming. I play best when I’m relaxed and have no pressure to win or lose. Obviously I have goals for each tournament and try my absolute hardest every match, but this year I’m trying to just have fun on court with the understanding that good things will come eventually if the work keeps on getting put in.”

Marrison will be one of several players featuring on home soil this week in Medicine Hat, but he does not feel any extra pressure. He would also love to reach a first career final, which he has a chance at this week.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure playing in Canada. I personally love playing in Calgary for the crowds and altitude advantage. I’m excited to compete and looking forward to visiting Calgary,” he explained.

“To make a finals appearance would mean a tremendous amount to me. I’ve put a lot of work into my squash game the last two years to really make a push in the world rankings and am yet to make a finals appearance in a Challenger 5 level event. With the level of the tour right now making the finals for a Challenger 5 level event is extremely difficult, so I would be over the moon if I could reach my first final in my home country.”

The Canadian is currently ranked as the World No.147, but he is looking towards making it into the world’s top 100 in the near future. However, he knows that there are several steps that he has to put into place before that can come to fruition.

“I’m currently ranked 147 in the men’s World Rankings and in order to make a leap into the top 100, a few simple things need to improve. To be a top 100 player, my length needs be more efficient in the sense when openings are created in the middle I have to be able to take advantage and hit more winning shots of pure length hitting. 

“Other than that, the only main thing I think is just getting more experience against top players to learn how to play the game within the game to elevate my squash IQ.”

The event takes place from Thursday, January 26 to Sunday, January 29 at the Medicine Hat Downtown YMCA in Canada. Follow the PSA Challenger Tour on Twitter and Facebook for daily updates from the event.

First Round Draw: Christianson Classic
[1] Alfredo Avila (MEX) v Rohan Paliwal (CAN)
Nicolas Serna (COL) v [6] Cory McCartney (CAN)
[8] Carols Vargas (MEX) v Mahmoud Abouelleil (EGY)
Muhammad Faraz (CAN) v [3] Liam Marrison (CAN)
[4] Leo Vargas (MEX) v Naveed Rehman (PAK)
Aaron Allpress (ENG) v [7] Miled Zarazua (MEX)
[5] Connor Turk (CAN) v Darosham Khan (CAN)
[WC] Brock Janzer (CAN) v [2] Emyr Evans (WAL)