The Jonah Barrington Column: April 2023

One of the sport’s greatest thinkers and a pioneer for the professional game, Jonah Barrington offers his thoughts on all of squash’s biggest talking points in a new monthly column – written exclusively for the PSA World Tour website.

In this month’s column, Jonah looks ahead to the British Open, which starts on Sunday in Birmingham.

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By Jonah Barrington

The brilliant Black Ball Open in Cairo, the iconic Canary Wharf Classic, a superb Optasia Championships and of course a classy Canadian Open to boot made for an outstanding March.

I won’t touch on these events, as other observers have delivered much absorbing detail on them already. 

Fram [Gommendy, one half of the popular SquashSite] is ubiquitous and always does her returns for the players with love. But my one additional comment here is about the extraordinary job done by Omar Raef and the Black Ball CEO Mohamed Raef in Cairo, as well as Tim Garner and team at Canary Wharf and Danny Lee and his cohorts at Wimbledon.

Players should always be so grateful for the time and effort of promoters and sponsors globally. Never take it for granted.

As next week’s British Open looms large, I must admit I will miss Mostafa Asal’s presence there but he has to finally understand what Nick Matthew said in his most recent interview. 

Nick has no axe to grind. He is not coaching any of the main rivals and is an objective observer of a rare talent in a sport that cannot provide an acceptable spectacle when players fail to comprehend the necessary guidelines.

Nick Matthew is one of the modern greats of the game. The hard-nosed Sheffield ‘Wolf’, he often played closed to the edge but knew where the boundaries were.

He is still close to the action and well positioned to deliver an objective appraisal and that will not please those who wish Mostafa elsewhere nor indeed the many (particularly younger) fans who love his overt character and the dynamic nature of Mostafa’s game.

He already has the ability to hold the top spot without using darker arts and Nick has pin-pointed the work needed to improve his physical level. That in itself in the heat of battle can be why there is a need for skulduggery and breaks in momentum – but these ingrained habits can be difficult to change and even more so when the going gets tougher.

Of course, there are other professionals who are certainly not choirboys and who have utilised these wretched circumstances to create a saga – the referees are under a never-ending pressure to intervene even before anything untoward has actually happened.

Nick Matthew understands all this probably better than anyone and Mostafa should seek him out and listen very carefully to what Nick has to say.

Personally speaking, the British Open was at the core of my very being for more than 10 years. The constant training programme I built around it always kept me in good shape and capable of delivering strong performances at little notice.

All these blocks of work, real building blocks, led me to peak for the event, which was in my mind without a doubt the most coveted prize in the game.

Since my departure from the playing scene, I have followed the battle to maintain the prestige of this great event with the necessary financial package needed to guarantee the entry of the leading professionals, all of this in a different world of increasing competition for sponsorship.

Over a 10-year period, we should still be grateful for the support and sponsorship of the late Dr Assem Allam and his family. Without him, this historic event could have floundered and even become an also ran.

It has now returned to Birmingham after a very long time and I know it will be special. Yet I will miss the presence of Mostafa Asal – there are times when he is just different to any of the other world class players.

However, Diego [Elias] is closing down on all the targets and Ali [Farag] is gathering strength again. A confident Paul [Coll] remains a force and goes for a hat-trick, and Mohamed [ElShorbagy] is Mohamed!

The arrival of Joel [Makin] at the top table recently has been a hugely deserved revelation, while Tarek [Momen] and Marwan [ElShorbagy] have every right to make it their title.

It’s Elias versus Makin in round two, and my peculiar mind also keeps coming back to the potential second-round battle on a traditional court at Edgbaston Priory between (Miguel) Rodriguez and (Karim Abdel) Gawad. Remember, we know what the Cannonball can do at the British Open!.

While the rather mesmerising return to form of arguably the most gifted player of his generation is something to really savour, any potential opponent has the right to feel uneasy as Karim Abdel Gawad is looking good!

The men’s draw is full of fine match-ups and as I have said before, there is the considerable chance of upsets, so lick your lips!

We know full well what the deal is with the women – every major event is a bit of a feast and the best just keep getting better.

There is an increasing capability of upsets and the return of Sivasangari Subramaniam after that awful car accident brings an outstanding prospect back into the arena.

The second round draw shows an early USA confrontation between Olivia Clyne (a 9/16 seed) and Amanda Sobhy (the No.5 seed). Amanda’s continuing progress technically, mentally, and physically is very inspiring to me personally as the overcoming of that horrendous Achilles injury (ditto Joelle King) is still with me today as I went through the process with little success.

Amanda is in the form of her life and has become incredibly dangerous in recent months. So many observers naturally focus on young potential and it is always so nice to see that rapidly emerging talent, but players come through at different ages and I love that.

This can be triggered by many different forces but Joelle King at the forefront (remember Camille Serme too!) has also proven that age is, up to a point, just a number.

Nouran [Gohar] and Joelle are scheduled in the semis, but the latter may be confronted by Olivia Fiechter in the third round – so hold your breath again!

Nour [El Sherbini] at No.2 could have Sabrina [Sobhy] in the third round before potentially another battle with the 2022 champ Hania [El Hammamy] – but believe me, a lot will be going on throughout.

I will of course be glued to the screen with my wingman [Jonah’s Jack Russell Terrier], my faithful friend close by – make of that what you will!