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Victor Crouin Discusses Superb Start to Season
By RJ Mitchell
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Victor Crouin says that his success at the beginning of this season has taken his breath away.
The 23-year-old reached his first ever PSA World Tour Platinum finals Qatar before seeing a remarkable run ended by Mohamed ElShorbagy in an enthralling final.
That run in Qatar also saw Crouin reach the top 10 of the PSA World Rankings for the first time. It wasn’t long before Crouin was back in action on home soil at the Open de France.
It was here, backed by a frenzied French crowd, that Crouin enjoyed one of the highlights of his squash career to date when he defeated former World Championship runner-up Marwan ElShorbagy in an unforgettable fifth game tie-break that brought the house down in Nantes as he won his first ever Bronze level title.
While he has sat out this week’s Oracle Net Suite Open to regroup, Crouin will soon be packing his bags to head to next week’s U.S. Open in Philadelphia.
Taking stock of his purple patch, Crouin has reaffirmed his determination to consolidate his position in the top 10, saying: “When you think about all the players who have been able to get into the top 10 but have never been to the final of a Platinum event, it is very positive for me in terms of the rest of my career. Now I am in the top 10 I want to stay there and kick-on.
“At Qatar, I beat [Joel] Makin first round and had Patrick Rooney the next day. Even though he is not in the top 20 just yet, I treated him as if he were top 10 as he is very dangerous.
“Then I had Abdulla [Mohd] Al Tamimi and he was playing great squash, had just beaten Paul Coll, and was playing in front of his home crowd and I took him very seriously and I won.
“Then it was Tarek Momen, who had just beaten Diego Elias, and unexpectedly I beat him and made the final. Then I lost to a very good Mohamed ElShorbagy, who is so experienced in this type of environment.
“After my performance in the final, I did have an element of realisation that I did not play as freely as I would have liked. It was a tremendous result making the final and even in the match I woke up in time to take the fourth game and almost took him to a fifth.
“But I had lost two finals in a row before playing Qatar and it was tough to lose a third final in a row. In Qatar, against Mohamed, l was ultimately frustrated that the pressure got into my head in the first two games.
“I knew I had the game plan to hurt Mohamed, but all of it was a good learning experience and then I had to travel all the way to France and repeat at the French Open.
“People had asked me if I was really going to travel back to France to play the French Open and it just wasn’t an option not to. It was the French Open!
“I left Qatar saying I would remember it for the rest of my life and it was such a special week. Then the next week I won my home tournament, it was just incredible.
“That was my goal to win the French Open but my dad (Emmanuel, also Crouin’s coach) told me I would have to be super tough mentally and physically to back up Qatar, but I did it and that is very satisfying.
“I had a tough first round against Aly Abou [Eleinen] and I knew it would be a really hard first round after Qatar. But it went well and the next day it was Leonel [Cardenas] and I felt really good physically, not minding the fact I had already played six or seven matches and was in another semi-final.
“I had Auguste Dussourd in the semi, who I know very well and they have always been tough matches between us. But I prepared well and played well and Marwan [ElShorbagy] in the final was the best scenario.”
Crouin couldn’t stop the tears from flowing following the final, saying: “After I was done, I just burst into tears as I had kept so many emotions within myself over these two weeks and I couldn’t celebrate making the final in Qatar because I had the French Open final.
“Coming into the season, one of my targets was to win a Bronze event. I have won multiple 5K and 10K titles and I won a 30K at the end of last season in Doha. I wanted to go one step further and really challenge the top guys.
“What a way to do it in France, and it is the best win of my career. I just enjoyed it with the French crowd. Especially in the final, when I came back for the fifth game and was warming the ball up, and the crowd began shouting my name. I needed to breathe deeply or I was going to melt.
“But that took my focus up a level and my intensity and effort was lifted in that fifth game. I have never felt so focussed or determined to win the match and that was because of the crowd.
“The ending was just incredible and I told them that I really played with all my heart. The volleys above my shoulder into the nick, if I was thinking at that moment there is no chance I would have played these shots.
“I practice these shots in training and it is no surprise I can play them, but sometimes when you get really close to the finishing line you don’t play them 100 per cent.This time, I played them 100% and did not think twice.”
After a few days taking a breather in his home city of Marseille, Crouin is already gearing up for his U.S. Open campaign, where he has been drawn against the former World Champion Tarek Momen, who he beat in an epic semi-final in Qatar.
With ‘The Viper’ out for revenge, it is a match which the Frenchman says will provide an acid test of where he is at: “I have Tarek Momen in the first round and after Qatar I am not looking very far into the draw. In Qatar I had never beaten Makin, so I did not look ahead. With this match it is the same and obviously I beat Tarek last time and hopefully I can repeat that.
“If I could, that would be a great testament of how much I have improved, but if I don’t win that is still okay as well as he is still one of the best players in the world and I am getting there, my time will come.
“I am really excited and focussed on the match with Tarek. I have played well for this month and I just want to continue that and there is no better way to do that than beating Tarek in the first round.”
“I have prepared well for the U.S. Open and I just want to go as deep as I can.”
