After a few hours delayed at Newark due to a computer failure, I arrived in Mexico City. I was a bit apprehensive as I have never played or trained at altitude before. The first practise session was definitely a shock to the system, 7000 feet is pretty lofty! After a couple of days I started to get used to it but you still struggle to find your breath even after short rallies.
My first match was against Mexican wildcard Karla Urrutia. Having never seen her play before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Small and quick was what I was told. They weren't wrong and I got dragged in to playing at 300 miles per hour, which is definitely not the thing to do when you aren't fully adapted to the altitude. I won through in a scrappy 3-0 and knew I would really have to up my game the following day.
In the quarter finals I played Samantha Teran; number 1 seed, Mexican number 1, world number 14 (oh and it's the Prosquash SAMANTHA TERAN squash club!). I knew the hard work over the summer meant I was in a physical state to compete but I needed to be extremely disciplined in chosing when to attack and when to defend if I was to really push her. From the start there was some very long drawn out rallies but I was moving the ball round well and defending when necessary. I reached game point in the first but she upped the pace to take the next 3 points and the all important first game.
I knew I had to keep varying the pace and not let her get into any rythym. I did the well in the second and third games, taking them by comfortable scorelines in the end. There was still some very long rallies and I was starting to tire.
Into the 4th though, I was pushing for the finishing post. 8-3. 10-6 with some well constructed rallies. Here unfortunately is where my brain decided to wander and although I had several guilt edge chances to put the ball away, I couldn't quite put it out of her reach and eventually clipped tins and before I knew it it was back to 10-10. You can't let someone that experienced back into the match like that as their confidence thrives off it and it's an uphill battle to regain control. After weirily losing the 4th on extra points, I started the 5th strongly once again taking a 5-2 lead. However from this point her experience at the top level showed and she got everything back and I just couldn't find a way to win enough rallies. Sam eventually won the 5th 11-7 to a rupture of applause from the Mexican crowd.
So close yet no cigar! I am extremely proud of myself for pushing to the extent I did, there is no way I could have played a 74 minute match of this intensity, at altitude, even a few months ago. Even now as I write this the next day I am both physically and mentally drained. I put absolutely everything I could into the match yesterday and although I didn't win, it gives me great confidence for the future that I can challenge and eventually go on to hopefully beat any of the top players.
I will go home with my head held high and use the disappointment of losing to further spur me on in my training for the the coming weeks and months.
Thanks for all the support from back home, it makes more of a difference than you can realise!
You can see more photos on the official website http://www.squashmexicanopen2012.com/
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