Irish Open Qualifying Finals

In the qualifying finals yesterday I had the unfortunate luck of coming up against Alison Waters, former world number 4 on the comeback trail after injury.

I knew it was going to be very tough and was prepared to get stuck in and expect some long rallies from the start.
I played well in the first game and was 'in' most of the rallies but she was keeping me away from the T and I couldn't get in front and attack as I like to do! I started the 2nd much better, spending much more time controlling the T and then being able to use my hold from the front of the court. I got to 6-5 but after this her experience really shone through as she didn't give me anything to attack, keeping me pinned way in the back and punishing anything I put back short, especially on the backhand. She continued this ruthless play throughout the 3rd and I didn't help myself with a few unforced errors snatching at simple shots.

There is no doubt that Alison is back playing to the top 5 standard she was before her injury and I feel pleased that I competed so well in the 2nd game. I can also take away some things to work on before my next tournament which is the British Open in just over 2 weeks time, where I will be attempting to qualify also. 

I am looking forward to watching some of the maindraw matches before flying home tomorrow and heading to Sheffield for the weekend to represent Warwickshire in the Intercounty finals, where we are reigning champions!

Irish Open Qualifying

After a bright and early start I arrived in Dublin this morning. Managing to somehow avoid the rain, I made it to the club with a few hours to spare.

I was drawn against Milou van der Heijden from the Netherlands. We are very similar in age but didn't actually play too many times on the European junior circuit, with the last time being at least 4 years ago. Currently ranked 59 to my 65, there wasn't much between us on paper.

After a slow tempo start I picked the pace up and from 2-4 down, took the next 9 points and give me first blood. In the second she began to play better and I lacked patience at times. I was relieved to get the game 14-12 and an all important 2-0 lead. This proved pivotal as I once again took the initiative in the 3rd game, flying to a quick 5-0 lead which she was unable to claw back. I won the 3rd 11-5. A relief to get through a potentially tricky match 3-0 and conserve energy for the qualifying finals tomorrow.

In the qualifying finals tomorrow I face Alison Waters at 2pm. She is on red hot form, winning her last 2 tournaments after a long injury lay off but as always I will give it my best and play the best squash I can.

On a side note we found these ridiculous chocolate bars at the local petrol station (see picture)

British Under 23 Championships

This weekend was the British Under 23 Championships at Hunts County Squash Club near Huntingdon, Cambs. I went into the tournament as number 1 seed and hoping to go one better than last years' runner up spot!

I played a couple of younger girls in the first 2 rounds and although they both put up a fight, I won through reasonably comfortably 3-0 in less than 20 minutes. The semi final was a similar story with some better rallies but unfortunately (for my opponent) she was hitting a lot of errors. So I was through to the final against Carrie Ramsey of Yorkshire, whom I defeated 3-1 last year at the semi final stage. I came out firing and made a great start, taking the first game 11-3. After this Carrie was playing better and I had both let off the pace a bit and let errors creep into my game. This made for a close few games with no more than 2 points in any of the rest. However, I managed to take 2 of the next 3 to give me the match 3 games to 1 and a second British Title to add to my Under 19 one from way back in 2009! Report on the finals can be read here.

I felt it was a good tournament considering it was just 3 months since my horrible injury and it definitely was good to get back to winning ways! I am only (ha!) 21 so I will be back to defend my title again next year.
Thanks to the club for hosting a great tournament and everyone involved in the organisation.

I am off to Dublin next week to try and qualify for the Irish Open, which is looking especially strong this year with Laura Massaro (WR 3) and Madeline Perry (WR4) heading the seedings for the main draw. The Fitzwilliam Club is a good venue and Dublin a fantastic city so I can't wait to get over there and play now.

Last Tournament: British U23 
Venue: Hunts County Squash Club, Cambs
Opponent: Carrie Ramsey
Score: 3-1 11/3 11/9 10/12 11/9 (42m)

Current Tournament: -
Venue: -
Next Opponent: -

Next Tournament: Irish Open $25k
Venue: Fitzwilliam Club, Dublin

Seeded: -

Date/Time: 23/04/2012
Opponent: tbd

Current World Ranking: 65

April Goings On

I have a few more days at home this week before a hectic rest of April. Friday sees the start of the British Under 23 Championships being held, once again, at Hunts County Squash Club in the idyllic Hemingford Grey, Cambridgshire. After reaching the final last year, I am heading the seedings this time. My first match is at 5pm on Friday against Georgie Ingham from Surrey. The last time we played, I was 14 and she was 9 (I think??). A preview of the event can be found here.

I didn't have much time to get over the jetlag last week before my team, Kenilworth, faced a visiting challenge from the multi-time European champions, Pontefract, in the National Clubs Championships. We knew they were going to bring a strong team and it was always an uphill battle. By the time I went on, the rest of my team had all gone down fighting but unable to get a single game off quality opponents.

This left me with the job of retrieving some pride from the dead rubber! All the more daunting when I knew I was up against Vanessa Atkinson, former world number 1 and world champion as well as winner of our previous 4 encounters; the most recent being a 3-1 win on her way to the Nottingham WISPA title last August.
Vanessa started the better, taking the first game 11-5 and racing to a 4-0 lead in the second, before I started to get her off the 'T' a bit more and keep the ball straighter, to stop those damn drop volleys!! I snuck the second 11-9 to make it 1-1. She dominated the middle of the 3rd game and although I closed the gap, I could never quite catch up, eventually catching the tin to give the game and 2-1 lead to Vanessa, 11-7. I came out firing in the 4th and flew to a 5-0 lead. This proved enough as I took the game 11-5. The 5th was close with never more than a few points in it. Vanessa pulled away from 8-8 to get 2 match points but a nicked cross court and a volley boast later I had it back to 10-10. The rallies that followed were tense, both wanting to go for it but determined not to make the mistake. I closed the game out on my third match point, 14-12, to take the match after 55 minutes and retain some pride to Kenilworth. A great match for the Kenilworth faithful to watch, even a few tennis members ventured past their normal boundaries to never before seen territory of the squash balcony.
As we beat Nottingham in out other match in the competition we have to wait and see if we progress to the National finals weekend in June.

Plans for a new show court to be constructed at Kenilworth were passed at the AGM 2 weeks ago, so in the not to distant future matches like this can be showcased more effectively and the new court could possibly even entertain a PSL team in the future.


Last Tournament: National Clubs Championships
Venue: Kenilworth Squash Club
Opponent: Vanessa Atkinson
Score: 3-2 (5-11 11-9 7-11 11-5 14-12) 55 minutes

Current Tournament: -
Venue: -
Next Opponent: -

Next Tournament: British Under 23 Championships
Venue: Hunts County Squash Club, Hemingford Grey
Seeded: 1
Date/Time: 5pm 13/04/12
Opponent: Georgie Ingham

Current World Ranking: 65

Granite Club Open

This week I have been in Toronto playing the 11k$ event at the amazing Granite Club. As well as having 4 traditional squash courts, there are 2 hardball doubles courts, a singles court, an ice rink, curling, 2 swimming pools, numerous tennis courts and a bowling alley.

I got a bye in the first round of Qualifying and then played Canadian Gen Lessard in the 2nd round. I started well and took the first game preety easily 11-3. In the second I continued to play well but caught the tin far too often. I managed to take the game however and then cut out some of the errors to take the third also. The final score was 11-3 16-14 11-7.

I was drawn to play number 1 seed Latasha Khan in the first round of the main draw. We played in Washington before Christmas and I won 3-2, so I knew she would be wanting to avenge that defeat. After a slow start, going down 9-4, in the first game I began to play more intelligently. I managed to get it back to 9-9, only to lose the game 11-9 after an error and a debatable no let call.

The second was a different story, it was even until about 7-7 and then she pulled away to 10-7. I got it back to 10-10 and eventually lost the game 14-12 through a combination of bad luck, good play from Latasha and another debatable no let at 13-12.

The third game was neck and neck all the way up until 8-6, 8-7, 9-7, 10-7, 10-8. Latasha closed out the match with a great straight kill into the nick. It's always frustrating to lose such a close match, especially 3-0, but it was a huge improvement on my play last week and some of the things I have been working on in training were really showing through which is really encouraging.

I head home on Thursday and will be getting some good training in before my next few events, in April. I have the British Under 23 championships followed by the Irish Open, another Silver event, and straight into the Intercounty championships where we (Warwickshire) are defending champions.

Atwater Qualifying: Round 2

In the qualifying finals I was up against Canadian number 1 Miranda Ranieri. I started well but as she began to read my play a bit more, I began to rush my shots and my lead slipped away in the first game and after some silly errors, I lost the first 11-7. She came out strong in the second and I was lacking any patience whatsoever. After slumping to a 6-1 deficit, I began to play more of my own game. Unfortunately the hole was too deep to get out of and again a few silly errors towards the end of the game meant she took it 11-8 and a 2-0 lead in games. I battled in the 3rd but had lost confidence in my short game at this point which made it difficult to finish rallies. The pattern repeated and after a couple of errors at the end of the game, she took it 11-8 and the match 3-0.

It wasn't how I hoped to play but will take heart from continued persistence, when previously I may have continued the impatience right through the match.

I am now getting in some training before heading to Toronto on Saturday morning.

Song of the day: Anything sung by Siyoli

Atwater Cup: Qualifying Round 1

Yesterday I had my first match against Canadian junior Hollie Naughton. She hits the ball nicely, so I knew I had to get in front from the start and dictate the play. After a shakey first few points I settled into the match and dominated most of the rallies whilst still playing some shots to get a feel for the court. I won comfortably in 3 but there were a few hard fought rallies, so it was a perfect opening test to start off my tournament.

Today I play Miranda Ranieri, another Canadian. Ranked at 44 in the world she will be a tougher opponent but hopefully I can play well and try to qualify for the main draw in my first WSA Silver event.

On a side note. The suburbs of Montreal are mostly on the side of a hill, with our billet's house being about half way up, and yesterday we took a different walking route back and ended up walking up the steepest hill in Montreal. Even just walking up it, our calves were burning by the time we got to the top!
It is also unusually warm for the time of year, with temperatures reportedly heading up towards 20°!

Song of the day: Ed Sheeran - Drunk (mainly because Tesni keeps signing it and it's now stuck in my head!)

The Journey

So my journey started nice and early at Heathrow; I was there a couple of hours early but I can cope with that. The first leg was to JFK airport in New York and that all went smoothly as can be expected, with ice cream being an unexpected, but definitely embraced, delight provided towards the end of the flight. When I got to JFK, I had a couple of before my connection left and didn't even need to change terminal so was able to saunter through passport control and getnmy luggage without rushing. And then came my bad luck, which as always came in three. First off they were experiencing a mechanical issue on the plane, so when they had fixed it we were now running 45 minutes late. Next when I went to board the plane, my phone was nowhere to be found. I looked in the last few places I had been sat but had to give in to the fact it was gone and board the plane. Bye bye 2 week old phone. By now, as you can imagine, I was not in the happiest state of mind. The connection flight was full as well, not one free seat. This would never usually bother me, but being my lucky day I wish there had been another seat I could have moved to. The guy I was seated next to was either a)afraid of flying b)ill c)both. Whatever the reason he suddenly began vomiting before the plane had even taken off, so suddenly that he was caught unawares, leaving no time to open a sick bag. After that, well let's just say it's a good job I don't have a strong gag reflex!

When I finally managed to leave Montreal airport it was getting on for 11pm. The organiser, Glenn Wilson, very kindly came and picked me up from the airport and brought me to the house of the billets I will be staying with until Saturday. They are really lovely and I am really looking forward to the week ahead and hopefully giving my ranking a kick start now I'm back from injury!

Song of the Day: Lana Del Ray - Video Games

Tournament Return

Rehab completed, I am now preparing for my next couple of tournaments which are in Canada starting next Sunday (18th). First up is the $25k Atwater Cup in Montreal, where I am 8th seed in Qualifying, before heading to Toronto the following week for the $10k Granite Club Open where I will also begin in Qualifying.

I am feeling really positive after some good training behind me and hopefully I can play well and gain some decent results on my trip.

Progress

I have been doing my rehab for a few weeks now and this week I am very glad to have been able to get back on court and start doing some drills!

An ultrasound scan earlier in the week confirmed that the tendon has healed nicely which is a relief. All the strengthening work I've been doing is paying off, so all going well I expect to make my competition return towards the end of March.

My rehab has involved some new variations of exercise that I've not done before; the majority of time spent aquajogging and on the trampette! These make me even more grateful for being able to do some on court work again now.

Eager to get back to match fitness and get my ranking going in the right direction again!


Song of the day: The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)

Injury/Update

If you follow me on Twitter (@SJPerry15) then you will probably already know I am currently injured. A couple of weeks ago, I was at an England Academy Squad in Nottingham; doing a standard routine, I went to push off and felt a shooting pain in my left heel, accompanied by a loud 'pop'. I knew straight away I had done something bad so got to a sports doctor ASAP!

She confirmed my suspicions that I had torn my Plantar Fascia tendon in my foot (runs from your heel bone up into each of your toes) near the base of my heel. Since then, an MRI has shown that the tear is only partial, which is a relief, as it means I don't require surgery. I had to wear an Aircast boot for 10 days to keep as much strain off the tendon as possible so it could heal. (It's so pretty!!!)

Now I am almost a week into my rehabilitation work which focuses on strengthening the tendon to minimise the chance of a relapse when I start playing again. I am also swimming, aquajogging and cycling to keep up my fitness for when I return. 

As you may have gathered by now, this means I am missing my block of tournaments which was due to start in Edinburgh yesterday! I will also no longer be able to travel to Winnipeg next week or compete in the British Championships the following week which I am particularly gutted about as it is always one of my favourite tournaments. Despite this I am keeping positive and am optimistic that I will be able to resume some light court work in a couple of weeks time and build up from there!

Song of the Day:

Ashaway

I would like to welcome on board Ashaway to my sponsors. Ashaway are world renowned for their quality strings, so I am delighted that they will be supporting me for at least the next 12 months. I will be using the PowerNick 18 (red).

All levels of sponsorship and support and very important to me. For this reason I am extremely thankful for those who continue to support me and I am always looking for new sponsorship opportunities. Please email any enquiries here

New Rankings (and Merry Christmas)

Just a quick update. The January rankings were published today and I've moved up 18 places to 65 which is obviously really positive! Hopefully I can continue to rise throughout 2012 and get into some of the bigger tournaments.

I wish all my family, friends and followers a happy Christmas and I hope 2012 is everything you wish for and more.

SJ x


P.S. My next event is the Warwickshire County closed 14/15 Jan and my next WSA event is the Edinburgh Open 27-29 Jan

Manor Open (Ilkeston) Final

Today in the final I played Tania Bailey. We both played well in patches, however our movement patterns were clashing so there were plenty of lets. Tania took the first and third games, I took the second and then I managed to claw my way back from match ball down in the 4th to take the game 12-10 and the match into a deciding 5th game. It was clear from the start of the 5th Tania was struggling and unfortunately after 75 minutes of play she was forced to retire with a knee injury when I was leading 8-5. I sincerely hope Tania makes a speedy recovery.

Obviously this is not how I would have liked to have taken my first title but hopefully it will be the first of many. Now I'm going to have a week off before getting a good block of training in for the majority of January. My next block of tournaments will be starting with the Edinburgh Open right at the end of January.

Manor Open (Ilkeston) Day 1 & 2

The last WISPA event EVER! (WISPA will become WSA - Women's Squash Association as of Jan 1st)

This is also my last event before Christmas so there is definitely some extra incentive to do well!
The tournament started on Friday evening. I was up against Cheyna Tucker from South Africa who I also played in the first round in London just a couple of weeks ago. The first 2 games I made too many silly errors but managed to scrape them. In the 3rd I cut out most of the errors and controlled the 'T' much better taking the game 11-4 and the match 3-0.

Next up was Julianne Courtice in the quarter finals. We played each other many times in Juniors and although I have never lost to her, I knew that I would have to be focussed right from the start as she is dangerous when given a loose ball. For the majority of the match I controlled the 'T' well and was attacking at the right times. Lapses in concentration let me back in at times so I was glad to take the 3rd game 14-12 and get off court in 3.

This was particularly important as there was 2 matches yesterday (Saturday). In the semi final I played Laura Hill who I have played several times before, but never beaten. She is a solid player who like to volley and move you out of position. In the first game she kept the ball very tight and I struggled to keep a consistent length, allowing her to attack my short balls effectively. She took the first game 11-8.
In the second, I made a concious decision to slow the pace down. I worked the rallies much better, waiting for opportunities to attack with minimal risk. I pushed forward, putting pressure on her length and as she started to tire her length dropped slightly, allowing me to create more opportunities. I took the next 3 games 11/6 11/4 and 11/6 and the match 3-1.

Very glad to win and be in my 2nd WISPA tour final since turning pro in August. I am playing Tania Bailey in the final today at 3pm. It will be very tough but I will be up for it and will give all I can in search of my first tour title.

You can follow the coverage on Squash Site

Boston BSPA

Just a quick post. Played in the Boston BSPA tournament yesterday. Disappointing amount of entries for the women's draw- just 6 after a couple had to withdraw through injury!

I started slowly (some might say very) in my first match against England number 2 junior Katie Smith but managed to get through reasonably comfortably in the end 3-1. My 2nd match was effectively the semi final and it was against my fellow Warwickshire team mate and world number 22 Emma Beddoes who has had some very good results recently. I got my tactics wrong in the first but played much more intelligent squash in the 2nd and 3rd, which were much closer at 11-8 each. So unfortunately I lost 3-0 but definitely seeing improvements which is encouraging for the Ilkeston WISPA tournament, starting this Friday where I am second seed.

Song of the Day: Anything by Little Mix!!!

PSL Birmingham Uni vs Oxford

Tonight I played Madeline Perry in Premier Squash League at Birmingham University. Although she has dropped in the world rankings this month it was only to number 4, so I knew I would have my work cut out to make an impression on the game!

The first game was a bit frantic but was pretty level up until about 7 all. Unfortunately silly errors let me down and I lost the game 11-8. After a change of shoes I came back on for the 2nd and was playing pretty well. However, Madeline was getting onto any loose ball so early and punishing me. She took the 2nd in a repeat scoreline of the 1st. In the 3rd I imposed myself on the game much better, keeping a great length and attacking at the right times. I raced to a 10-2 lead, cutting out the errors from previous games, before closing out the game 11-3.

The 4th was a bit of a battle; I was struggling to find the same consistent length as the 3rd and she was giving me less attacking opportunities. She played some good squash to go 8-6 up and from then on my shot selection from attacking positions was bizarre to say the least, allowing Madeline to control the front. You can't give the world number 4 easy balls and expect to win!

So I went down in 4 games but definitely had her worrying at times. A lot of positives to take from this match and hopefully if I can cut my errors down and keep my discipline in the future, I can get a win against one of the top girls rather than just a game! Onwards and upwards!

Song of the Day: Adele- Rumour Has It

Liz Jones: Who are you?

I have just read this Daily Mail article written by Liz Jones that has been flooding my twitter timeline for the last couple of hours 'Sinewy arms are NOT a good thing - and neither is sport'

Liz Jones: Daily Mail columnist. Interesting fact: Stole her ex-husbands sperm to try and get pregnant (bye bye credibility)

I will start by saying I too have arms that you don't get unless you play sport and in my opinion they show to someone on the outside how much work I have put it and anyone that says they are repulsive obviously has no respect or understanding of athletes and how much we put our bodies through striving to be the best.

I am utterly shocked that Daily Mail ran this story; the author obviously has no clue about sport at any level, but in particular elite sport. For someone whose favourite lesson at school was always P.E. of course I am going to defend it's necessity in the curriculum. In my view without exposure to sports, children cannot see their brilliance or reward to be deemed. How many world class athletes might have never realised they were talented without being given the opportunity to try different activities?

There are so many life skills that are to be learnt from school P.E. Team sports force cohesion between individuals and groups who have not chosen the situation, mimicking how working in the real world is more often that not. As part of a team you have a role and the other members of your team are relying on you to fulfil this and support them in their role also.

In an era where Britain is one of the most overweight nations in the world, promoting exercise had to be a priority. Too many young people see the only way to lose weight as dieting, but as the author points out herself in another recent article (The price I'm paying for hating my body) that this is dangerous and has serious consequences to long term health. I am in no way encouraging unhealthy eating, just a balanced diet containing enough calories, fats and vitamins/minerals for our body to function as it is intended to. Exercise is such an important component to a healthy lifestyle and it's saddening to hear someone with a voice, that could be heard so widely, condemning ALL sport due to their own bad experiences in school and their dislike of women who break the stick thin ideal of today's world.

My next erk is when she suggests athletes should 'spent their time more productively: reading perhaps, or studying maths'. What would I get out of studying maths? I already have a numerate degree...oh, she thought we were all stupid and couldn't possibly be intellectual (academia is not the only stream of intelligence either). If she were to take the time to talk to any athletes before writing this ill informed article, she would have found the majority of athletes do things outside of sport to stimulate them mentally. Whether this be to read, have an interest in politics, the arts, world affairs...the list is endless but shows we are not the apes she makes us out to be.

I am not even going to discuss whether or not female athletes should want to look like Fatima Whitbread; most current athletes strive for muscular tone like that let alone one who has been retired so many years and that leaves no discussion on that point.

Overall, I think Liz Jones should steer clear from writing about topics she clearly knows nothing about and stick to the entertainment she usually writes about. Although from comments on this article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2070029/X-Factor-2011-scenes-LIZ-JONES-goes-inside-X-Factory.html) it doesn't seem people think she knows much about that either.

Maybe the Daily Mail might see the err in it's ways and think twice before publishing such derogatory and ill informed articles in the future...we can only hope!

Coronation London Open

Yesterday was the first round of the Coronation London Open held at the Cumberland Club. I was seeded 7th in the draw and up against a qualifier. The qualifier I drew was Cheyna Tucker from South Africa, who I hadn't seen play since juniors but she had beaten some good players to qualify so I knew I would have to concentrate from the off! It was a patchy match in the end with lots of errors from both of us and I was glad to come back from 10-4 down in the 3rd to take it 16-14 and get off in 3.

Today I played Tania Bailey in the quarter finals. Again I wasn't too sure what to expect; obviously with a highest world ranking of 4 she is a class player but she has been out with injury and illness for quite a while. I started the match well taking an 8-3 lead before errors crept into my game. The court was so hot and the ball so bouncy that it was difficult for either of us to create an opening as neither of us were confident going short. Unfortunately a few too many errors and I had dug myself a pretty big hole going 2-0 down (11-9, 11-9). Tania started the better in the 3rd hitting tight drives on both wings and keeping me in the back corners. I had a mini recovery to get back to 6-10 but unfortunately that was it for me, going down in 3.

Slightly disappointed with how I coped with the hot conditions today but Tania played better on the day so she deserved the win. My next tournament is the Boston Open BSPA next weekend but before that on Tuesday is PSL against Oxford against Madeline Perry which will be a great experience as I have yet to play her. 

Song of the Day: Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light

Northumbria Open - Day 2 (Final)

I played reasonably well today and held off a challenge in the third to take the match 3-0 against my opponent, ranked higher than me at 58. It's a really positive start to this block of 4 tournaments for me and I hope to build on this as I start my campaign at the London Open against a qualifier on Thursday at the Cumberland club.

Off to bed now though after the long drive back, back on court nice and early tomorrow!

Song of the Day: Kelly Clarkson - Mr Know It All