Channel VAS Squash

[3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-2 [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 (87m)

Framboise Gommendy reports on the final

A few years ago, I was told by a journalist that the secret to sport journalism was never to get involved and stay detached from the players. We can safely say I failed miserably to reach that goal. My argument is: when you are very close to both players, then it’s like  you are completely detached as you actually care so much for both of them it doesn’t matter in your mind who wins or loses. Why this intro  you might ask? It will become clear at the end. On my right, Ali, tired I felt from the beginning of the tournament due to the accumulation of latter rounds, digging in beautifully each match but making just a bit more unforced errors he would normally do. On my left, Tarek, best form of his life, hungry as hell, not having lost a game in the event. Strangely enough today, I felt that it was Ali that was on fire at the beginning of the match, although Tarek was leading 4/0. I saw Tarek holding his shots a bit: he was more tense than for the previous matches, and the pressure somehow was on him.

Five unforced errors in that opening game for Tarek, only two for Ali. If the middle of the game is close enough, 54/4, 5/5, 7/7, Ali looks extremely comfortable to me, pushing Tarek in the four corners, and it’s 17m 11/8 for Ali. The second sees a change of momentum. If the game is close the whole way, now it’s Tarek that is in the front, and controlling the middle, while Ali is absorbing the pace, forcing Tarek to create his own pace for each shot. Tarek takes the second 11/8, yes, but Ali made him work extremely, I mean extremely hard. And it pays off in the 3rd: if Tarek is still controlling the attacks, Ali’s game plan – lobbing, taking the pace off, counterdropping and making Tarek run around the block again and again, works to perfection, and after a huge rally at 3/3, Tarek is gasping for air and gas. Quickly the Wadi Degla man shoots at 6/3, 8/4, 9/5, taking the game 11/7 in 12m, Tarek back to high level of errors, 5 for 2 tins and 2 strokes for Ali (that’s 7 points out of 11…)

But if Tarek gets his second wind in the 4th it’s now Ali’s turn to show signs of tiredness: from 3/3, it’s basically the mirror of the 3rd, Tarek collecting the dividend of his hard work, 6/3, 10/4, 11/5. The fifth is true drama. Tarek looks the winner, tins creeping in for Ali, 4/1, 5/2. Extremely frustrated, Ali shouts to himself in Arabic “dig in”. And it works. From 8/4 9/5, the Harvard man is reborn, and manages to put the doubt in Tarek’s arm, who starts to make errors again. At 9/9, Ali is going for a bit too much, short rally and it’s a tin. 10/9. Tarek goes for a low drive on the left side, and raises his arms in the air, he’s won he thinks. But Ali is absolutely sure the ball is down. 

Ali asks me: I say play let as I am not sure the ball is good. Tarek, adamant his shot is a winner, also asks me, same answer from me. Are you 100% sure the ball is down he asks? That I am not, but I am not 100% sure it’s good. So Tarek plays a let.

Ali, very frustrated as he is sure the ball was down, is going to be even more frustrated as on the replayed rally he is penalised with a no let on a video ref decision. What is extremely frustrating in his eyes is that he was given a stroke by the same video ref in the same position at the start of the fourth!  

Very confusing, very frustrating for Ali…

Ali shakes his friend’s hand, Tarek is over the moon, his first title in 4 years. Shame it had to finish in such controversial way, as they are both extremely fair players, and very close friends…

I can’t believe it, it’s been four years since I won a title.

Today, I was not sure of the mindset I should have. I called Raneem and I told her when I put pressure on me, it doesn’t work, if I don’t care, it doesn’t work, and if I treat it as any other match it doesn’t work: out of 19 finals I only won 5. So I spoke with my coach Haitham Effat, and we decided that the best way would be to treat it like any other match. With Ali, even if you have the best game plan, it still might not be good enough. He’s so fit and he’s really good with his racket, he can control the ball in the middle quite well and he can move you around a lot.

Half way through the third, I was trying really hard but he wasn’t fading away. I just had to do the best I could, but if he kept playing like that then it’s his day, he’s better. Thankfully, he started to show some signs of being human.

it reminded me of Canary Wharf. Half way through the 3rd, I thought I’m going to die. But I realised that he had been doing a lot of work too, and was just better at hiding it. So I kept pushing and eventually I won it in the 5th. So today, I was hoping that it would be the same and it was…

At the beginning of the fourth I started feeling like I could match him and start to control the ’T’ a little bit more. Putting everything aside, I’m really happy with how I’ve progressed mentally over the past year and a half.

I’m very happy with the way I hung up today when I was really tired. I used to give up when I was really tired, now I’m much better at it. I can be exhausted, but I can still push and find other plans.

He made me do a lot of work today, it was a bit back and forth. When I was under pressure, I tried and hung in there, and when I managed to control the T, I was trying to seize the moment. 

In the 5th, he showed signed of being tired, played a few tins, and I took the lead. But I was a bit too eager to win, and he came back to 9/9. He hit a tin there that gave me a real boost of confidence. Then there was that ball I was 100% sure it was good, and I asked  you, you said let but I asked you are you 100% sure it is down (note from Fram: I was not 100%, but I was sure a let was fair as I was not sure it was good), so I gave back a let. I never would like to win something that is not mine. Then that no let for which they gave a stroke earlier in the match.

As for Ali, I have the utmost respect for him, he’s a really good friend of mine. We’ve been away for a month and each of us has won a title, so we should be fine going back home. Me, Mohamed and Ali, each of us has a big title, Mohamed got the U.S. Open, but this one is quite big as well. It’s the biggest of my career and I’m really proud of this moment.

I won very few titles, because I never went for the wining tournaments, I always tried to get in the biggest tournaments my ranking would allow, to expose myself to the best players. As I had college studies, I didn’t time to lose if I wanted to climb up the rankings. I’m really happy my hard work is finally paying off. So of course, the thanks are necessary, my family, parents, my sister and my wife Raneem. My coach Haitham Effat and my fitness coach Samir El Degwy, my physios at home Mohamed Moustafa (Biko) and Mohamed Amin, not to forget Ahmed Fouad and here, Derek Ryan, the PSA Physio for his help during the event.

And at least but not last, my sponsors, Harrow Sports, and of course, CIB, and particularly Hussein Abaza for his continuous support. I am so proud to win this title, the biggest of my career, and I am looking forward to see what the season has in store for me…

Ali Very rarely do I get off court that frustrated because there is no doubt in my mind for a second that that ball on match ball is down. And the no let is more of a let than the stroke in the 3rd game… But I think I played better that I did at the US Open, so it’s good to see some progress.   

Momen Wins Channel VAS Championships to End Trophy Drought

World No.4 Tarek Momen has ended a four-year trophy drought after beating fellow Egyptian Ali Farag 3-2 to win the Channel VAS Championships at St George’s Hill, PSA World Tour Gold event held in Weybridge.

Momen had been in brilliant form throughout the tournament - dispatching Cameron Pilley, Paul Coll and Diego Elias without dropping a single game - and was up against the 2017 runner-up in Farag.

Momen was also a beaten finalist at this tournament, losing to Coll in 2016, and he twice went a game behind against the World No.2 today, but fought back both times to force a decider as he played some accurate, attacking squash.

The drama inside St George’s Hill Lawn Tennis Club rose to a crescendo in the fifth as Momen thought he had won it after playing a winner while holding a championship ball. Farag questioned whether the ball had clipped the tin, and Momen agreed to play a let to put his title win on temporary hold.

But the 30-year-old held his nerve to close out the win on the very next point as he completed an 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 victory to capture the fifth PSA Tour trophy of his career, and his first since the Macau Open in October 2014.

"I can’t believe it, it’s been four years since I won a title," said an emotional Momen afterwards.

"It’s the biggest of my career and I’m really proud of this moment. As for Ali, I have the utmost respect for him, he’s a really good friend of mine. We’ve been away for a month and each of us has won a title, so we should be fine going back home.

"Putting everything aside, I’m really happy with how I’ve progressed mentally over the past year and a half. I used to give up when I was really tired, now I’m much better at it. I can be exhausted, but I can still push and find other plans."

THE FINAL

[3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-2 [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9 (87m)

Momen & Farag set up all-Eyptian final

The Channel VAS final will be an all-Egyptian affair for te second year in a row after Tarek Momen and Ali Farag won todays semi-finals at St George's Hill.

Momen, finalist two years ago, continued his run of three-nil wins as he beat Diego Elias, avenging his loss to the young Peruvian here last year.

Farag looked to have a tough task against Karim Abdel Gawad, who had shown exceptional form so far, but fought back after losing the first to reach the final for the second year in a row.

[3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [6] Diego Elias (Per)  15-13, 11-8, 11-4 (47m) [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 7-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-9 (63m)

Read on for reports and more ...

SF: [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-1 [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (Egy) 7-11, 11-5, 11-2, 11-9 (63m)

 “It takes a while to actually keep the mental focus the whole match” confessed Gawad at the end of the match.

For me, that’s the key of the match. First game, the former World Champ had a good start, getting a bit of wobbliness in Ali’s legs, and forcing a few errors out of him, although he made errors himself: out of the 10 first points, 7 were unforced errors! From 4/4, Gawad is looking very good, light on his feet, and changing angles beautifully. I find myself watching the Gawad we all admired in the 2016, and at 8/4, he is looking the likely winner for me – I’m thinking he might be hungrier than Ali at the moment.  Some lovely extremely fast rallies, panache, champagne and all, and it’s the first game for Gawad, 11/7, in 19m.

But the champagne quickly gets flat for Gawad. Playing at that level of squash for 20m, well, you cannot reproduce it in training. And basically, he doesn’t have much left in the legs for the next 2 games, courtesy of Ali that made sure he wouldn’t get back into it, making the court extremely wide… Two games going farst, 8 and 9m, 11/5, 11/2. But the Champagne gets all bubbly again in the 4th, as Kimo gets his second wind as Ali gets a bit tired himself: at 3/3, Karim was yet to make a winner, it was all unforced errors from his opponent.

The rest of the game is pretty close, and stunning of pace, angle, variation of height and weight, and some superb counterdrops/counterattacks from both. You beauty, would have commented Pat Nicol, Peter’s dad…

As ever it’s fine line, and at 9/8, Karim makes us feel we are in for a decider. But a gruelling rally ending with a tin, the a superb drive that glues to the side wall, and a no let on match ball, and it’s all over: Ali reaches his second final in two years, closing down the 21m fourth game, in 21m…

Ali I’ve always loved the sport of squash and I grew up watching it. If you look at any die-hard fan here, no matter how much they love squash, I’m a bigger fan than they are. I’ve always been a big fan, I still am, and I would like to do whatever I can to help the sport. When I was approached by Alex Gough and Lee Beachill this year and the players pushed me to do, I decided to accept the PSA President role.

It’s a bit of work, I have to do stuff but I think that the PSA calendar is looking healthier than ever now and I hope we keep progressing in the right direction.

The great thing is that I’m not alone, Jenny Duncalf is taking care of the women’s tour and we have an athlete’s commission which is formed of eight different players, four men and four women to promote each gender. All four of us are in different ranking groups and we’re in different places geographically, so whenever you have a problem you would go to the player either in your ranking group or geographical area for help. We have a group on WhatsApp and we always discuss things. Whenever Jenny and I have a board meeting we convey those messages and we always try to help.

I watched Gawad’s match yesterday and that was by far the best that any player has performed this season. I could see Saurav playing really well, but Gawad was on fire and I was prepared for this. I knew that I would have to do a lot of running and would need to stay as tight as possible to stop his attacks.

Gawad was as sharp to the front he was in 2016, even sharper. So I had to keep him away from volleying as much as possible, and for that, I had to keep it straight, and if I had to crosscourt, make it as wide as possible.

Today, I needed to attack myself whenever I had an opportunity, but it was really physically tiring and demanding. Still, I think today was the sharpest to the front of the court I have been, not for the whole season, but since San Francisco for sure.

I am extremely hungry. This season, I have one objective, and one objective only, becoming world number 1. I may not reach my goal, but it won’t be because I haven’t tried enough, I will give it my 110% for sure.

Tarek is yet to lose a game, he’s been playing extremely well all season, and it’s not like he played easy players, he had three of the toughest you can find on the tour! One thing is sure, I’ll have a lot of running to do and to try and contain that, I’ll have to keep it extremely tight.

SF: [3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [6] Diego Elias (Per) 15-13, 11-8, 11-4 (47m)

It was another great day for the WR4 Egyptian Tarek Momen today. He was up for Diego’s scalp today, in view to avenge his only loss out of 5 encounters, which occurred on this same court last year.

To be fair, and all respect to Diego, Tarek contracted food poisoning from pastas at the hotel last year, and we spend the day after that quarter final match trying to find a doctor to come to the hotel to sort him out (in vain actually). This year, Tarek was pretty much ready to stay on court as long as it took to get to the final, and try and beat whoever Egyptian he’ll have to play to go one step further than he did in 2016, when he lost against Paul Coll in the final. Diego didn’t have much pressure today, but somehow, I found him a bit passive to start with. His shots were lacking purpose and weight, and Tarek loved them! 4/0, 7/3, 8/4 before the Peruvian started to get more offensive and positive, clawing back to 9/9.

After reassessing his pace and tactic, the young man got a game ball, but it’s Tarek, despite making 6 unforced errors in that opener alone, that managed to close it down 15/13 in 20 long minutes. Diego was not defeated at all. He came back playing faster, deeper, more accurately at the back, and finding some delicate and lethal counterdrops that really got Tarek’s quads to work! But yet again, the Egyptian led comfortable, 6/3, 7/4, only to see his young opponent coming back very close. Diego looked tired and running of fumes. “He really need that one “ I thought, and at 8/9, it was still all possible for the Peruvian. But it wasn’t to be and it’s the Egyptian that took that crucial game 15m, 11/8. The body language of Diego was unfortunately very clear when he came back – if Nick Matthew had been his coach, he would have had a word about that – and Tarek just had to keep him doing the runs. Even if Diego didn’t stop trying, he mentally really needed that second game, and he just never was able to have any incidence on that third, 7/2, 11/4 for Tarek in 4m…

Tarek

He’s a very tough opponent and if you give him an inch he has so many varieties of shots, he can make me move a lot. I did quite a bit of running today, so I’m going to need some recovery work done.

At the end of the second, when he was into my shots, I started lobbing to try and mixed my shots, to add variety and confusion in the game, exposing his movement as well. I always like to use my movement, it’s my weapon and it’s key when combined with some of my shots. When those things are in place then it’s going to be a good day for me.

I think there are so many factors to anticipation. It could be talent or it could be experience, I’ve been playing for 25 years now, it’s been a while. I’m 30 now and approaching 31, so by now I should be able to anticipate a few shots here and there.

I’ve been in so many finals before where I’ve had extremely tough 3-2 matches back-to-back and they’ve effected the way I was playing in the final and they hindered my performance. I’m not going to win every time, but I will always push as hard as I can to get the wins. Today’s match was very tough and I’m very happy to actually close it out in three games.

I was very cautious of that and I knew that if I wanted to well in the final then I would have to make the matches as short as possible. Against such great players, it’s so hard to to control that, but you have to kill yourself on court and try to make the most out of it. If it works in your favour then that’s great, if not then you have to deal with the conditions somehow. The quality of the game was so high and I’m very pleased with the way it turned out. I’m also very happy for the audience to be entertained the way they have been this week.

Breakfast with Fram : Bassim Haidar

Egyptian trio shine as semi-finalists are decided

All the quarter-finals went to seeding, with some dazzling performances by tonight's Egyptian contingent.

First up Diego Elias came from a game down to end the challenge of unseeded Welshman Joel Makin, but the Peruvian's delight at the end showed how tough a match it was.    Then it was the turn of the Egyptian trio to dazzle the packed St George's Hill crowd with their skills. Tarek Momen, after taking the first game against in-form Kiwi Paul Coll, edged the second before powering through the third.   Karim Abdel Gawad was at times simply unplayable against Saurav Ghosal, whose points tended to come at the end of the three games when it was already a lost cause.   Ali Farag took on home favourite Tom Richards and entertaining as the match was, there was only one likely winner. 

[6] Diego Elias (Per) 3-1 Joel Makin (Wal)     10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (79m)  [3] Tarek Momen (Egy) 3-0 [5] Paul Coll (Nzl)   11-6, 12-10, 11-5 (43m) [4] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 [7] Saurav Ghosal (Ind)    11-7, 11-3, 11-8 (39m) [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-0 Tom Richards (Eng)     11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (28m)

QF: [2] Ali Farag (Egy) 3-0 Tom Richards (Eng)  11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (28m)

Another scintillating performance from an Egyptian tonight. Ali had to weather the storm though, as Tom threw at him anything but the kitchen sink…

The match was played at a frantic pace, and Ali did his best to contain the Englishman in front of his home crowd – this is HIS CLUB and just kept the shots as straight as he could, seizing the opportunity when Tom was opening the court – which happened a few too many times maybe… Tom loves plays fast and hitting extremely hard, finding lovely angles and surprising his opponent. Ali never was able to relax and feel comfortable today: he had to stay on his toes the whole match

Excellent start for the Egyptian 4/1 8/2, but a few errors due to Tom’s pressure give a bit of oxygen to the Englishman. Still it’s Ali 10/4 to take the game 11/6 in 8m. The second is different with Tom sticking to the score, 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5. But Ali finds his range – basically, keeps sending Tom waaaaay at the back and volleys nicks galore to the front and it’s 11/7 in 8m again. The third seems quickly won at 10/5 but a big push from Tom – to the delight of the supportive crowd – who manages to get a few errors from the world number 2. But at the end of a very long and intense rally, it’s Karim that gets a stroke, and it’s 11/8 in 9m. Gawad awaits.

 Tom

I felt I was playing well, I was hitting the ball well, moving well, but Ali was just superb tonight. His length was the hardest I have played for a very long time, the subtleties in his game just threw me off. I’m frustrated because I wanted to stay on court much longer and make it hard for him, but I didn’t manage that. Although I feel I cannot be disappointed as he is one of the best players in the world…

Ali

It’s amazing for us to play in such an atmosphere. It’s not the biggest of venues but you guys make it as if we’re playing on a very big stage. Karim and I grew up playing in the same age group and we’ve played around 40 or 50 times, plus the hundreds of times we’ve played during practice. We know each other’s games quite well.

It’s always fair and clean when you play with Gawad and it’s always fun when you go on court and someone if going to play their heart out, but at the same time they’re going to be very fair and clean.

From a squash perspective, Karim showed us today that he’s back in the kind of top form that took him to World Champion. He was very sharp today, played really well and I will have to try as much as possible to stop those attacks and to attack myself. I’m really looking forward to that one.

QF: [4] Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 [7] Saurav Ghosal (Ind)   11-7, 11-3, 11-8 (39m)

Well, we thought that Tarek was in peak form, until Kimo Gawad stepped on court!

Karim was playing at the level he reached when he became World Champ and Qatar Champion. He was playing in form Saurav, and he never gave him a chance to have any incidence on the match.

First game was from 0/2 to 10/3 in two hands, and if Saurav finally put a few points on the board, Karim closed it down 11/7 on his 5th game ball, 12m.

The second well, 11/3 in 11m, that shows how hard Saurav worked to only score 3 points. And the third was about the same really, Karim up 7/3, 9/5, only to see the Indian clawing back, playing superb and spotless squash. The Egyptian clipped a few shots, and allowed Saurav to believe he could get at least a game, but Karim closed it down, 11/8 in 13m.

What a performance. Incredible…. Nothing that Saurav could do I believe. Or anybody else for that matter…

Karim:

Squash is beautiful when everything goes the way you want. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen a lot, so you have to enjoy the day everything goes into the nick and you can play a tight, basic game. Physically, I changed my fitness coach, not because he wasn’t good. We achieved many things together, I won the Al Ahram, I won the ToC, I won Qatar and the World Championships when I was training with him. But things didn’t work after that, so I had to move to another coach who is brilliant. He’s also Raneem’s coach, he’s been coaching her for years now so he has a lot of experience. I had a pretty good pre-season and I knew my physical level was down last season, my body was getting injured a lot, so I had to work a lot on the physical side. Luckily, things have worked out pretty well at the beginning of this season. "You have to work a lot to do good things with your talent. You have to practice a lot, if you’re very talented but not working, you will never be good. Some people are very solid at the basic game but they also have great shots because they train a lot. For example, Saurav is one of the best shot-makers on tour and in order to play him today I had to make sure that I didn’t give him a lot of chances because he was going to kill me in the front corners. Both having talent and working hard will help you achieve many things.