#11 points

[in-somnias]

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[gavedri]

Visca el Barça 💙❤️

[hrstories1234]

Made a smoothie for breakfast today! Blueberries, sliced strawberries, one serving of 100 calories Greek blueberry yogurt, 1 cup of almond milk and 1/4 cup of oatmeal - 11 points of deliciousness! 😁😁😁

[exocean]

I PASSED MY EXAM AND MY RESIT!

[cwsquash]

11 Points with Simon Rosner

Interview by ALAN THATCHER              Also available on the main CW site

1: Simon, welcome back to Canary Wharf. You have enjoyed a fantastic start to 2018, winning the Tournament of Champions, finishing runner-up in the Swedish Open and reaching the semi-finals in Chicago. What are you doing differently this season?

I don’t think I am doing anything different, really. I haven’t changed anything technically. I work hard with my coaches, as per usual, and I am trying to play each match as it comes. 

In New York I enjoyed each and every match, point by point and enjoyed the whole experience.

2: How did the German media respond to your victory in New York?

I was very pleased to see some good coverage back home. In the local papers in Paderborn it was huge, but I was pleased to see the story picked up several national papers and the online publication Sport Bild. The story also got one whole minute on our national TV channel and that was great. The response on social media was crazy. There were so many kind messages and I wanted to write everyone and say Thank You.

3: I remember interviewing Thierry Lincou at the ToC many years ago, in the snow in Times Square, and he was talking about overcoming mental barriers. That evening he beat Jonathon Power for the first time and it was a major step on his path to becoming world champion. How many mental barriers do you think you have broken through in the past few months, and would you like to describe them?

In a way, beating Marwan ElShorbagy in Qatar in November was a similar kind of moment for me. Beating Gregory Gaultier in the World Series Finals was another significant result but that was best of three so possibly did not have the same impact. However, these results can only boost your confidence going forward. That certainly helped me as I prepared for the Tournament of Champions and I am trying to maintain that mindset with every new tournament.

4: With an increase in prize money, this is our strongest Canary Wharf draw for many years. How much have you been looking forward to playing in the event?

It’s a tournament I always look forward to a lot. I have played probably eight or nine times and that shows my passion for both London and Canary Wharf. It has been a busy time of year with so many tournaments back to back, with Sweden, Chicago and Canary Wharf so close together.

5: With Nick Matthew sadly forced to withdraw with a hamstring injury, the top four seeds are all Egyptians. What do you think other nations can learn from this wave of Egyptian success?

So many players are coming through from their junior set-up and having such big numbers they are pushing each other. In terms of numbers, if you  have maybe a thousand players competing in a system you will have more coming through than if you only have 20 or so. That kind of competition can only be inspirational and, sadly for the rest of the world, there is no end in sight. Every day there seem to be new juniors coming through from Egypt.  

6: It’s a shame that the Canary Wharf crowd won’t be able to say a proper farewell to Nick in his farewell season on the PSA Tour.  How much has he influenced our career?

Nick has been around for so many years and is still producing very competitive squash at the age of 37. I wish I will still be able to move and be injury free when I am that age. It’s all down to Nick’s professional approach. He is very disciplined in everything he does and really is the ultimate professional. That shows his class, still being able to compete at the level beyond the age of 35. I have got to meet him lots of times, on and off court, and have the utmost respect for everything he has achieved. Interestingly, after my experience in New York, I respect the top four guys in the world even more. I was so full of emotion after winning the ToC that it was difficult to go back to zero to start the next tournament. It made me think a lot about how the top guys keep getting results back to back and how they must deal with the emotional highs and lows.

7:  Now, time to get personal. After the Windy City Open, your proposed to your girlfriend in Chicago and she accepted! Congratulations from all of us at Canary Wharf. Who is this lucky lady and what can you tell us about her?

Vivien is from Paderborn. Amazingly, we met in Chicago three years ago. She had finished her studies and was working over there as an au pair and learning the language. I proposed to her in the Hancock Tower, which was where we met three years ago!

8: Will she be joining you in London this week?

A: Sadly, no. She will be at work back home in Paderborn. We have lived together for the past two years and she works as a PA to one of my sponsors, Ralf Eckel, whose company is called Zaun Kreisel. You can see the name on my shirts.

9: How did you feel when you saw that you had been drawn against your best buddy Nic Mueller in the first round?

That came as no surprise! It’s funny how that works in squash, you make the main draw then get paired against your best friend or someone from the same country. I said to Nic before the qualifying competition “You will make the main draw and we will play each other in the first round – and that’s what happened!” After Chicago I was mentally and physically prepared to play Nic. He is deservedly back in the world top 20.

10: What are your thoughts on the best-of-three format being used in the early rounds at Canary Wharf this year?

I like it. Playing best of three, my heart rate was up right from the start. It’s a very intense kind of squash, the same as in Dubai last summer. There is no waiting. You have to go straight on to the attack. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I imagine there will be a lot of 50-60 minute matches.

11: Who are your main sponsors these days? Feel free to give them all a mention.

My main sponsors are the DRS Group. They are a major car repair company and the guys love coming to tournaments. Danny and Martin used to play Bundesliga and love coming to the PSA events. They are based in Hamburg and are really nice guys. They have been so helpful to me in so many ways and I am so happy that they are in the team with me. Oliver are my racket and equipment sponsors and have been with me for 10 years. These long-term relationships are very important to me, to stick together and build a team. Everyone looks after me so well and I would like to mention all of my other sponsors, Lightpower, FlyerAlarm, Deutsche Sporthlife and Zaun Kreisel, who I mentioned earlier.

Thank you, Simon. Good luck this evening.

Also available on the main CW site

[cwsquash]

11 Points with ALI FARAG

INTERVIEW by ALAN THATCHER    1: Ali, it’s a real pleasure to welcome you to the Canary Wharf Classic. We look forward to seeing you in action on Tuesday night against wild card Nathan Lake.    What are your thoughts on coming to London to play in the tournament for the first time?    I am very excited to be playing at Canary Wharf for the first time. I have heard nothing but great things about the tournament, whether it be how amazing the venue is, how invested the crowd of all three levels get into the matches, or how well Tim Garner and his team take extremely good care of the players.    It’s the only big tournament on the PSA World Tour Calendar that I am yet to play and I am really looking forward to it. 

 2: You are the sole Egyptian in the bottom half of the draw, with three in the top half (Mohamed ElShorbagy, Marwan ElShorbagy and Tarek Momen).    With six players from your country in the top ten of the men’s PSA world rankings, it must be a very proud time to be an Egyptian squash player. What do you see as the main reasons for Egypt’s current domination?    Yeah I couldn’t be prouder of Egypt Squash at the moment. I guess it all started with the Al Ahram Open, where we all went to watch Ahmed Barada play on a massive stage in front of the Pyramids. It gave us something to aspire to and dream about for years and years.    From that point on, we had great players breaking through such as Shabana, Darwish, Ramy and Shorbagy. The fact that these people have achieved it before us gave us the belief that we can do it ourselves.    Because we are all mostly situated in Cairo and Alexandria, we grow up watching them play from a very young age and they have always been very humble and generous to give us advice and get on court with us, passing along their experience. Also, living all in Cairo or Alexandria allows us to play together every day, lifting each others’ games up day in and day out. 

 3: History has shown that nations like England, Australia and Pakistan have dominated for long periods and then have something of a lean spell.    Do you think this process is cyclical, or, with so many top-quality juniors coming through, can you see Egypt dominating for a long period of time?    Well I definitely hope so. We should learn from history, though, and work even harder to keep improving on our juniors. I hope that our generation can do the same to the upcoming players as the older generations did to us. 

 4: Egypt’s women players are also hugely successful and dominating the top end of the game. 

 Please tell us what it felt like for you and your wife Nour El Tayeb to win the 2017 US Open titles on the same day? 

That was hands down the highlight of my (our) career(s) so far. It feels amazing to win any tournament.    Imagine this being your first World Series Title... Imagine this being the prestigious US Open... Imagine you win it alongside your beautiful wife... Imagine this means you created history together... Imagine it gets all the media attention in the world...    There were so many good things about this moment that I wouldn’t be fair to describe it in just a couple of sentences. 

 5: Will Nour be accompanying you to London?    I wish... Unfortunately not as she has to go back home to keep training for the remainder of the season.    6: Instead of turning professional as a teenager, you studied at Harvard University before committing full-time to the PSA World Tour.    What adjustments did you have to make to your life after leaving Harvard, and how were you able to step up your training programme?    If it weren’t for Nour, Mike Way (Harvard Head Coach), my brother Wael (also my coach and my role model ever since I was born), I would not be playing professionally now.    I never had it on my radar. I always thought I would get a normal desk job after college, but the three of them kept convincing me to pursue my passion and give it a go at least for a year.    I did in 2015, and I couldn’t have asked for a better year really; not only in terms of results, but also in terms of how much I was enjoying it.    Obviously in college, I was playing five times a week with an hour of squash and 45-60 minutes of gym/fitness work. Ever since I turned full time, I started having three sessions a day for five and a half days a week.    Usually, fitness/gym at 10am, a little snack, then hit with a coach or solo at noon, go back home for lunch, an hour nap, then back again for match play at 7pm. That’s Saturday through Thursday, then Thursday evening and Friday off. 

 7: Where is home for you and Nour? And at which club do you train?    We are based in Cairo. I play for Wadi Degla Clubs, in which former World No. 1 Karim Darwish is the Sports Director.    8: Do they have a laundry at the club, or do you wash your own squash gear every day?    No, we do it at home. I would like to take credit for washing my own squash gear, but unloading my dirty clothes from the squash bag and putting it in the washing machine is as far as I go.    Nour is beyond a great wife. She takes care of every single detail in the house. 

 9: I saw an interview where you praised Nour’s healthy, nutritious cooking.    What are your favourite meals, for pleasure as well as fuel? And do you help out in the kitchen as well?    I love Nour’s scrambled eggs with goat’s cheese and avocado. I love her salmon steaks as well for recovery after a tough day of training.    And as I said, I barely visit the kitchen. Nour makes me do/need nothing. I wouldn’t be able to do her justice if I try to describe how much she takes care of me. 

10: Back to the squash: You and Mohamed ElShorbagy have played in some truly epic battles in the past year or so.    Despite the intense pressure and physical demands of playing at the very highest level, often in semi-finals or finals, you both seem to be enjoying these matches more than in the past. Is that a fair analysis?    I think Mohamed and I gave ourselves and the squash world a bunch of high quality squash matches played in a great spirit during the past year or so.    We might have slightly lost it in the heat of the moment once or twice in the past, but this takes nothing away from the amount of respect we have for each other. 

11: Nick Matthew has won Canary Wharf six times. This is his farewell year on the PSA World Tour. What have you learned from watching guys like Nick down the years?    Nick is arguably the one I have learned the most from over the years. His professional attitude towards everything he does and his mental strength are second to none really.    He’s also forever evolving, never settles, and always thrives for more. And that’s why he’s still a contender for every title even at the age of 37.    I am not happy that he’s retiring, no one is happy, but I have no doubt he will still give a ton to the squash world with whatever career he decides to pursue after this season.    Ali, thank you and good luck next month at Canary Wharf. 

[tiffanyachings]

aaand we’re losing for the second time in a row

[ourqueenlexa]

We arent that bad guys