Discover Top Posts Tagged with #nathan lake

Manitoba Final

Top seed Nathan Lake claims the title in Winnipeg ...

“A really enjoyable match” says Tom...

Tom Richards (ENG) 3-2 Nathan Lake (ENG) 4-11, 16-14, 11-8, 6-11, 11-9 (71m)

Nathan (on Twitter) Disappointed to lose 11-9 in the 5th yesterday in rd1 of the British Open, but all credit to Tom Richards for for playing the big points better. Overall, very pleased with my performance and throughly enjoyed getting to play on the glass court in front of an English crowd!

Tom I know Nathan well. We are friends off court and have played a few times this year, so I knew what to expect in terms of his skills. It’s a glass court, which I prefer, but I’m sure he prefers as well and it’s quite dead on here and we both like to take it in a lot. It was a really enjoyable match, win or lose.

The European Team was a stressful week because you don’t want to let your teammates down and so coming into this I had to find my mental toughness and I’m glad I managed to do that.

It’s not ideal to change from the glass court to the traditional courts tomorrow, but it’s the same for both of us. I’m sure Simon would prefer to be on glass too and it’s unusual to switch from glass to traditional, but we train largely on traditional courts, so there are no excuses there.

#tom richards #nathan lake #R1

A fair and clean match says Nathan...

Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-2 Nathan Lake (ENG) 11-8, 1-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7 (61m)

Nathan It was a fair and clean match, this is why we play squash for, it’s not always the case. It was actually nice to get an 11/1, getting a good length finally! Tactically, I imposed my mage a fair amount but not enough and in the 4th and 5th, he got mini breaks and I just couldn’t get them back.

Nicki

I am very pleased to be through, especially after being 2-1 down. I wasn’t happy with the way I was playing. He played extremely well and he was controlling the ’T’. I didn’t get the ball past him. I went too short too early as well so I had to dig deep and play a game I am not used to playing. I hit a few more lengths but I am feeling good physically and I am glad it worked out in the end.

I tried to stay focused as possible but when I step on his foot, it is quite heavy, you know. But yeah, I tried to stay focussed. I had a quick drink and then went back on court to keep the mind on the game, I was up in the fifth all the way so that helped me.

#nathan lake #Nicolas Mueller #R1

Lobban victim of the “Egypt Effect”

[wc] Shehab Essam (Egy) 3-1 Greg Lobban (Sco) 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8 (62m) Tsz Fung Yip (Hkg) 3-1 Nathan Lake (Eng) 11-9, 11-9, 5-11, 11-4 (45m)

Greg just been hit with the “Egypt Effect” hard today in Cairo. What is that Egypt Effect you might ask. Well, when a young player plays in Egypt, his squash, his talent, his skills are just 10 times more efficient as normal. No fear, no pressure, they just go for every shot as their life depended on it. And it was a remarkable match from the young Egyptian, 23, WR 80, who played an intense and fast squash, which normally would suit Greg Lobban to a T. But today, the Scott never looked at his ease on the court. Asking for the court to be cleaned several time, he still kept close score wise, and never panicked. I thought we were going for a 5 setter when he saved a match ball 9/10 to take the game 12/10, especially as Shehab had requested an injury break after his knee locked up at 10/10!

But the Egypt Effect was just too powerful today. Carried by his support camp, the young Egyptian was able to keep his cool in a very tight 4th game 1/1, 2/2, 4/4, 5/5, 7/7, 8/8, and found his best squash in the last 4 points (from 7/8 to 11/8), Greg was just not able to contain his exuberance in the end…

Shehab

I was so lucky to get the wild card, thanks Blackball! And I tried to give it all I had to deserve the privilege.

I am over the moon really. I have been waiting for a big win for such a long time. I had a few close matches with top 30, top 20 players, but I never won those matches. So beating a top 13 is a fantastic result for me. I owe it to my brother and my coach for their support during the match. They carried me, they gave me energy for each point. And that why I kept fighting so hard. At 2/0 and 10/9 match ball up, I didn’t believe I could win. My previous defeats came back at the back of my mind, and I told myself come on, learn from your mistakes. And I did!! I need to thank my family, my mum and my dad, always supporting me even when things are not going the right way. My sister, who is doing every thing for me, she is taking care of my emails, to PSA, to the Embassies, for my travels, etc. I owe her everything. And of course, my brother and my coach, they are my best friends, Youssef Ahmed and Hossam Nasser, my good friend Mazen Hesham who is always there for me and my godfather Nasser. Looking forward to play tomorrow!!!

Yip

I was playing all right today, I was making sure my shots were deep enough to create myself the opportunities at the front. And it seemed to work for the first two games. But in the third, I wasn’t there! I was playing everything in the middle, and he would cut me off. The game was over in no time. The fourth, I went back to my game plan, deep at the back, and got the momentum back. Tomorrow, I’m playing again Karim Abdel Gawad, who I just lost to in 3 in Hong Kong two weeks ago. I hope that I can be more consistent on the crucial points this time round…

#R1 #Tsz Fung Yip #Nathan Lake #Greg Lobban #Shehab Essam

Karim Ali Fathi manages to pass the Nathan Lake

[9] Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) 3-1 Nathan Lake (ENG) 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 (64m)

Karim I was 5/1 in the first, and I just lost my length. He is brilliant in the middle, he takes his space very well, can pick you off like hell, and he is a good and a solid player. It’s annoying how well he can slow down the pace, it’s very effective for him, but who am I to say! I could have played straighter, he is a lefty, so I was trying on his backhand, but I ended up crosscourting too much, I should have played more on his backhand side, to open it and volley more. From the second on, I just concentrated on getting my length to the back, telling myself don’t let it drop, don’t let it drop, and made him do a lot of work, front, back, play my pace, front back to make him run around.