Matthew and David defend World Open titles in Rotterdam
Defending champions, top seeds and world number ones Nick Mathews from England and Nicol David from Malaysia, both successfully defended their world championship titles in contrasting finals at the Luxor theater in Rotterdam
Nicol Supreme for Six…
Malaysian superstar Nicol David collected a record SIXTH World Open title here at the Luxor Theatre in Rotterdam with a supreme performance to dismiss second seed Jenny Duncalf in straight games in just under half an hour. I can’t think of anything right now, no words….This is my best performance ever. I didn’t expect anything but I wanted it so badly, I didn’t want anybody to put their hands on that trophy but me. I had a great support in the crowd, they were magnificent, I had my parents, my coach Liz, and a big team of supporters from Squash City in Amsterdam that came to support me. It’s wonderful, those people have been around me for the past two years now, and it proves that if you have the right people around you, you can realise your full potential. I could not do this on my own. In Malaysia, a world title is huge, we are not a nation with great sport victories, so I just hope I can repay all what Malaysia has done for me, and which has carried me this far. And my parents always respected my choices, and when squash was the choice I picked, they helped and support me all the way. The record is just a bonus for me, I don’t do things for records, just for the feeling I get when I’m out there on the court, for that challenge I get from the other players. My World Open titles mean the world to me, but I would gladly trade the six of them for just one Olympic Medal…
Nicks second in a row…
I don’t think I did one thing particularly to grind Greg down, it was more a combination of several factors. First, I tried not to panic in the first game, like I did in the quarters against Peter. I knew that I was not playing badly, not doing anything wrong in particular, but that he was just playing better than me. I stuck in, stuck in, stuck in, and just started to attack a little bit. I got a finger in the door, and then my body through, and saw a chink of light and went for it. Then I realised that he was now slowing down the pace whereas at the start, he was trying to speed it up, so I kept on pushing and pushing. And after I got the second, things got a bit easier, although he took a very good start in the third… Greg and I go way back, he is not malicious I promise you, we just had a few words with the ref, but I cannot stress enough how tough he is, when we were young, I was 18 and he was 15, and he was beating me sometimes, that’s to show how good he was from very young, and he’ll put his hand on the trophy no doubt. What kept me going in the match was also something that my manager Paul Walters said to me, that the Shorbagy match was a blessing in disguise, because it showed me I could go through it, and after a few bad losses, it gave me the confidence again to know that I could rally as long as I wanted to….When I won today, it was pure joy, and pure relief…. No one can say that I’ve not had a tough draw – the second round against Tarek in Victoria, after Qatar; the Shorbagy match; being one down against Pete; Darwish yesterday; and Greg tonight. I’ve not won too many tournaments lately. I think that when you get to number one, it’s all about winning tournaments. My percentage of finals to wins, is good – apart from Qatar – but you’ve got to win finals. I picked my moment this week though – no one can argue! I would like to thank my mum and dad who are here, with my manager Paul, coach David Pearson, my girlfriend, physio Phil, and at home Jade, Rob and Stafford, all my apologies to the people I forgot…. I feel for him, he’s been in three finals now, but hopefully he’ll will after I’m gone!!!