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The first question that needs to be answered about this tournament is; Why is it so bloody strong? It’s not quite a super series event, which means it is a 16 man draw instead of a 32 draw. This means only twelve players get immediate entry into the main draw, with another 16 (including 4 locals) battling out a qualifying tournament for four coveted main draw positions. Of the top 12 players in the world that are guaranteed a place in the main draw, 11 have made the trip to Boston. And the only player not present - Boswell - was the finalist from last year and only has injury as the reason for his no-show.

So we pretty much have the top 12 players in the world in the main draw. Surely this would lead to the other players avoiding the tournament and a weak qualifying tournament. Nope. The final player to take a spot in the qualifying tournament is Shahier Razik ranked 30 - a ridiculously high number for a player that has only just managed to take a spot in the qualifying tournament.

There are going to be some players leaving this tournament with burnt fingers. Rankings are based on your average over a twelve month period. If you win the World Open you get 2625 points towards your average. The winner of the US Open will get 875 points. While this number is less than the average of Nicol (1102), Palmer (914) and close to White’s (865), it’s still a lot of points and every player would like to win them. But here’s the downside - eight players are going to lose in the first round and only get 125 points. Chris Walker is currently ranked 33 in the world and wasn’t able to get a position in the qualifying tournament, yet his average is higher than the first round points available. All of the players ranked 9 or better have an average higher than 350, yet that’s the points on offer for making the semi finals - a position that only four players can get to. So as you can see some players will be leaving this tournament with their fingers burnt.

There are numerous reasons why this tournament is so strong. It’s the beginning of the season after a long tournament drought over the summer. During that time most players get a chance to either rest their bodies and let niggling injuries recover, or put in a concentrated block of training that isn’t possible during the tournament and league season. The other reason that this tournament is well attended is that you know it’s going to be a wonderful event.

Every tournament has a lot of guys playing and losing. Only one player doesn’t lose, the rest do at some stage of the tournament. If you’re not losing you’re progressing further in the tournament and playing more matches. The less times throughout the year that you lose, the higher your ranking should be (depending of course on what tournaments you play - going undefeated at the Alligator Creek Club Championships doesn’t have the same prestige or ranking points as the US Open). Here is how the twelve main draw players have performed since the last US Open:

Peter Nicol - played 31 matches over 8 tournaments. 6 times he was beaten and twice he was undefeated - the Qatar Classic in November and Tournament of Champions in New York in February. He was beaten by White twice, Palmer, Power, Darwish and Ricketts.

David Palmer - played 26 matches over 6 tournaments. 3 times he was beaten and 3 times he was undefeated - the US Open, South African Challenge and World Open. He has lost to Nicol twice and Power once.

Johnny McWhite - played 33 matches over 9 tournaments. 7 times he was beaten. He made five finals and was undefeated in the last two - Qatar Masters and English Open. He was beaten by Palmer three time, Ricketts, Kneipp, Boswell and Lincou.

Jonathon Power - played 24 matches over 7 tournaments. 6 times he was beaten, went undefeated at the YMG Canadian Classic in November. Lost to White twice, Boswell, Nicol, Palmer, Lincou and Darwish.

Thierry Lincou - played 25 matches over 7 tournaments. Lost 7 times, but made the final of the past three that he has played (Dayton Open, Tournament of Champions and Qatar Classic). Lost to Boswell, Parke, Palmer, Power, Ricketts, Nicol and White.

Anthony Ricketts - played 26 matches over 9 tournament. Lost 8 times, the undefeated tournament being the Dayton Open at the start of the year. Lost to Nicol five times, Ryding, Shabana and White.

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Ong Beng Hee - played 20 matches over 8 tournaments losing 8 times. Beaten by Boswell twice, Ricketts, Durbach, Beachill, Lincou, Shabana and White.

Karim Darwish - played 26 matches over 9 tournaments. Lost 6 times, winning 3 tournaments in Pakistan. Lost to Shabana twice, Lincou twice, Palmer and Willstrop.

Lee Beachill - played 18 matches over 8 tournaments, losing 8 times. Lost to Palmer twice, Nicol, Kneipp, Heath, Lincou and White.

Joe Kneipp - Played 22 matches over 10 tournaments, losing 10 times. Beaten by White twice, Castelyn, Power, Parke, Gough, Palmer, Beng Hee, Nicol and Matthew.

Amr Shabana - played 19 matches over 9 tournaments. Lost 8 times, remaining undefeated at the Spanish Open. Lost to Darwish twice, Nicol, Palmer, White, Abbas, Ryding and Farrukh Zaman.

Martin Heath - played 14 matches over 8 tournaments losing 8 times. Defeated by Tuominen, El Hindi, Gough, Durbach, Palmer, Boswell, Gaultier and Lincou.

The 1st round matches are:

[1] Peter Nicol (ENG) v Lee Beachill (ENG)

A great match to get the tournament started with. Nicol is coming off his worst run of tournaments in six years. 1997 was the last time he went more than two tournaments without making a final. He has now gone three tournaments without making a final and won’t want to make this tournament the fourth. He has got a tough draw with his seeded quarter final opponent being Karim Darwish - the player that knocked him out of the Spanish Open.

Beachill is currently ranked 10 and won’t be ecstatic about his who his first round opponent is, particularly as he had the exact same draw at last year’s US Open. He lost that encounter in four, but he is a player that has beaten Nicol before, not something that everyone even in the top 10 can boast. Of their four PSA encounters Nicol has won three of them, losing in the quarter finals of the 2001 British Open.

Nicol made the semis of this tournament last year, Beachill lost first round.

[7] Karim Darwish (EGY) v Graham Ryding (Qualifier)

Darwish is currently ranked 9 and will face Canada’s Ryding, currently ranked 19. Ryding has had to battle through the qualifying tournament to reach the main draw, but has previously been ranked in the top 10 and is a great player when his game is working. In the past two tournaments that Darwish played he beat Power and then Nicol to finally notch up some victories over top 10 players. There is a medium sized tournament being held directly after the US Open in Pakistan. It’s not realistic for a top player to aim to play them both. Tournaments in Pakistan have previously been a huge boost for Darwish and allowed his ranking to steadily climb without having to face all of the usual top players who are reluctant to travel to Pakistan for a medium sized tournament. Darwish’s appearance at Boston instead of Karachi appears to be a strong signal that he’s taking on the top players.

Darwish didn’t play the US Open last year. Ryding lost to Tuominen in the second round of the qualifying tournament.

[4] Jonathon Power (CAN) v Joseph Kneipp

Power’s current ranking of 4 is his lowest position for many years, but it’s not going to change for a couple of months. Even if he wins this tournament he won’t be able to catch White at 3, who is making the #1 spot a three horse race. Power has Lincou breathing down his throat for the crucial top 4 position and will be looking for a good result to fend of the French man. He is playing the Detroit Open the day after the final of this tournament and has announced to the media that he’ll be looking to play two finals within five days. I hope he’s not counting his chickens before they hatch - making the final here would probably involve victories over Kneipp, Lincou and then Nicol, a tough enough task to worry about first.

We have only played each other twice on the pro tour. I won our first encounter in 2000 in Antwerp, but he won the recent tussle in Toronto last year. It should be an entertaining match to watch.

Power lost in last year’s US Open in the quarter finals to Boswell, I wasn’t at the tournament.

[5] Thierry Lincou (FRA) v Amr Shabana (EGY)

Lincou is currently ranked 5 and so far has been one of the most consistent players this year. Shabana’s ranking was slipping out towards the mid 20s when a dramatic tournament victory in June jolted him back to 12. Lincou has a solid, conservative game that revolves around lots of pressure, volleys, drop shots and no mistakes. Shabana is a wizard with the racquet and would rather put the ball into the nick than down the wall. Their contrasting styles could make for either a very entertaining match, or an uneventful encounter.

They have played only once on the pro circuit, in the semi finals of the South African Challenge of 2001. Lincou had just come from the Hong Kong Open where he beat Nicol in the first round and made the final. He beat Shabana in South Africa in straight games and went on to win the tournament.

Lincou made the semis here last year, Shabana was entered but didn’t turn up.

[6] Anthony Ricketts (AUS) v Martin Heath (SCO)

Ricketts’ confidence should be running high right now. At the last tournament he finally got the Peter Nicol monkey off his back - beating him dramatically in the fifth set after numerous losses. Heath has been ranked as high as 4, earlier in his career, but is currently more erratic with his form which is why his ranking is jostling around the low to mid teens. He’s currently ranked 14 and will have his work cut out for him trying to beat Ricketts.

These two have only played once before with Ricketts winning at the Qatar Classic of 2001 in 4.

Ricketts beat White in the first round of last year’s tournament, then lost to Nicol in the quarters. Heath was beaten in the first round by Olli Tuominen who had to qualify first.

[3] John White (SCO) v Adrian Grant (Qualifier)

McWhitey has won the past two tournaments he has played, and has been in the final of four of his past five tournaments. Obviously the inform player at the moment. He is in Palmer’s half of the draw, but would probably prefer to be seeded to play either Nicol or Power in the semi finals. He has beaten Power the last four times they have played. He has beaten Nicol the last two times they played. He has lost to Palmer the last four times they have played!

Adrian Grant is currently ranked 22, his highest ranking to date. This time last year he was ranked 42 so he is going in the right direction. McWhitey has been ranked in the single figures for the past two and a half years, and has been inside the top twenty for over four years consecutively. He has a lot more experience and will go into this match the raging favourite. McWhitey has a vocal group of supporters that show their faces at the North American tournaments all dressed in the same ‘John White Fan Club’ t shirts. It will be disappointing if they’re not here this time.

McWhite and Grant have only played once before in a PSA tournament. At the Qatar Masters earlier in the year they met in the 2nd round. Grant lost in straight sets, but his victor was in fine form and went on to win the tournament.

McWhite was dumped out of last year’s US Open in the first round by Anthony Ricketts, so he doesn’t have any ranking points to defend and can use this tournament to leap even further up the ranking ladder. Grant didn’t play last year.

[8] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) v Nick Matthew (Qualifier)

Bengy is currently ranked 8, Matthew is 24 and working towards making the breakthrough to the top 20. Matthew had to qualify and got the nasty draw of Simon Parke in the second round. He wasn’t phased by this, and after dispatching Parke will be hoping to do the same with Bengy in the main draw. The only two encounters between these players was last year, with the Malaysian winning both times.

Neither Bengy or Matthew played the US Open last year

[2] David Palmer (AUS) v Olli Tuominen (Qualifier)

Palmer is the defending champion and has said that he’s fit and hungry to repeat that performance this year. His first hurdle will be the flying Fin who is the only real challenger to Ricketts’ ‘Energizer bunny’ title. We were recently training and coaching in Prague and Olli was there and playing very intense, high quality squash. He won’t be daunted by Palmer’s pace and intensity, and instead will thrive off it. The last time these two played was in New York this year at the Tournament of Champions in the first round. Tuominen was up 2-0, then lost the 3rd 13-15 and fizzled out over the next two games losing the match. He’ll be hoping this time to get those two points that alluded him.

Palmer won the tournament last year, Tuominen had to qualify, upset Martin Heath in the first round then lost to Lincou in the quarter finals.

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