Nicol Suffers White Out; One in the Eye for Power

by Martin Bronstein
All content © 2002 Squashtalk

Fri Dec 13

John White's (r) cracking winners were too much for defending champion, Peter Nicol (photo © 2002 Fritz Borchert)

John White, was himself but at industrial strength, hitting winners with his eyes closed and dominating Nicol from the word go: I cannot remember the last time Nicol was beaten 9, 7 and 10 in 30 minutes. Probably Nicol can’t either.

(Editors Note: Martin was right not to believe 31 minutes, the time was misreported and was officially 42 minutes)

It is generally accepted by all the players on the circuit that when the tall Australian-turned-Scot is on form there is no player to touch him for putting the ball down the nick or just killing it stone dead. Power may have a greater range of shots, but even he cannot slam the ball away with the sureness of White.

Nicol has always been short on attack, although since the rise of Power three years ago, his range of shots increased dramatically. Just as he had enormous trouble when Power came along – because Power was not prepared to rally for 90 minutes – Nicol was sure to have problems with a player of White’s calibre and style. Now we have all seen White fall over as his shots hit tin, but this has been happening less and less over the year. He has tempered his talent with patience and it has paid off handsomely. The maddening thing for the other players is the ease with which White cracks the ball for winners. He always seems totally relaxed and his seemingly lazy swing of the racket results in an explosive stroke - and there goes another winner.

There really isn’t much more to say: today Nicol was treated the way he normally treats his opponents. Nicol, who won the title back in 1999, was clearly shaken by the loss. "John was just too good tonight," he said. "He dominated from the start, exposed my movement, hit winners from everywhere and only made 3 or 4 errors in the whole match." Nicol was obviously disappointed: he had held the open title for three years unchallenged because of the cancellation of the last two Opens. He went into the tournament full of optimism and confidence, having regained from after losing to Power four times earlier in the year.

White, on the other hand, wasn’t even in the picture as the fans rubbed their hands in anticipation of another Power/Nicol final.. He must have had good vibes because he brought his parents in from Australia and his wife and two children over from England where he is now based.

"It's one on my best performances, for sure," said a delighted White. "With Peter you've always got to be aware that he'll just keep going, and before you know it you're in a five-setter. I was very patient tonight, and held it together once I got ahead, not trying to finish it off too early. I was seeing the nick clearly tonight and everything was working.”

Jonathon Power (r) was forced to withdraw after an eye injury from contact with David Palmer's racquet (photo © 2002 Fritz Borchert)

PSA Position on the Accident (courtesy of SquashNow news desk)

Gawain Briars, the PSA Chief Executive, told SquashNow that the process
was far from straightforward. "The doctor decided that Power was in shock
and possibly suffering mild concussion and that any movement of the head
could complicate things. He insisted Power should have hospital inspection
before playing again.
"That brought two sets of rules into play. Under WSF Rules accidental
injuries are allowed unlimited time to recover within the time schedule of
the competition, which meant Power could have played the next day before the
scheduled Saturday final. But PSA rules state that all matches must be at
least 18 hours apart.
"I was prepared to bend the PSA rules a bit for the sake of the players
and the tournament, but I had to leave David the option of refusing to play
twice on one day, including a World Open Final."
SquashNow understands that Power opted to play tomorrow morning. Not too
surprisingly Palmer, who was completely free of responsibility for the
clash, declined that opportunity. In effect, the Australian decision
triggered Power's almost unwilling concession of the semi-final.

Semi-finals:
[5] John White (SCO) bt [1] Peter Nicol (ENG) 15-9, 15-7, 15-10 (42 m)
[3] David Palmer (AUS) bt [2] Jonathon Power (CAN) 13-15, 10-10 ret.