 Another
tournament ends. Another Trophy Ceremony. Another plane to catch.
Another year that ends. What images will we remember from this 2006
Saudi Open?
The Proudest Moment. The Royal Blessing of the event by his Royal
Highness Prince Abdul Aziz, along with Ziad Al Turki’s father Sheikh
Abdul Raman, that seals Atco and Al Turki's extraordinary work to
set up this event…
 The
pure joy and delight to be working alongside Robert, who I never
ever saw lose his temper on the job (I saw him lose his calm once,
but the event hadn’t started yet…), whose voice is always calm and
respectful, even when chaos reigns, and can juggle with 23 requests
at the same time with the same polite and perfect mannered way…
Robert, like I said, you are NOT permitted to retire before I do…
Easier, much easier to get in the country this time… Instead of the
three whole days it took me to get into Al Khobar last year, it took
us only 10 hours between our arrival at the airport, the getting of
ALL our visas, and the car stopping at the hotel. Thanks to all that
must have worked very hard filling paperwork to get us there…
Loved the Sunset Beach Cabanas… After only a few days, I was moved
into one of Sunset Beach's little bungalows… A pure joy… The Sea… A
three minutes walk to the Restaurant and the Sport Centre… Makes you
feel relaxed and stressless… well, as as close as I can get to
stressless during a tournament, that is…
  Was
so nice to see Emad again, who’s been such a great help on this
tournament as he was last year, and also to meet a Lebanese
Gentleman called Hadi, who made sure that I was seating at the
perfect spot and dressed the appropriate way for the opening and
closing ceremonies…
And what about having Mr Squash DVDs himself Jean DeLierre to unwind
and gossip in French with! I tell you, some ears must have been
buzzing, but we’ve put the world of squash right a few times, and
feel so much better for it…
 The
Man of the Press Room… It has to be Steve Cubbins, our SquashSite
own “Complete Legend” as a tournament organiser called him, who was
not only upgrading the site under difficult circumstances (we were
not able to open the main site directly for some unknown reason, and
it took all Cubs’ wizardry to make it happen), but was also
assisting Robert within all the organisation of the players'
welfare. And that my friend, is a bit like smoking a cigarette on a
petrol field… Possible, but highly dangerous… But the Legend did it
with flying colours…
The Not-So-Good Thingy… The weather… First, the deluge that hit us
on the Opening Night, with transformers exploding and the water on
court… Even if it went all fine in the end… Then that cold, that
absolutely blizzard-ish, North Pole kind of weather that made the
playing and the looking at the playing freeking daunting, I tell
you… But… Out of that cold, comes…
 ….The
Image of the Week… Ziad keeping his daughter Sharifa warm under his
coat… It’s such a perfect way to describe how the Saudi promoter
nests the people that are close to his heart… Quite symbolic I find…
And also… The funniest moment… Robert Edwards arriving in the Press
Room with jacket, scarf and gloves, and stating with Santa’s voice
to one of the players: “Ho Ho Ho, have you been a good boy? No, you
haven’t, have you, you have been a naughty boy haven’t you”…
Priceless…
 Squash-wise…Alex
Gough still kicking at 36 takes out LJ in the first round… Karim
Darwish so focused on “passing the Ramy test” that he may have left
his brain in the process, losing for the first time for about five
years to compatriot Mohamed Abbas… Joey Barrington making his mark
by kicking Lee Beachill out…
 Borja
Golan losing in the tie break in the fifth after having a match ball
in the third… Aamir Atlas Khan giving a good run for his money to
new Asian Games Double Champion Ong Beng Hee…. Greg Gaultier winning
yet again against compatriot Thierry Lincou, in three just like in
the US Open… And of course, of course, the spotless journey of the
World Number One, the Prince of Egypt, who dropped only one game in
one of the hardest draws on the circuit…
A last little personal note… A great great great improvement
compared to last year where the men/women partition on finals day
meant that we girls didn’t see much from the side of the court. But
this year, we were sitting where we had been sitting all week.
Only a slight compromise to the Saudi propriety, we had to have our
heads covered. But that was really not a problem for me, I must say,
such a small gesture compared to the pleasure of watching the final
in the perfect of conditions.
Once again, for that and for all the rest, Ziad Al Turki, we thank
you. Like Greg stated in his thank you speech, we hope that you are
going to support our sport for many years, because squash needs
people like you...
See you next year.
 |
