DOUBLES

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U.S. Squash Plans Novel World Hardball

Doubles Format

U. S. Squash Doubles Committee Chairman Morris Clothier has announced that the biennial World Hardball Doubles Championships, scheduled for the final weekend in October (i.e. October 24-26) 2008, will be adopting a completely different competitive format from what has occurred in the past. The hope and intent are to rejuvenate and enhance the significance of the event world-wide, especially in the United States and Canada, while creating a legitimate world doubles title for both men and women at the top level, providing substantial prize money for the playing pros and stimulating participation in both the U. S. and Canadian National Doubles Championships at all age group levels this coming spring.

To accomplish this multi-front mission, the current plan (which has already been endorsed by Squash Canada and the ISDA) is for two distinct but inclusive events to run in conjunction with one another, namely an Open World Doubles Championship for top-tier pros and a Canada vs. U. S. competition, known as the Can-Am Cup, for Open/A and age-group players. The former tournament will consist (subject to the Tournament Committee’s discretion) of 16 teams competing for the World Team title, with each team composed of players from the same country of citizenship (i.e. a Canadian must have a fellow Canadian as his/her partner, etc.). The three top-ranked teams from both Canada and the U. S. are guaranteed spots in the draw, as are up to two teams from any country which “regularly plays” doubles squash, England and Australia, both of whom have multiple members of the ISDA top 10, being primary examples of the latter. If there are not enough teams from non-U.S./Canada countries to fill the 16-team draw, then those remaining spots will be filled by American and Canadian teams on an equal basis. Players will be selected based on their final 2007-08 ISDA rankings with priority being given to the highest ranked players.

The women’s draw will operate under a similar format, though it would consist of eight teams rather than 16, and there would be two guaranteed spots for both U. S. and Canadian teams rather than three. There will be a minimum of $ 25,000 allotted to the men’s purse, and $ 10,000 to the women’s. As it happens, three of the four semifinalists in the U. S. National Doubles women’s tourney last spring were comprised of players from different countries --- Meredeth Quick/Fiona Geaves (U.S. and England) won on a simultaneous-match-point over Narelle Krizek/Steph Hewitt (Australia and Canada), with the two semis teams being Alicia McConnell/Jess Dimauro (U. S. and Canada) and the American-born Belknap sisters, Berkeley and Mary --- so there will have to be some rearranging of these units for the Worlds event, as will also be true in the men’s draw, but perhaps not to quite as great an extent, given the presence of an all-Aussie pairing (Paul Price/Ben Gould) and an all-British duo (Chris Walker/Clive Leach) among the top-four ISDA partnerships in the current rankings.

The Can-Am Cup portion, involving Open/A (to be eligible for which one can’t have played in more than 50% of the 2007-08 ISDA tour events, the same requirement as constitutes the new guidelines for the 2008 U. S. National Championships) and age-group players, will reflect a major transformation. Again, partners must be fellow countrymen/women, and there will be two teams chosen from each country for each of eight age-groups those being Open/A, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+, 65+ and 70+, as well as women’s Open/A, 40+ and 50+ ---- 22 pairings from each country in all.

There will be three separate rounds of play, at the start of which the respective team captains (who will have the whole 2008 summer to assemble their respective squads) will team up players in each age group as he/she sees fit, designating for each age group a number one and number two team. Each Canadian and American team will play two matches plus a one-game “lightning-round” match as follows: Round One, on Friday afternoon/evening, will be the lightning-round match. Each country’s teams will be divided into three categories, Category A for men’s Open/A, 40+, 45+ and 50+, Category B for men’s 55+, 60+, 65+ and 70+, and Category C for women’s Open/A, 40+ and 50+. Within each of these categories, right-wall and left-wall players will be grouped, and teams for the lightning round will be determined by randomly (i.e. out of a hat) drawing one left-wall and one right-wall player (a left-wall Open/A player might be partnering a right-wall 50+ player, for example), with each team playing one game (two-minute warm-up) against the corresponding team from the other country. Each of these lightning-round games will count one-half point, hence 11 points will be contested in this round.

The second round, to be played on Saturday, will have something of a Davis Cup feel, as within each age group the number one team from one country will oppose the number two team from the other country in a regular best three of five game match, with each match counting for one point and therefore 22 points being up for grabs on that day. Sunday will be the “head-to-head” day, as this third and final round will match up the number one teams against each other, as well as the number two teams against each other, with each of these best-of-five-game matches counting 1.5 points and 33 points at stake. As a result, with a total of 66 points in play, the first country to amass 33.5 points thereby will guarantee the overall victory for its side.

The Committee planned these formats with several goals in mind, one of which (in addition to those mentioned earlier) being that four courts should be sufficient to run the entire event, thereby expanding the list of potential host sites. Cities or regional American associations that are interested in hosting the ’08 Worlds are invited to bid for the right to do so by contacting US Squash. The over-riding hope was that this new approach would reinvigorate this event (which by most standards fell a bit flat three years ago in Philadelphia and last year in Toronto), causing potential participants to view it as an HONOR rather than an obligation to play and injecting the weekend with a dollop of luck-of-the-draw caprice while also enabling every competitor to demonstrate his/her playing and partnering skills, adaptability and acumen.

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