Truth and Rumours: Matthew plans April move to Scotland as Prince stars get their laces in a twist
By JOE McMANUS – Squash Mad Guest Columnist
Shh…… PrinceSquash.com must have paid handsomely for the full page ad in the current edition of Europe’s Squash Player Magazine promoting their “New Prince Squash Collection.” Presumably clothing?
But our eyes were immediately drawn to Nicol David’s shapely legs with Asics shoes on the bottom of them.
And Ramy Ashour’s smart attire with untied Nike shoes.
Prince has their own line of shoes. Wonder if they just didn’t notice or don’t care about the cross-promotion.
However, we must salute Nicol for glamming up (right) at a special society event in Kuala Lumpur hosted by Louis Vuitton a few days after losing her world title.Â
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Speaking of Squash Player Magazine, the focus of the current edition is the excessive number of lets (30+ on an average PSA match) and how unchecked poor player behavior is hurting squash’s growth.
Ian McKenzie, the Publisher, is one of the world’s best squash minds, and it’s a wonder that squash leaders ignore his advice.
According to the article, PSA blames WSF; referees blame players and vice versa.
And the problems evidently date back to the 1960s when elite Australians noted the growing number of “Pommie Lets.”
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We hear New York’s University Club has received approval to raise the roof on its doubles court. Long home to world class doubles players, the club will now have facilities to match.
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How good is College Squash? Real good. The top two men were both World Junior Champions.And the top woman not only was a World Junior Champion, she is currently #15 on the WSA tour even while she is studying at Harvard.
And last week’s PSA Metro NY Open witnessed Columbia’s current #1 meet last year’s Princeton #1 in the tournament finals.
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A couple squashers had a go at some April 1st humour this year. Twitter’s @SquashRumours noted that Nick Matthew was defecting from England to Scotland for the Commonwealth Games. Maybe Alan Clyne (below) had a word with him after last week’s Canary Wharf Classic match. 
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US Squash announced their list of All-Americans this week. Ironically, many of the players are not American. Sometime before summer (hopefully) College Squash will also release their All-American list. And again, most of the players will not actually be American.
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We hear Union Boat Club Head Pro Chris Smith will be moving to New Hampshire to start coaching the St. Paul’s prep school teams. Interesting note, St. Paul’s is where squash started in America. Union Boat Club is on the Charles River in Boston.Â
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England based SquashMad.com came on the scene fast. They may, in fact, be the world’s most popular squash website these days.
And, to be fair, we love ’em. As it turns out, they love Squash Ezine’s Truth and Rumors.Â
Source:Â www.squashezine.com
Pictures by PATRICK LAUSON (www.patricklausonphotography.com) and Louis Vuitton