German Jens Schoor is top seed in Kent Open
By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor
Germany’s Jens Schoor arrives in England this week fully intending to become the first overseas winner of the Select Gaming Kent Open. Jens finished runner-up to Simon Rosner in the German Nationals on Monday and is clearly in fine form ahead of the tournament in Maidstone. Here he tells Alan Thatcher about his life in Germany and his favourite events on the PSA World Tour.
11 Points with Kent Open top seed JENS SCHOOR
1: Jens, welcome to the Select Gaming Open. We are looking forward to seeing you compete at The Mote as top seed. What are your travel plans?
A: I will arrive on the 3rd of June and leave on the 8th of June, which will give me the chance to play the final.
2: How would you describe your style of play?
A: Attacking and fairly aggressive
3: My research tells me you live in the historic city of Koblenz. It looks a beautiful city, with the River Rhine flowing through the middle. Please tell us a little about it.
A: I was born and raised in Koblenz. Meanwhile I moved further south to a city called Mutterstadt, which is close to my home club Black & White Worms. Worms is supposed to be the oldest city in Germany and has lots of history to tell. The most spectacular thing about the city of Worms is the dome. Really impressive and surely worth a visit.
4: Where is your training base? Who are your regular training partners and coaches?
A: My training base is in Worms. I train with Carsten Schoor, my brother, and Tim Weber, who are both based in Worms as well. At the moment my coaches are Davide Bianchetti and Marcus Berrett, and an athletic coach in Worms.
5: What are your favourite (and least favourite) routines?
A: Classic English alley game ☺ Up and down the side wall ☺ and in contrast to that cross court game.
6: You play for the Black and White Worms team in the Bundesliga, and I see you beat Stuttgart in the final this year. What was it like playing Gregory Gaultier? Who else is in your squad?
A: Playing Greg was very tough for me. It feels like you can never get him under pressure, even with your best shots. It was a great experience to play him, but the result was not the best…
Usually our best team would be: Nick Matthew or Mohamed Elshorbagy, myself, Tim and Carsten on number four. But of course as the two top guys can not play every match, we do have a couple of really good backups, such as Davide Bianchetti, David Palmer and Greg Marche.
7: It’s great to see your German team-mate Simon Rosner firmly established in the top 10 of the PSA world rankings. Do you see much of each other?
A: We do play in a few tournaments in Germany. Like this weekend in the finals of the German nationals. But we don’t train very much together as we live about four hours’ drive apart from each other.
8: Germany achieved third place in the recent European Team Championships in Denmark. Please tell us about the play-off final against Scotland. What was the party like afterwards?
A: The match against Scotland was a close one again. In the last couple of years we faced Scotland every time in the last match of the Europeans and it has always been a very tough and close match. Luckily we got through it with a win this year again.
The players’ party after the Europeans was good fun, but I think for a few players it ended too early about 1am. I liked the food and the location was great. Overall I would say it was a great night with all the players around.
9: Last year you achieved tournament wins in Minneapolis, Ontario (Nash Cup) and Switzerland. You beat Todd Harrity (USA), Eddie Charlton (England) and Kristian Frost (Denmark) in the finals. What was special about those performances?
A: Good question and hard to answer, as every match was different. Whenever I won a tournament I played really well during the week and finished off with a great performance. I felt good, the body was working great and my game just went the way I wanted it to. I have to admit that none of the wins were easy, as I was facing really good players in every match.
10: What are your favourite tournaments on the Tour and why?
A: The best tournament I have been to so far is the Nash Cup in Canada. It was a great week, with great hosts in a great club, with a great crowd and really good courts. As a bonus I won the tournament as well.
11: Who are your sponsors?
A: ROWE Motor Oil and Dunlop.
Thank you Jens. We look forward to seeing you at The Mote and hope you enjoy your stay in Maidstone.
Pictures courtesy of STEVE CUBBINS (www.squashsite.co.uk)