Tournament of Champions Squash - January 9, 2020

I was walking through Grand Central Station yesterday when I happened upon an odd sight: a squash court set up inside Vanderbilt Hall. It is actually not that odd, rather it is a regular occurrence at this time of year as J.P. Morgan sponsors an annual competition known as the Tournament of Champions. I've never bothered to check it out, but on this day, I was fortunate to walk by just as the second match of the entire tournament was getting started. So I stopped and watched.



Amazingly, you can stand in the concourse for free and watch the players slapping the ball at you. There are seats of course, starting at $15 for these early matches, but I certainly wasn't about to shell out to sit along the side. To me, the best view is straight on, when you can see the players' faces and have the ball zooming at you, only to be stopped by the glass. Those paying $20 or more to sit in the back get a view of the players' bums for the most part. Given that the entire session lasts 2.5 hours, it does make sense to pay if you are going to see both matches, but as I was not, I remained rooted to my spot. There are some disadvantages to this: no ticket stub, you cannot see the replay reviews, and the announcer is difficult to hear. Still, not worth $15 for an inferior view.



The match turned out to be quite exciting too. Frenchman Lucas Serme (in black in the top picture), 35th in the world, was taking on Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi of Qatar, 39th. The match is best of 5 games, which the first to 11 taking each game, as long as you win by 2 points. Serme took the first game 11-4 and then saved two game points in the second to win 13-11. Tamimi dominated the third game 11-4, and won the fourth 11-9 to set up the decider. It was close early on, but the Qatari went on a short run, which is all you need when 11 is the goal, and won 11-7 to complete the comeback in just 62 minutes. He'll face world #5 Paul Coll of New Zealand in the second round. The tournament runs through January 17th and is worth a visit if you are in NYC.



This was the first time I actually watched professional squash, a sport I played a bit in university, though not proficiently. This is also the first time I counted a train station as a venue. And it does count by the rules, as I saw the entire match. Eagle-eyed readers might be able to spot me in the image above, taken from the official site.

Best,

Sean