A Busy Start To 2024
Always bring extra water and sunscreen or you’ll end up like poor Andy here!!
Hello All!
Welcome to the second edition of Maspeth on Tour! As the Steel Court touring pro, it is my job to give some updates on the events I’ve played in the past few weeks and see if they can stack up to the holy land that is the outdoor court in Maspeth, New York…
(spoiler alert, nothing can!!).
Ok, let’s dive in, because it’s been a busy start to the year! First up was the Tournament of Champions in New York City. I played an exciting match against “The Gunslinger” Youssef Ibrahim at the Harvard Club, they had decent plaster courts but they’re a bit old and have strange lighting- I have to give the Steel Court a decisive victory there. There is another court that they used in the tournament, but I didn’t get to play on it so Steel court wins by default.
Next up I headed to Detroit, Michigan for the Motor City Open. We got a few inches of snow which was awesome, and my mom Christina Brownell was able to join me for the matches! There was an amazing diner attached to the hotel that we ate most of our meals at, and the club members we very friendly and brought a great atmosphere. I played two marathon matches, taking out Addeen Idrakie first round 3/2 and losing 3/2 to Mohamed Elsherbini in the second round. The courts were decent ASB, but a bit slow and sticky for my taste so I’m again going to say Steel Court wins handily.
Next up on the calendar I ended up in Houston, Texas of all places! You wouldn’t expect there to be much squash in those parts but they’ve done a fantastic job over at the Houston Squash Club, local squash kingpin Jahanzeb Masood has built the community from the ground up and I have to say, it should be considered a squash hot bed in America at this point. I took on their local superstar Huzaifa Ibrahim first round, he was very talented but needed some extra oxygen after the first 15 minutes! Next up I had a battle with world champ Karim Abdel Gawad, I have to say he hits the ball just as cleanly as he does on TV, but he also acts the same way. Normally, he waltzes into the first round and his opponents lay down for him. I wanted to fight and make him respect my squash and I think after the first game and a half, he started to! He even gave me a few snarky comments in the fifth game, which I was happy about because it meant he wanted to win and actually thought I belonged on the same court (maybe not that last part, but I can dream!). The glass court there was only a 3 wall glass and was quite fast at the start (which I personally was loving) but the paint was too dark and the lights were placed incorrectly and shone brightly on the top end of the front wall, so I have to say Steel Court wins 3-0 and sends the Texas court to the consos.
Next on the list we have my first time at Windy City Open. I was lucky enough to draw the glass court for my first round matchup against legend Saurav Ghosal, so I was really looking forward to seeing if the Steel Court finally had some good competition. Unfortunately, in classic PSA fashion they fumbled the practice times and I didn’t actually get to hit a ball on the court until the match started! The venue hall was amazing at the University Club, and Saurav is one of the fairest players on the Tour, so that first day was quite enjoyable, albeit nerve wracking as always in the first round of a major! I got to play another one of my heroes in round 2, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, and I even made him do a signature Cannonball dive and told him in spanish “It looked just like it does on TV” and he laughed. It was a hard fought match, and I lost 3-1.
The last stop on this rollercoaster of a blog is in Nashville, Tennessee where I got to partake in the first ever National Squash League Draft. Several top players were there including Victor Crouin and Youssef Ibrahim, and the weekend was full of laughs and good memories. I even got to see Victor Crouin eat a donut, something I never saw in 2 years of being college teammates with him (he is human, I promise!!). This was a really special weekend for me, as a lot of work has gone in behind the scenes to make this league a reality. I ended up being drafted to the Nashville Crushers, and it was awesome to feel the support from the home fans.
Well, that was quite the blog post for edition 2 of Maspeth on Tour- see you all in the next one!!
