2002 is a palindrome – the same frontward and back. Anyway you look at it, it starts and ends with the number two. And so it is with our review of the year in squash; in the second year of the new millennium, each of our top squash highlights features the number two in one way or another.
1. Two US Opens for One Results in a Sweet Symphony
When September 11 happened in 2001, it was the week of the US Open in Boston. After some hedging, the date finally was pushed until January. Thus the year began with an unintended US Open. Even under rescheduled circumstances, John Nimick’s Even Engine put on a great show. And fittingly, the top two players in the world faced off against one another with Peter Nicol winning over Jon Power, 3-0.
The 2002 home of the US Open was the – can you believe it? – 102-year-old Symphony Hall in Boston. As James Zug wrote in this magazine’s coverage of the event, the location immediately “jumped to the top of the list of coolest portable court sites.” The event got enormous press in Boston and coverage worldwide. And in the spirit of twofers, there was a pair of upsets over the world top two. Stewart Boswell knocked off Jon Power, and eventual winner, David Palmer, took out Peter Nicol.
2. Damian Walker Becomes a National Two-Timer
Damian Walker won his second SL Green title in a row – this time without losing a game. After narrowly overcoming Richard Chin in 2001 and despite exciting performances by a younger group of recent college grads (including Time Wyant, Preston Quick, and David McNeely) as well as the emergence of Julian Illingworth, Damian showed that he is in a league of his own for the moment. And there were two other two-timers in this year’s tournament: Jonathan Perry took his second US title in a row by winning the 30+ (last year he won the 25+), and Richard Elliot took title number two in the 35s, losing only 15 points on the way.
On the women’s side, Latasha Khan took her third title, but almost became a deuce statistic when in the second round, she found herself down, that’s right, 2-0, against Michelle Quibell. The winner of the Women’s 30+, Orla Doherty, played two finals in a row, beating Victoria Wardle in the 30s and losing to Julie Lilien in the 5.0. And in the 40+, the two finalists played their second final in two years against one another, with Brenda Grossnickle getting revenge this year against Grace Barzan.
3. Two Quick Appearances
Preston and Meredith Quick deserve a special mention in the year of the dyad. Not only did the brother-sister combo each work through the Men’s and Women’s open draws at Nationals, respectively, before losing in the finals (to Damian Walker and Latasha Khan), but each also was one-half of a doubles team that made it to Men’s and Women’s Nationals semi-finals. They both are out of college now (Preston is a year older than Meredith), but in their senior years at Trinity and Princeton, each made first team All-America and played number two on their varsity teams. Although their surname fits their court movement, we expect each of them to last on the national scene for some time.
4. Doubles Finally Opens Up
Speaking of doubles, it was fitting that the game of the two-person team picked this year to finally join the modern age and rid itself of the open-amateur distinction. Perhaps most appropriately, the finals featured two teams that paired one pro with one amateur. The four-time amateur champions, Morris Clothier and Eric Vlcek, split up and paired with Gary Waite and Clive Leach, respectively, and then – in suitable fashion – met in the finals against one another with Clothier/Waite coming out on top in five games. For Clothier, it was his eighth title and for Waite (one of the most dominant doubles players in the history of the pro game), his first.
5. Trinity Takes Two
Okay, no surprise that the Trinity Men’s team won again, but this year for the first time in women’s squash history, a non-Ivy League team won the title. The women did it the hard way by beating Harvard twice, with identical 5-4 scores. Men’s coach Paul Assaiante helped start the dynasty, and now women’s coach Wendy Bartlett has led to another Trinity squash first, making the intercollegiates another place for a 2002 doublet.
6. The British Won by the Two Number Ones
Not to be outdone by the American focus on double-couplings, Peter Nicol and Sarah Fitz-Gerald, each number one on the Men’s and Women’s pro tours, walked away with British Open titles. For Nicol, his first; for Fitz-Gerald, her second in a row. Sarah also won the Women’s Worlds (for her second in a row… plus three), making her wins a sort of double double. Nice finish.
