Canadian Open 2024 (Tournament Recap)

This year's Canadian Open was held once again Brookfield Place, an iconic venue downtown Toronto. It was upgraded from a Bronze to a Silver level event on the PSA Squash Tour, meaning the total purse was $75 000 USD.

Although the venue is spectacular, playing in a brightly lit arena like Brookfield Place poses some challenges. When we played there in March 2023, the sky was very bright, which meant the glass walls were nearly transparent for the daytime matches. Not only was it challenging for players and viewers to see the ball in real time, but it didn't show very well on TV either.

Needless to say, I was worried coming into this year's event, having not practiced much on the glass leading up to the tournament.

I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on court to practice and discovered that the court conditions were perfectly playable during the daytime. Holding the tournament in October vs March meant that the daytime light wasn't so bright, and it made it much easier to spot the ball on the walls.

Travel to Toronto

I was very fatigued when I got to Toronto. Not only had I been on the road commentating for 2 weeks prior (San Fran followed by Philly), I had a bit of a nightmare journey to Toronto.

My flight from Philadelphia was meant to leave at 11 am, and land about 1 pm in Toronto. We departed on time, but 20 minutes in experienced some mechanical issues, causing us to turn back and return to Philly. Upon deplaning, we were informed that we would not be re-boarding, and that our flight was cancelled.

My first thought was to get in an Uber to Newark and fly from there instead, given the fact it's a United/Air Canada hub, and has frequent flights to Toronto. Unfortunately, the agents weren't able to process this request, so I was ultimately re-routed via LaGuardia. Long story short- I ended up landing in Toronto at 11 pm instead of 1 pm. (And yes, I've just submitted for flight delay compensation!).

I was fortunate to be billeted by a family on the first night, and I crashed hard that night. I must have slept until 10 am, which I haven't done in quite literally years. I clearly had a lot of residual fatigue because I had a couple more sleep-in's that week until 10/10:30 am, which is very uncharacteristic of me. I needed the sleep!!

First round match vs Niki Shemirani

Sporting the Asics Blade FF. I love these shoes!

My first round match was against the wildcard, Niki Shemirani. Niki is originally from Iran, but has been in Canada for a few years now and is studying at Waterloo. She will be our 4th teammate this December for the World Team Championships in Hong Kong!

The match was relatively comfortable and I won 3-0. I moved well, and although I wasn't as accurate as I would have liked, I found some decent length targets and stuck to my game plan.

Overall, it was great to get a match (and a win) in on the glass court, which is valuable time spent in a tricky environment.

Second round match vs Hollie Naughton

If you can believe it, I had another Canadian to face in the second round!

I have now played Hollie a fair few times, and the performances are getting closer and better. I beat her for the first time in PSA earlier this year at the TOC, which was arguably the best match I have played to date. I was pain free, I was moving well, aggressive, and completely focused on the process (not the scoreline). It felt effortless to volley, my shots were going in, and I picked up every single ball. There are few days that you wake up and everything is firing- and this was one of those days. I won 3-0 in 26 minutes. A ridiculous turnaround, given the fact that I had not even gone to 5 with her previously.

A few months later, I played Hollie in the finals of Canadian Nationals in Calgary. She was certainly out for revenge, and beat me 3-0. It was about 40 minutes, so a decent duration, but I didn't have enough quality to push her over the line in any of the games. Also- the altitude wreaked havoc on my lungs.

Coming into this match at the Canadian Open, I wanted to improve on my performance from the Canadian Nationals a few months ago. I had the belief in myself to win because I'd done it before, but I wasn't entirely confident in my play going into the match.

As I mentioned earlier, I'd been traveling for the two weeks prior, commentating in San Francisco and Philly, and didn't feel I was as prepared as I could have been. I hadn't dipped, but I also hadn't made progress during that time. In order to compete with those higher ranked than myself, I think I really needed better preparation. This is something to note for the future when balancing commentating and playing/training.

The first two games weren't very close, but I didn't feel like the gap to close was insurmountable. I was disappointed to be down 2-0, but not dejected. I wasn't moving Hollie around enough, or putting hard rallies into her. She was also using the height of the court well, which poses an extra challenge with the bright lights/white ball on the glass court.

I battled back in the 3rd game, closing it out 11-9. I executed several gutsy but confident forehand volley drops to convert more points, and I felt more and more comfortable about my ball control as the ball softened up.

However, as soon as I clinched the 3rd game, Hollie asked for a new ball, which either player is entitled to do after the 3rd game. This caused a break in momentum as we took a bit of time to warm up the ball, and it also meant a more lively ball to ping around. As I mentioned, I was having a lot of success with my forehand volley drops, so this new ball took some adjusting to. I eventually found my touch, but by this point Hollie had regained her composure, and established a commanding lead.

Thoughts about the match

I was disappointed that I didn't believe in myself enough to play better earlier in the match. Even if I hadn't come out firing in the first, I could have backed myself more in the second game, rather than waiting until I was down 2-0 to make a change.

This match showed me that I'm not miles away from that standard, and it's within my grasp on my better days. It's about more consistent execution of the basics (length, volleying), so I can produce that level of squash more often.

Commentating, MC'ing, and Sponsor Meets

When I wasn't on court, I was kept busy with several other engagements! The first couple days I commentated after my match was done, and then once I was out of the tournament, I helped out with MC'ing, a "Corporate Challenge", and a VIP sponsor engagement event. It was busy, but I was delighted to be so heavily involved with Squash Canada. I also love being able to continue to hone my public speaking skills, whether that's through commentating, MC'ing, or the VIP engagements.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Kish Kapoor, the former CEO of Richardson Wealth! I have been a client of Richardson Wealth for several years, and am extremely fortunate to be one of two professional athletes they sponsor.

Kish and I met for a coffee, and then a breakfast the following day. I loved hearing about his life and journey, and it's evident how has been an inspirational force for Richardson Wealth.

Up next...

I now have some time to train up for the second half of the season, which for me will start in January. I have the World Team Championships in December in Hong Kong, and will be there a week early to commentate the Hong Kong Open as well. While I have a break from PSA events, this event mid-December is the perfect challenge to keep a fire lit under my a$$, without the looming pressure of PSA competition. I have a few things I want to work on- such as my backhand (more power, better in 3/4 court area), volleying, movement, and attacking patterns of play. I've already started to address these, and I still have another month to hone them further!

A big thank you to my team of supporters- my coaches (Amr Khalifa at Open Squash, and Graeme Williams), Squash Canada, Control the T, Richardson Wealth, and Harrow Sports.