After 56mins i managed to win 12-10. And so took the match 3-0. Apparently i have 3 world records now. The longest match with shahier Razik (2hours 24mins), the longest 3-0 victory 100mins and the longest time for a single game 56mins. Im sure i have earned the nick name marathon man!

The second round match was with a very inform Peter Barker. He played his typical game of error free solid squash and beat me 3-0 with very low scorelines, but again, 60mins in duration. I was very dissapointed with myself as i played the wrong game against him. Physically i was absolutely fine and when you loose a match like this it is very hard to deal with. This experience is definately one for the memory bank. I wont ever let this happen to me again. Mark my words!

My father helped present the draw, i was quite nervous as i wasnt sure if my injury had healed. I had done everything i could possibly do to help the case. Due to this attention to detail, it was about 75% healed. I managed to get through my 1st round very comfortably playing simple error free squash which took about 45mins.

My next opponent had just produced a very good win over my Training partner and fellow Millfieldian, Mohammed El Shorbaggy. This was Julian Illingworth the USA number 1 and world number 38. In the first game of my match with Julian, i was very loose and quite agitated. I was not completely confident on my right leg.

However after a massive rally in the second game and a surge of Nadal like testosterone mangaged to take the match by the neck and stormed through to a very solid 3-1 victory, to earn my place in main event for the 4th successive year. This will take place in Dec 2008. I really enjoyed playing a major tournament at my home club and it was great to have it so well supported.

20 mins into the match i pulled the top of my Hamstring/Glut attachment on my right leg, while doing a heavy lunge. I had four days before playing the 1st round in Wolverhampton, and to my dismay this was not enough time, i had to pull out of my Match. This is the worst feeling for any Professional sportsman. I had to way up the options of damaging myself even more, and then failing to play in the Saudi Qualifiers and possibly the World Open. These are the trials and tribulations of professional sport. If you are a true warrior then you come back stronger from such unfortunate events.

It was great to catch up with the boys, and after nearly 7 months, to see Nick Mathew back hitting the ball again. Hes not far off his peak form. Our first day consisted of mainly fitness testing and on court drills. The fitness testing is very individual and out results are not compared against eachother. Put it this way the best squash players usually do the worst on the Bleep test!

The squads are only a 2 day meeting . The second day was very squash specific, with on court drills (technically based), and then round robin matches in the afternoon.These are always 100% competitive amongst the boys. After this we all go our seperate ways back to our main training bases which are all over the country.

I was mainly looking for girls for the squad. I found a very gutsy Slovak girl and an extremely gifted Columbian girl both were in the u17s.

There were a few academy members already in Holland, competing, under the guidance of my fathers head coach Ian Thomas. Charles Sharpes, who is at millfield , didthe best out of the English players and he finished a credible 4th place in the U17. He will be joining my London League team (Wimbledon) in sept for more squash experience at the pro level.

There is complete domination by the Eygptians at these junior Tournis, although its bringing up the standard of Junior squash, i would really like to see more English and European Juniors competing with them.

My partner in crime MR PINDI (wael el hindi) also joined me in Holland however his specialist services were used by an American family.

I was able to do my extensive gym work in the afternoon, after watching the squash in the morning and then there was plenty of pros around Frans Otten to spar with in the evening. This was an interesting week for me and i used it as more of a recovery training week with some good social company in the form of PINDI.

He has the heart and determination of a lion. I feel blessed to have been able to see that live spectacle! Absolute genius.

If anyone needs a motivational pick me up then i suggest they watch Nadal as much as possible! Congrats RAFA!

Im going to be uploading some new action photos soon.