When Saurav Ghosal stepped on court docket on Saturday, within the closing of the Malaysian Open, his profession had come to a full circle. The 35-year-old’s first-ever closing at a PSA World Tour occasion got here within the 2003 version of the identical match – in his first yr as a professional – when he misplaced to Australia’s Mike Corren.
Last weekend although, in his 18th tour closing, Ghosal turned the primary Indian to assert the Malaysian crown, beating Miguel Rodriguez 11-7, 11-8, 13-11. And in doing so, he ended a three-year trophy drought – his final title got here in Kolkata in 2018.
“It’s been a while. I’ve been working hard and putting the yards in, in terms of what I wanted to play and do,” he says to The Indian Express. “Going into the match, I had a plan in place and wanted to execute it. For the most part I did that. It wasn’t easy, it was a hard win.”
Malaysia : report and photographs from @Aifaazmann and @SauravGhosal victories within the Malaysian Open …https://t.co/dLBDVm7psl pic.twitter.com/CZnPfqb6KN
— Squash Site (@SquashSite) November 27, 2021
Hard, not simply because Rodriguez – additionally 35 – is a former World No 4 and is at the moment ranked three locations forward of Ghosal’s fifteenth spot. This was going to be a troublesome match as a result of the tough Colombian is aware of Ghosal’s taking part in type properly, and vice-versa. For years they’ve performed collectively on the tour, and at one level had been even educated by the identical coach David Palmer (albeit it was a brief stint for Rodriguez).
“We know each other very well so it’s not easy,” Ghosal says. “Every time we play each other we are going to try and play differently because the other player knows what’s coming. We try and do our best to keep a surprise element, but of course, it’s also a question of how well we can execute on the day.”
On Saturday, Ghosal knew he needed to be extra composed in his shot choice.
“He’s very good at making it very random (mixing up strokes). He plays weird angles,” he explains concerning the Colombian veteran. “I tried to close the court down and control the tempo as much as I could. It was controlled intensity, for the most part I managed to do that. Picking my moments, when to attack, when to defend, not get excited. Staying calm.”
In the six instances the duo has squared off, solely two matches haven’t gone into the deciding fifth set – the primary assembly in 2009 and the 55-minute encounter final week (Ghosal leads 4-2 within the head-to-head tally).
Yet extra than simply including a tenth title to his kitty, successful on the Bukit Jalil National Squash Centre in Kuala Lumpur gave Ghosal an thought about the place he stands.
📝 Malaysian Open Final Roundup 🇺🇸
Wildcard @Aifaazmann stuns prime seed @salmahany4 to take the ladies’s title 🏆@SauravGhosal beats @MiguelSquash to finish three-year trophy drought 👏
Full story ⬇️https://t.co/F891V1uCTE pic.twitter.com/eBg6UcGY6i
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) November 27, 2021
“Winning the event at 35 just gives me confidence in the work that I’m doing. Confidence and belief that my body can handle the physical stress. I just have to take it one tournament at a time, one year at a time. Hopefully, I can have some more big results,” he says.
18th yr on the street
To put Ghosal’s longevity into perspective, contemplate that the ladies’s champion on the Malaysian Open, 19-year-old Aifa Azman, was only a yr outdated when the Kolkata-man turned professional. Though he misplaced the ultimate in Kuala Lumpur that yr, he did win his first crown in the identical season in Mumbai.
“(My fitness trainer Damon Brown and I) focus on making sure we’re taking care of the body, listen to the body, be smart about the training we do. We have to respond to what the body is telling us, we don’t always get it right in terms of peaking at the right time, but it’s trial and error and we do the best we can. It’s a process, an effort, but you get rewarded for it,” he says.
In listening to the physique he’s determined, over the previous few years, to set yearly targets fairly than long-term objectives. For the following season, it wasn’t too troublesome to determine what a very powerful occasions had been.
“Obviously, 2022 is a big year, I have to take into account the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and then the World Championships in May,” says the holder of seven Asian Games medals (one gold, one silver and 5 bronze) and 2018 Commonwealth Games blended doubles silver medallist. “Hopefully I can produce something good there and win some medals.”
Those massive occasions for subsequent yr are nonetheless some time away, and there’s nonetheless time for him to plan his health routine and sharpen his recreation. But what he managed to do on Saturday is give himself the concept he – the one Indian male to have damaged into the highest 10 – nonetheless has recreation left in him at 35.
