James Bamber Ascends to No 1 In SDA Pro Doubles Ranking By Rob Dinerman
2019 Tompkins Cup Finalists Greg Park and Graham Bassett,
Tournament Chair Rob Whitehouse, Champions Zac Alexander And James
Bamber
Dateline December 16, 2023
– When the updated SDA pro doubles tour rankings were posted earlier
this past week, there was a brand-new face atop the board. James
Bamber, 28, moved into the No. 1 slot in the wake of his triumphant
march with pinch-hitting partner Osama Khalifa to the winner’s circle
at the Diamond State Open, hosted by the Wilmington Country Club on the
weekend of December 8-10. Their victory constituted the third SDA
tournament that Bamber won in Calendar 2023, each time with a different
partner --- preceded by his wins in January at the North American Open
with Zac Alexander and at the Heights Casino Club in February with
James Stout --- and this trio of title runs, complemented by 2023
final-round advances with Ashley Davies in Buffalo and with Alexander
at the Big Apple Open and at Sleepy Hollow, were enough to nudge Bamber
just past Chris Callis in the SDA rankings.
A number of Bamber’s wins this past autumn came in rivetingly close
fashion. Alexander and Bamber trailing Adam Bews and Matthew Henderson
14-12 in the fourth game and 14-13 in the fifth, managed to save all
five of those combined match balls against them before losing the final
to Stout and Scott Arnold, who extricated themselves from a
double-match-ball predicament in the fourth game of their balancing
semi vs. Callis and John Russell. Alexander sprained his right ankle in
the ensuing final and aggravated it enough (while also straining his
left knee)in his and Bamber’s final-round loss to Callis and Michael
Ferreira at Sleepy Hollow a few weeks later to have to withdraw.
Fortunately for Bamber, Khalifa had not entered Wilmington, and the
pair teamed up (for the first time) in Wilmington, they were able to
eke out an 11-15, 15-14, 3-15, 15-14, 15-13 semifinal win over Callis
and Russell (again fending off two fourth-game match-balls-against
before winning the fifth 15-13 from 13-all) and then winning the fifth
game of their final vs. Stout/Arnold 15-13 as well! As this host of
close scores accurately connotes, it has been a very competitive autumn
portion of the season, with nearly a half-dozen top-tier teams and no
clear-cut front-runner.
Although when the British-born Bamber initially came to the U.S.
in 2015 his focus was entirely on singles, he was in the gallery for a
2015 Briggs Cup match, during which he suddenly became captivated by
what an exciting game doubles squash is at that level, both to play and
to watch. By the time he left the host Apawamis Club late that
afternoon, he had totally changed his thinking and was resolved to make
a major commitment to doubles after all. Bamber largely credits Steve
Scharff, the longtime (since 1995) head pro at the Round Hill Club in
Greenwich (and former winner of both the U.S. Men’s and Mixed National
Doubles), where Bamber was based for six years before becoming the head
pro at Heights Casino in 2021, for accelerating his understanding of
the game and his progression to his current spot at No. 1 in the SDA
standings.
