Former World No 1 James Willstrop Sidelined for Tournament of Champions by Nathan Clarke January 9, 2015
- Former World No.1 James Willstrop, the 31-year-old Englishman who
underwent surgery on a hip operation in September 2014, has been ruled
out of the upcoming 2015 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions following
a setback to his injury recovery.
The 2010 Tournament of Champions winner and two-time runner-up had
targeted a return to action at the 2015 staging of the iconic event,
which takes place in the unique backdrop of New York's Grand Central
Terminal, but hasn't been able to complete his recovery in time.
Willstrop's withdrawal is however good news for Frenchman Gregoire
Marche, the 2014 French national champion, as it sees him gain
automatic entry into the main draw to take on England's World No.6
Peter Barker while German World No.10 Simon Rösner moves up the
seedings to occupy the position vacated by Willstrop.
"We are disappointed, as we know James is, that he will miss this
year's Tournament of Champions,” said Tournament Chairman John
Nimick.
"James is a great friend of the tournament and of our charities
StreetSquash and CitySquash. Perhaps one of the younger players will
make his big breakthrough here, just as James did when he was
19-years-old and defeated several top-seeded players to establish
himself as a contender."
The amended J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions Draw is:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [WC] Todd Harrity (USA)
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v [Qualifier]
Chris Simpson (ENG) v [Qualifier]
[Qualifier] v [6] Borja Golan (ESP)
[7] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Adrian Waller (ENG)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Qualifier]
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Cameron Pilley (AUS)
Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) v [4] Amr Shabana (EGY)
[3] Nick Matthew (ENG) v Daryl Selby (ENG)
Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [Qualifier]
Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [Qualifier]
Stephen Coppinger (RSA) v [8] Simon Rösner (GER)
[5] Peter Barker (ENG) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v [Qualifier]
Alister Walker (BOT) v [Qualifier]
Max Lee (HKG) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Tickets for the 2015 J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions range in price
from $8 to $170 and may be purchased at www.tocsquash.com. Patron
packages are also available at www.tocsquash.com.
