Nicol David Dominant in Capturing 2013 Weymuller
by Linda Elriani


photos Jean Ervasti

October 6, 2013 - Today was the final day of our 2013 Carol Weymuller Open. It’s been a tremendous week of squash and the WSA players have definitely left everyone inspired and motivated. We sometimes have the honor of Carol Weymuller herself coming to watch the final, but Carol has sent us a lovely e-mail apologizing that she was very busy and could not unfortunately find the time to come. Carol started the junior squash program here at The Heights Casino many years back and it has obviously grown and grown over the years. We always like to thank Carol for all her work and dedication at the start as we wouldn’t be where we are today with our program if she had not been forward thinking enough to develop squash in this area.

Our final today was between French # 1 and world # 10 Camille Serme who has had the tournament of her life so far beating the World # 6, # 4 and # 2 against Nicol David World # 1 since January 2009. Nicol reached the final today without even dropping a game! The match started at 2pm with packed out bleachers full of excited members. In the WSA head to head statistics Nicol is ahead 8-0 but Camille had a very close 3-1 match with Nicol last time they played. Both players semi-final matches yesterday were not too long, so they should have arrived today in the final not too fatigued.

The match started off evenly and both players where working the court well and there were some long hard fought rallies. Nicol looked as though she was prepared to just absorb Camille’s pressure and not go for too many shots. Camille was trying to apply the pressure that she had done yesterday and throughout the week but was making some tentative errors with her short game. The score went back and forth evenly and it looked like we had a very long match ahead of us. Nicol managed to edge ahead to 9-7 after a crazy long rally that ended in backhand drop in the tin from Camille. Another tin from Camille took Nicol to game ball at 10-8. Camille gave a big push and managed to pull back and with a backhand boast in the tin from Nicol and a lovely backhand drop winner from Camille this took her to 10-10. The crowd was really appreciating the closely fought rallies and it was intrigued to see who could start out this final with a 1-0 lead. Nicol stepped on the gas and a very deep penetrating drive forced an error from Camille and then an unforced backhand volley drop gave Nicol the first game 12-10.

We were all left wondering if Camille could come out in the second and keep this kind of pressure on Nicol.

In the second Nicole came out with much more aggression and weight on her shots and seemed to be taking the ball earlier  and with more decision than in the first. Nicol was 2-1 down but then went in one hand straight through to 11-2! It wasn’t really that Camille did anything particularly wrong it more that Nicol was just flawless and gave Camille nothing to hit. Nicol did some amazing drops in the nick and some perfect dying drives into the back which is very difficult to do in these hot conditions.

In the third Nicol continued to dominate. Camille tried her hardest to get into the match but each time she worked a great opening her finishing shots that have been working so well all week were just not quite there today. Nicol stayed focused and accurate she was just too good today and her movement was so flowing and fast. Nicol went 10-5 up and fittingly won the championship point on a perfect crosscourt drop shot straight into the nick!

A very happy Nicol said after her Weymuller win “I’m just so happy to win this tournament after so long. It has been such a great atmosphere that it just drives me forward to play better squash each day. Camille played really well in that first game and it was neck and neck all the way! In the second and third I mixed it up a bit more because she gets into a great rhythm and it can be dangerous! I’m very pleased and I’m looking forward to next week. I’d like to thank Linda for such a great event and all the families that have supported this tournament for all these years”.

When I spoke to Camille after her final and asked how she felt she said “I’m a bit disappointed to be honest. Even though she’s the world # 1 I wanted to do better than getting 1 game as that‘s the best I have done against her. I felt she played really well and I made too many mistakes. I don’t even know why as I wasn’t even trying to go fine on my shots. Right after the match I feel disappointed but later I will look back at what a great tournament I’ve had. The good thing is I only have to wait one week to hopefully play her again at the US Open. Thanks so much to everyone here for everything! Thanks too for all the support here and back home and all the people that watched me on the live streaming’.

Congratulations to both players for reaching the final, especially to Nicol for winning this gold tournament for the first time since 2005, it was a pleasure to watch them both play.

I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to some key people who have put a lot of time, effort and generosity into making this tournament what it is.

Firstly our corporate sponsors Corcoran, who generously support us year after year and help so much towards the prize fund and Leslie Marshall for helping us with this.

To Le Pain Quotidien who very generously provided a wonderful spread of breakfast food for our players.

To all our amazing members who bought tickets for the quarters, semi's and finals which contributed to the prize fund. We wouldn’t have a tournament if we didn’t have this incredible support. We had such a great entry yet again and the matches were so strong and of such high caliber all the way through from the qualification to the final.

To all the WSA players for choosing to come and play our event and for playing such beautiful squash and inspiring all of us, especially our juniors.

To all our members who opened up their homes to house the players and to Judy Scofield-Miller who excellently organized all housing of the players.

To all the social medias that put up my reports and photos so quickly and brilliantly every day.

To Will Bunn, our adult squash chair for all his support throughout the Weymuller and this new squash year.

To Ashley Bernhard and Judy Scofield Miller for co-chairing of the Weymuller this year. They did a tremendous job as always.

To Paulina Rojek, our media manager for the Weymuller. She helped with so many aspects of the tournament including the face book page and tweeting  and general tournament running.

To Jean Ervasti who was agreed to be our Weymuller photographer. Jean takes such wonderful photos and we appreciate her taking the time to do the same for this event.

To Annelize, our tournament DJ  and fantastic pro, who is did all our music at the Weymuller, by the courts and also at our party last night and it was so much fun and added such a great vibe to the tournament. She definitely got everyone up on the dance floor last night having a blast!

Then last but certainly not least, Cristian, Katie, Jayson, T, Jimmy, Norman and ALL our Heights Casino staff. We have an amazing team of dedicated people here at The Heights Casino, who all pull together and make every event we run here a success. Thanks SO much.

Thanks again and we hope you all enjoyed the 2013 Carol Weymuller Open as much as we did and we look forward to running it again next year.

Congratulations again to Nicol and good luck to all the WSA players for the rest of the season. Cheers!