From The Cheap Seats: World Teams Guess, and Women's Pro Squash Needs Running Clock by Ted Gross December 4, 2015
Just a guess: If this were the World Men's Individuals scheduled for next week in Cairo, the top players would be there.
The women's pro game should consider scrapping the current scoring system and implementing a clock.
In the Hong Kong Open quarters Friday, with all four match-ups between top-15 players, only one match lasted a half-hour.
You had David over King in 29 minutes, Kawy over Serme in 28, and El
Welily over Sobhy in a truly embarrassing (for the sport) 22 minutes.
The fourth match, a comparative marathon between Massaro and Gohar, lasted 43.
Suggested improvements to the women's game are the following:
- A 48-minute running clock.
- One running score, with the player ahead at the end of the 48 minutes the winner.
- 90-second breaks at 12, 24 and 36 minutes.
- Point penalties for non-continuous play.
- A mercy rule, where if one player gets to 45 points and the other player has less than 30, the match is over.
Under this system:
a) The audience is guaranteed to at least get adjusted in their seats.
b) Players will develop more complete games. If a player is down 12-5
and there are 35 minutes left, she will begin to actually structure and
lengthen points in order to avoid humiliation and the mercy rule, and
both her game and the quality of the matches will ultimately improve.
c) With the single running score, players will be highly discouraged
from tanking points, which is currently a common, and sometimes even
advantageous practice at the end of games.
