Reflecting on Nicol's Win In Malaysia - It's A "Matter Of Fact"
by Nick at Will

September 16, 2013 - It's certainly a "matter of fact" that Nicol David proved, at 30 years of age - she's certainly not "over the hill" just yet, winning the 2013 $70,000 Malaysian Open in a very decisive way!

And...it just may be that it's a "matter of fact" - with the threat looming by her closest rivals to her world #1 position, it has provided additional motivation and incentive for her to maintain and in fact, make improvements to her highest standard of competitive play .

It's a "matter of fact" that during the five matches she played in the event, Nicol gave up only one game - and that was to friend and Malaysian compatriot, Wee Wern Low. Otherwise, in the 16 games played, Nicol only gave up a 103 points, an average of less than 6.5 points per game, per opponent.

It's a "matter of fact" that in the three-game final against Raneem El Weleily, the #3 player in the world, Nicol relinquished her lead only once, which was in the seventh rally of the first game at 3-5. Otherwise...throughout the entire match, Nicol maintained leads of one to five points, which was the difference in the final tally, winning that game and match, 11-6!

If you were fortunate enough to watch the tournament, or even just view recent photos of Nicol, it's obvious that in this author's opinion, it's a "matter of fact" that Nicol is as lean and fit as ever, which has contributed to her being as quick - if not quicker than ever! This is certainly bad news for her opponents...for sure!

As Ken Tuttle so aptly stated in his recent great article, "it's a matter of fact" that Nicol has "evolved" as a player. Quoting Mr. Tuttle: "Nicol's footwork has become much more aggressive and attacking, in particular the first step. She is now looking for the volley first, every time. Whereas in the past, she only went for the volley when she saw it coming. Now, she's positioning herself to take advantage of volley or intercept opportunities even before they become evident. Second, Miss David has 'lowered' her long game, while keeping the length essentially the same. Meaning that her drives from mid-court and the back court are being hit on flatter trajectory, basically all her drives are now hitting the front wall more often than not, below the service line. At the same time she's still maintaining the length of her drives. This is significantly increasing the pressure on her opponents. Third, Nicol has added the attacking boast to her repertoire of shots. It looked like she hit more attacking boasts in the first game of her match, than she's averaged in a whole tournament. So now, her opponent will not only have to deal with a flatter drive from Nicol's racket, she has to cope with Nicol's being drastically more positive, and frequent in her attacking the ball on the volley, and then add on top of it all, attacking boasts."

Again, viewing the actual play or photos of Nicol, one cannot deny another "matter of fact" -  that she's been spending a few additional hours off-court in the gym - doing all that it takes to develop the strength and flexibility necessary to play the game of squash at its very highest level.

Perhaps not so obvious to all, but it's a "matter of fact" that Nicol had her "team" by her side in Malaysia, making sure that her preparation before and council during the matches went as planned. This was not always the case in some of Nicol's less successful outings in the recent past.

Just perhaps the most important and obvious "matter of fact," is that it is well known and documented that Nicol, over these last two years, has unselfishly dedicated herself to promoting the 2020 Back The Bid campaign in having squash become an Olympic sport in the year 2020. Unfortunately, those efforts, although resulting in bringing a greater awareness to the game world wide, squash was not selected.

Without doubt and in this author's opinion, all of Nicol's efforts, dedication, time and energy put into the 2020 Back The Bid campaign compromised her own training and play. However, that is the past! She's now back...stronger and more focused than ever! To be sure, looking at the Malaysian Open results, the WSA players have been given notice that Nicol is indeed still a force to be reckoned with! That is truly a "matter of fact!"