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By Rod Gilmour
Courtesy www.telegraph.co.uk
** Video Interview below **
Squash is a great social sport but not when you’re up against England’s No 1, as our correspondent found out.
Forget the first words usually mouthed by a baby: James Willstrop’s first was “stroke”.
He could have been talking to me, with this reference in mind, when I took him on at Manchester’s National squash centre prior to the World Championships, starting this weekend.
Get back to the T, use your length and don’t rush into the shot were three key areas I kept repeating to myself in the locker room before closing the door of the glass showcase court.
I was in Willstrop’s world now and the Pontefract world No 3 proceeded to run me ragged by using only a fraction of his normal firepower.
Securing five points off the 25-year-old meant nothing in the scheme of things so I asked him to step up a gear just for good measure.
“You run too much,” was his sound advice at the end. That much was evident when I had the task of stringing my words together to interview him straight after.
Willstrop’s Fitness Zone
"The training is the hardest part. You can’t get away with just turning up every day and pushing your mind and body. It is just one of those games that tests you in different ways; a test of character in speed, stamina and leaving no stone is unturned.
"For a professional, you just have be ...
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