With a few more good performances, Claire Nitch can=20 attain her goal of a top eight ranking
SQUASH: Mark Lamport-Stokes
REALISM would rank high among the many qualities=20 possessed by South Africa’s number one women’s squash=20 player Claire Nitch.
The 23-year-old from Gauteng, while not sacrificing a=20 burning ambition to be the very best she can in her=20 chosen sport, knows full well the folly of aiming too=20 high — and especially of aiming unrealistically high.
Currently ranked 11 in the world and with a career-best=20 ranking of nine a few months back, Nitch is pragmatic=20 enough to set herself sensible targets: “My immediate=20 objective is to make the top eight in the world, and=20 I’m pretty confident that I’ll achieve it.
“I’ve reached the quarter-finals in four of the last=20 six tournaments I’ve played and I’ve beaten three of=20 the top eight players in the world this year. In fact,=20 I’m that close I can really taste the top eight right=20
Yet Nitch, campaigning on the Asian circuit at the=20 moment, believes that it is important not to pitch too=20 high with personal goals: “If you then fail to reach=20 your goal, you probably wouldn’t be able to live with=20 yourself. That’s one of the reasons why I would never=20 say that I want to be number one in the world. If I’m=20 in that position and I’m saying I’m going to do it and=20 I don’t, I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I=20 want to feel that I’ve put in the most effort and that=20 I’ve tried my best — that’s good enough for me.”
A further incentive for Nitch to make the top eight in=20 the world is the potentially easier passage through=20 each tournament. “It’s very important to get into that=20 top-eight category,” she explains. “The tournament=20 organisers place the one and two seeds and then they=20 draw nine to 16. At the moment I’m in the category of=20 nine to 16 which means that I could meet Australia’s=20 Michelle Martin (the world number one) in the second=20 round of every single tournament. But if you make the=20 top eight, you get easier draws.”
Although Nitch has hovered around the world 9/10/11=20 mark over the last couple of years, recent performances=20 by her on the Asian circuit have shown a top-eight spot=20 is there for the taking.
In June, Nitch gave three-time world champion Michelle=20 Martin a tough battle before losing 4-9 9-7 8-10 3-9 in=20 the quarter-finals of the Malaysian Open. “I was very=20 close to beating her,” she recalls. “It was one-all and=20 I had a game ball as well in the third game. I really=20 felt that I wasn’t outplayed, which so often you feel=20 when you play against her.”=20
Having run Martin close in Malaysia, Nitch then lost to=20 her again in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open=20 in Melbourne last month . Going down 5-9 9-5 1-9 5-9,=20 Nitch admits: “Although I played well, I crucially made=20 a couple too many errors. The first two games were=20 close but I lost my length in the third and she then=20 creamed me.”
However, Squash South Africa national director Sue=20 Cogswell, a former British international, believes=20 Nitch is quite capable of rising as high as number four=20 in the world.
“I think she’s got the potential to be a lot higher=20 than nine or 10. Not in the top three, but maybe from=20 three down. But she needs to get more consistent. On=20 any given day, if she’s playing really well, she can=20 push anyone in the world. But she can’t reproduce that=20 form day after day, or game after game.
“As with anyone who goes for shots, Claire makes too=20 many unforced errors and doesn’t stay in the rallies=20 for long enough. She got up to rank 12-15 in the world=20 quite quickly but has only moved a few places over the=20 past two years.
“It’s really a question of producing consistently and=20 playing the shots at the right time. And, of course,=20 it’s hard to stimulate these situations in practice.=20 But the more tournaments Claire plays, the more she=20 will realise where the errors are made.”
Cogswell emphasises that the decisive factor in sport=20 at the highest level is mental rather than physical:=20 “It’s not really a difference in talent at the top but=20 a difference in temperament and the psychological make- up … and then how you use that.”
Nitch agrees: “When you get up to the top, the=20 difference between different players is the=20 psychological edge, and that’s what I’ve really been=20 working on of late.
“It’s a confidence thing and quite often the problem is=20 that you don’t generally play these players all that=20 often. You play maybe 10 tournaments and you might only=20 come across these players once every two years — and=20 that doesn’t help your confidence because you don’t=20 know how they play.
Nitch believes that the strongest part of her game now=20 is her fitness: “Fitness has become one of my strengths=20 whereas it used to be one of my weaknesses. I have a=20 trainer who has really helped me with my speed and my=20 stamina and I think also the fact that I’ve got good=20 racquet skills and good technique is always going to=20 help me.”
Ever the realist, Nitch knows her game and her=20 capabilities. Her next two tournaments on the Asian=20 circuit are the Japanese Open, from September 5-10, and=20 the South Korean Open, from September 12-16. Further=20 good results and more quarter-final appearances, will=20 ensure that she attains her goal of reaching the world=20 top eight.