IF JAMES WILLSTROP is to win the National Championships on Sunday, he must hope that his father has been doing his job badly. For as well as siring Britain’s most exciting young player, Malcolm Willstrop also coaches the experienced professional who stands in his son’s way.
Willstrop, 22, and Lee Beachill are great friends away from the court. They play for the same club, Manchester/Pontefract, and were team-mates in the England side that won the World Team Championship for the first time in eight years. But Beachill has something of a hex over his young rival. In the nine toplevel matches they have played since meeting in the first round of the National Championships in 2001, Beachill has won them all.
The most successful England junior player ever, Willstrop won the British Junior Open at under-14, under-17 and under-19 levels and became world junior champion in 2002, winning it without dropping a game. He has won five senior titles, including the Qatar Classic in November, which lifted him to No 2 in the world rankings.
He has since slipped to No 6, but he is the highest Englishman and youngest in the top ten. Many expect him to win this week and he began his quest with an 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 victory over Scott Handley yesterday. But the No 1 seed is scheduled to play Beachill in the semi-finals. The 28-year-old former world No 1 beat him last year to win his third national title and hopes to be the first man to make the final six years in a row.
Understandably, Willstrop has played down the clash. “I have to get there first,” he said. “He will be difficult, but if I get to the final, I would probably play Peter Nicol. That would be just as tough.”
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After the National Championships, Willstrop and Beachill fly to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games, but Willstrop is disappointed that squash does not get the publicity of other racket sports. “We were gutted squash will not be part of the London Olympics,” he said. “I’m young enough to have had a chance to have competed. It is a mystery.
“I don’t want to slag off the other sports, but squash is just as exciting. What gets me is some sports don’t regard the Olympics as important. Look at tennis. How many times has the gold medal been won by the best player? We would give our right arms to play in it.”
For the time being, his right arm has important tasks ahead of it, starting with his second-round match against Philip Barker this afternoon.