Final Prep for the Worlds

After the long journey home I am now back in Victoria training. I have three weeks until I leave for the World Championships. It will be great to get a good block of training in as this has become a rare thing during the season with the heavy demands of our tournament schedule. Travelling seems to take more out of me than it used to (I must be getting old!) so my first few days of training will be fairly light and then it will build up after that. 

Also coming up I will be playing in the club championships! I will be competing in both the Men's and Women's event. Hopefully I will see some of you down at the club playing and watching!

After my first round victory I was lucky enough to have a rest day. Rest days occur when a round is split over two days. So, the top half would play one day and the bottom half the next.This is something that has happened over the last year or so, which has taken a little adjusting to. To begin with it was hard to know what was too much to do in a rest day and what was too little.  My rest day consisted of a n hours hit in the morning and then resting up for the remainder of the day for my match the following day.

The morning of my match I had a light hit on the glass court and then headed back to the hotel to get some lunch and rest in before I played. My opponent was Camille Serme from France. Camille and I have played a lot throughout juniors as we were the top two juniors in Europe at the time - unfortunately Camille came out victorious more often than I did! Camille is the current world number 5 and reigning British Open Champion. 

The first game saw Camille controlling the pace a lot more than me and keeping me on the back foot. I lost too many points at the start of the game to recover even though the back half of the game was a lot more positive for me. I lost the first game 11-5. In the second I took an 8-5 lead after having had advice from national coach Chris Robertson. I stepped up the court and was looking to get onto the ball quicker and try to control the middle myself. Unfortunately I couldn't keep the momentum up and lost that game 11-8. The third was much like the first game and I lost a disappointing 11-3. 

It really is a case of getting used to playing on the glass and against the top 5 more often. There were lots of positives to take from the match and in patches I felt that I showed I can compete with the top girls. 

Next is the long journey home - the slightly less glamour-less side you might say! 

Awesome shot at 0:50 seconds into the highlight reel!

Round 1 of the 2016 Allam British Open

I left for England quite a few days before the event started so that I could get used to the time difference and give my body enough time to recover from the long flight.

I spent the first few days of my trip training in Birmingham. I managed to get some training in with some other of the girls on the tour and gave myself an opportunity to get used to playing on the lower tin again (we play on the 17 inch tin compared to the traditional 19 inch).  I then traveled on the train up to Hull where the British Open is being held. Luckily the weather was great so had I got to enjoy the English countryside for the majority of the journey!I Had a few more days here in Hull to practice and get used to the court before I played my first match against Emily Whitlock the number 16 seed from England.

My Match was scheduled for 5pm. So I was able to have a nice sleep in and then head to the club for a light hit just to get the body moving and get a feel for the court. I felt I was hitting the ball well and moving smoothly in practice which gave me confidence for my match. Next it was back to the hotel for a spot of lunch and to relax before my match.

Once arriving to club I managed to catch the end of one of the men's matches and then started to prepare for my match. I went through my normal warm up routine and mentally prepared as well.

The first game started well for me. I put in a few hard long rallies to begin with which seemed to work in my favour. I managed to get a big lead and keep my focus to keep the lead and close out the game 11-5.  The start of the second was fairly similar before a lost a little bit of focus and lost my length a little mid way through the game. However I managed to recompose and find my game plan and won that game 11-7. I started the third really positively and playing more aggressively than I had in the previous two games and quickly rushed to 10-3 giving myself 7 match balls. Emily played some great shots to pull back to 5-10 then we had a long hard fought rally where I managed to find the nick and win the match 3-0.

I was extremely happy with how I played and very pleased to be moving on the last 16 of a World Series event! My next match will be against the defending champion Camille Serme from France.

2016 Road to the Worlds

Hi Everyone,

My Name is Vicky Lust and I am currently ranked 19 in the world and train at both Cedar Hill Squash Club and Shawnigan Lake school where I am coached by Mike Johnson while assisting with the school squash program when not travelling to tournaments.  

I have reached my highest ranking this month at #19, now it is a push into the top 15 and then top 10 in the world. In January 2016 I won my biggest event yet in Toronto. This season has been my most successful so far. 

2015-2016 Tournaments:

• Alexandria International,  Egypt, June 5th-10th, 2015
• Abierto Colombiano De Squash, Aug 5th-8th, 2015
• Macau Open, Macau, Sep 15th-16th, 2015
• Netsuite Open, San Francisco, Sep 25th-28th, 2015
• Carol Weymuller Open, New York, Sep 29th-30th
• Delaware Investments US Open, Philadelphia, Oct 10th-17th, 2015
• Quatar Classic, Qatar, Oct 31st - Nov 6th, 2015
• J.P. Morgan TOC, New York, Jan 9th - 14th, 2016
• Granite Open, Toronto, Jan 19th - 22nd, 2016
• Cleveland Classic, Cleveland, Jan 30th - Feb 2nd, 2016
• Windy City Open, Chicago, Feb 25th - Mar 2nd, 2016
• British Open, Hull, England, Mar 21st - 27th, 2016
• Womens World, Kuala Lumpur, Apr 25th - 30th, 2016, 2016

The last tournament of the season is the Women's World Open, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Travelling to all the events during the season can be financially straining when you are outside the top 20 in the world. The World Open is the most prestigious event on the Calendar. Being able to compete in this event will give me a significant opportunity to improve upon my ranking.  With your help I would like to take you to this event with me.  Through the use of blogging and my social media you can follow me behind the scene of the biggest Women's squash event in the world! 

Tournaments Won:

2015 Abierto Colombiano de Squash Club El Nogal - Champion

2016 Slaight Music and Roundtable Capital Granite Open - Champion

Semi-Final:

2015 Netsuite Open

Non-PSA wins:

2015 BC Open
2016 Jericho Open

Thank you very much for your support.

Vicky Lust