Author: Joel

As we announced on our social media channels, we are cooperating with the Viennese Squash Federation, the Wiener Squash Rackets Verband, WSRV. Their leader board asked us to play all courts in Vienna to show the squash-community in Vienna where to go. So we came up with the idea of the WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition. As we want to provide value, we are going to rate all the clubs in five categories: booking, reachability, facilities, court, price.

Our first battleground of 2019 was chosen to be the FITcom fitness club in Simmering, at the outskirts of Vienna. After a week of intensive endurance training in Gran Canaria  #teamorange was ready for the first battle on the Squash World Tour 2019. Perfectly prepared I showed up 20 minutes earlier to inspect the court and warm up. 

Some 10 minutes before the game #teamyellow showed up, spotting me on court already. Confusion on his and the media teams faces.

Before starting we celebrated a belated Christmas: the guys from my-squash.com sent us brand new material to test out! It was all there: strings, grips as well as big sports bags and new rackets sponsored by Dunlop! Thanks guys!

After our 10 warm up points (9-1 #teamorange) our 4th match of the WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition began. It started great, I received well and managed to dominate the rallies, making Peter run for every point. He didn’t play as precise as usual, allowing me to pick up most of his drop shots and so I won the first game 11-8.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sometimes your legs 🦵 just don’t do what they should – #teamyellow was not moving well in the latest WSRV Vienna Edition match. #teamorange took advantage of it and ruled 💪 the court. #squashworldtour #squashlife #squashplayers #squashtv #squashvideo #squashrally #squashmovement #bestworkout #squash #cardioworkout

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Squash World Tour (@squashworldtour) am Jan 17, 2019 um 11:29 PST

Thats the way to start the new year! And I continued strong: dominating the rallies, leading 8-4, when suddenly nothing worked anymore… Hitting the tin twice and a few nicks by #teamyellow meant turning the tables, securing him the game 11-8. I was disappointed with my performance and angry at myself for giving away the game too easily. Mainly because I know how much it means mentally to be 2-0 ahead or 0-2 behind.

Anyways, I had to refocus. But #teamyellow was keeping up now. I still dominated the rallies, but also made some mistakes and so a close game went into the tiebreak. Which I won with a little bit of luck 13-11. This helped a lot.

And basically the same pattern continued, and again I won the tiebreak 12-10.

Finally, my first victory on the Vienna Edition!

Knowing that #teamyellow always forgets things and steals shampoo from little children (read more about that), I organized also a little Christmas present for him.

Our rating

Booking: Our e-mail was ignored. After some days we called and were told, that booking is only possible via phone – but only for the current week. We had to call on Monday to book the court for Tuesday. 1 of 5 stars. 

Reachability: U3 last stop Simmering plus 10min walk or 1 tram station. 2,5 of 5 stars.

Facilities: It’s basically a fitness club build in a former squash club. There is a sauna (which we didn’t test) and a bar with friendly stuff. There is no food served and no squash shop. 4 of 5 stars.

Court: The one remaining squash court is in really good condition: a classic wall, a small nick, glass back wall. The lines on the floor are a bit improvised and the light could be brighter. 4 of 5 stars.

Price: 19,20 Euro for one hour of squash is a bit cheaper than in other clubs in Vienna. And they have a great deal for fitness members (21,90 per month): unlimited access to the squash court! That’s worth 4 of 5 stars for us!

RESULT

3 stars for FITcom!

Website: FITcom, Phone number for booking: +4317683757

As we announced on our social media channels, we are cooperating with the Viennese Squash Federation, the Wiener Squash Rackets Verband, WSRV. Their leader board asked us to play all courts in Vienna to show the squash-community in Vienna where to go. So we came up with the idea of the WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition. As we want to provide value, we are going to rate all the clubs in five categories: booking, reachability, facilities, court, price.

Recently we had two exhibitions: one against Lukas Windischberger (where we got our asses whipped) and one against our fans at the Merry Squash-MAS event. It felt good to compete again once more against good old #teamyellow in the last WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition match of the year 2018! 

Such a close call

Our location this time was the City & Country Club Wienerberg where we booked a late night session. #teamyellow started ferociously, but after a big lead I managed to get closer. Peter’s service and returns were too strong in the end. He took the first game 11-7.

But I didn’t come here for a tea party. I was prepared to fight till the end. And so the second game started out on an equal level. At 7-7 Peter managed to get a 9-7 lead – a mentally tough situation for me. I put all my skills and energy in those 4 points and managed to get away with a 11-9 game.

That was important! But I had given a little bit too much. Although I didn’t have the power from game 2, I somehow managed to get to 9-9. But this time, #teamyellow took the game 11-9 in the end. Close call again…

Best game we ever played

Out of nothing comes the 4th game. Honestly, it was the best game we ever played! Very few mistakes, high quality shots, long rallies. It had everything. I was in the flow – so I only remember that it felt really good and I had the touch and the legs were moving on their own. In the end it was a close 11-9 for #teamorange.

At 2-2 after the best game ever, it was difficult to remain concentrated. It was a long day already. But the quality of the rallies dropped only slightly, a few little mistakes here and there. #teamyellow being the more consistent, took this game again 11:9 and with it the game and an astonishing 3:0 lead on the Vienna Edition.

 

 

 

 

 

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The last @squashworldtour battle of the year was an epic one: 5 games with the better end for #teamyellow once more! #teamyellow bt. #teamorange 3-2: 11-7, 9-11, 11:9, 9-11, 11-9. Peter leads the WSRV Vienna Edition ranking 3-0! #squashworldtour #wsrv #viennaedition #squashwien #squashvienna #squashaustria #squashbattle #squashlife #squashplayers #5games #intensiveworkout #hardtraining #bestworkout #playmoresquash

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Squash World Tour (@squashworldtour) am Dez 28, 2018 um 11:33 PST

All I can say: I’ll be back!

Our rating

Booking: Online via Eversports with check of availability and online payment, or booking via phone. 5 of 5 stars.

Reachability: Reachable via U6 Tscherttegasse and 12 minute walk or Badner Bahn or Bus 16A and 10 minutes walk. One advantage if you have a car: free parking is available. 2,5 of 5 stars.

Facilities: A Shop to buy equipment, a decent restaurant and a sauna. Nothing to add here. 5 of 5 stars.

Court: The quality of the 5 courts varies: courts 3 & 4 have a new (plywood panel front) walls and glass back walls. If you can, chose court 4 – it’s the best! The floor on on most courts is in good shape, it’s clean and the nick is small. Because of the differing courts we award 4 of 5 stars.

Price: 20 Euro for one hour of squash is reasonable but not a steal in our opinion. 3 of 5 stars.

RESULT

4 stars for City & Country Club Wienerberg!

Website: www.cityandcountry.at, Phone number for booking: +431 66123

As we announced on our social media channels, we are cooperating with the Viennese Squash Federation, the Wiener Squash Rackets Verband, WSRV. Their leader board asked us to play all courts in Vienna to show the squash-community in Vienna where to go. So we came up with the idea of the WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition. As we want to provide value, we are going to rate all the clubs in five categories: booking, reachability, facilities, court, price.

The second match of the WSRV – Squash World Tour – Vienna Edition marks the return to where our squash career started about 10 years ago. Back in the days at a Racketlon tournament at Tennis Point Vienna we discovered our passion for the game of squash. Thanks to an invitation by the organizers of the 12th Austrian Open in Racketlon, we had a familiar setting. Great memories!

I knew what to do

Entering the facility I saw a beautiful short (with orange design elements of course) which I simply had to buy! And because I forgot mine at home…

The crowd was huge, as the best Racketlon players in the world participated in the tournament today, World number 1 Christine Seehofer, European Champion Rav Rykowski and many more. The later runner up Luka Penttinen made us wait, as he took some extra time on the squash court. But after a short delay we started our match. I won our warm up game, so I had the privilege to serve and tried to use it right away – with little luck. #teamyellow took training lessons on Monday and he was prepared for everything. I had watched a lot of squash videos, so I knew exactly what to do. Unfortunately, knowing what to do without having the abilities proofed to be not enough.

Tough conditions

After being 0-5 behind, advancing 6-5 through a lot of running and sliding (due to the slippery court), I could hold the game open quite some wile, but in the end Peter took the first game 12-10. He also started great into the second game, hitting the nick a few times. It was a demonstration of his skills and soon #teamyellow took the game 11-5.

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One of the many nice points won by #teamyellow in the second match of the WSRV Squash World Tour Vienna Edition! #teamyellow bt #teamorange 3-0: 12-10, 11-5, 11-9 #wsrv #squashworldtour #viennaedition #squash #squashpoint #squashlife #bestworkout #squashvideo #squashtv #squashvienna #squashwien

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Squash World Tour (@squashworldtour) am Nov 27, 2018 um 10:52 PST

During the break I took the time to readjust my brand new shoes, the Eye Rackets S-Line Squash Shoes, which My-Squash thankfully provided. Besides the great color match to my outfit, they were comfortable. But it was a big mistake to use them right away in a Squash World Tour battle. Again, something to learn from #teamyellow who did that in his training session earlier this week.

2-0 overall lead for #teamyellow

Peter also played well in the third game. I started to get a better touch now and could also surprise him a few times. I saw he got tired. But in a few critical moments he was able to play shots with great length, hitting the knick or making me run for every ball after.

In the end I also missed some chances to make the point – I was simply not at my best today. #teamyellow took the close game 11-9 and thus won the second match of the WSRV Squash World Tour Vienna Edition 3-0, giving him a 2-0 overall lead.

Our rating

Booking: Online via Eversports with check of availability and online payment, or booking via phone. 5 of 5 stars.

Reachability: Erdberg is easily reached from the city center, from there it’s an 8 minute walk. Nice warm up. 3,5 of 5 stars.

Facilities: A Shop to buy equipment, a decent restaurant and a sauna. Nothing to add here. 5 of 5 stars.

Court: Slippery and a huge nick. And on the so called centre court there are some bumps and loose panels. Walls (back walls all glass) and tin however are in good condition. 2,5 of 5 stars.

Price: 20 Euro for one hour of squash is reasonable but not a steal in our opinion. 3 of 5 stars.

RESULT

4 stars for Tennis Point Vienna!

Website: www.tennispoint.at , booking-link (Eversports), Phone number for booking: +431 79 999 97

To be honest, I just wanted to relax and chill this weekend on Viennas beloved Donauinsel. A great place to lose some of my Austrian paleness, read a book and periodically enjoy the fresh water to cool down. Just in case you can grab an ice cream or a cold Radler…

Too many social events took place the last couple of weeks, and, more importantly, no training at all. My precious 2:1 lead is at stake. Should I risk it and sit in a train instead of laying on Donauinsel?

But #teamyellow has other plans. He went home early from yesterdays wedding of a friend to be ready for the showdown today. How pathetical… After some back and forth the decision is final: we are heading to beautiful Győr! Never heard of it? It’s the closest city in Hungary which offers a squash court.

The train ride already was a small adventure . It wasn’t easy to get a free seat and so we had to split up. Arriving in Győr, we found a wonderful small city. Especially wonderful because our #sightsquashing location (the local town hall) and the squash court were only a few hundred meters from the railway station.

After the #sightsquashing we aimed to our squash court location. And what a location it was!

The Golden Ball Club is beautiful hotel with great squash courts in the cellar! And we paid only € 6,50 for the whole hour of our battle!

Let’s play!

Finally, the battle is on. I had the right to start the match – and bang 0:1. Due to the high temperatures and the perfect squash court floor, the ball bounced pretty high and therefore the rallies got pretty long. It was an intense game with high quality points by both players. Eventually, after saving two game points of #teamorange, Peter takes the first game 13-11.

The heat made it really tough for two intense sweaters as we are. We couldn’t keep up with fluid intake and suffered a lot. Seemingly, #teamyellow suffered more and after the battle in the first game, he gave away game two with a lot of mistakes 4:11.

But equalizing was not enough for #teamorange today. With some battle, I managed to take the lead after winning the third game 11:8. I have to mention, that #teamyellow showed great sportsmanship in all close situations. One of those where I missed a shot because I touched Peter with my racket in my backswing.

The fourth game was a big fight again. Peter lead 10:8 already but I could manage to fight back, with match point at 11:10 for #teamorange. But #teamyellow wasn’t giving up and with nice shots he again took the close game with 13:11.

One could see the effect of the last 4 games on the first glance when looking at us. But the battle wasn’t over yet! One more game to find out who still had it in him!

I started out great. leading 5-1, playing aggressively and varying my serve, moving #teamyellow from corner to corner and waiting for his tiredness to take effect. And there it was: a 10:4 lead!

I thought, let’s end it in style – bad idea!

A service error lead to 10:5 and when serving himself, #teamyellow put up a lot of pressure and suddenly found the wall and the corners. I was getting nervous. At 10:8 I managed to get a good return and an open fight evolved. Neither of us was in the mood for presents. But the heat and the long rallies had taken their toll and finally Peter made an error and we both were happy that the fight had an end.

The final score

#teamorange wins 3:2 (11:13, 11:4, 11:8, 11:13, 11:8) 

It’s 3:1 on the Squash World Tour 2018 for me now. The highest lead ever by any player in a given year! #teamorange is on a streak of 3 consecutive wins!

Give me the trophy!

To celebrate, we went to a nice restaurant in the area, the most expensive one (as #teamyellow has to pay). And after a nice salad for all of us – including our social media crew – I ordered my ice cream/winner trophy.

It was a real pleasure here in Hungary! Kisses to my supporters out there :*

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Squash World Tour (@squashworldtour) am Mai 1, 2018 um 1:01 PDT

The first stop of the Squash World Tour in 2018  was Zagreb, Croatia. Unfortunately, it is a  little too far to cycle there (besides, the strategy didn’t work for Bratislava either…), so we decided to rent a car. Since interest in the squash world tour is (understandably) on the rise among the general public, we had to take a small bus to take our fans and social media team with us.

We were driving the big bus and feeling really important. I don’t want to bore you, so let me just say it was a relaxing drive with a lot of eating involved…

Fast forward to Zagreb where I wake up in the car in the parking lot (once again a short night the day before), and we enter the squash center half an hour early. We go to the dressing room and pretty quickly I realize I forgot my shoes #teamorange #messup. Well, that’s embarrassing, even lack of sleep cannot be used as an excuse in such a case.

So basically I am in panic mode now. Luckily one of our numerous (two) travel companions had a similar shoe size and was wearing casual sports shoes – salvation! That should be sufficient to beat #teamyellow after a refreshing sleep!

#teamorange not really present

For some reason Peter started his warm-up routine about 15 minutes before our game was scheduled. I used the time to zone out a little…

Zoning in proofed to be difficult though. Basically I shouldn’t write about the match at all, as I was only physically present. I remember walking out after an inglorious first game #teamyellow took with 11:6. I was exhausted, already broken and nothing seemed to work. But then, the surprise, even for me – apparently I had been able to wake up somehow!. The second game worked perfectly for me, I was able to build up pressure and avoid silly mistakes. The result: #teamorange takes the second game 11:3 and the score is 1:1. Hope! More exhaustion!

Unfortunately I don’t remember much about the 3rd and 4th game. I remember a lot of easy mistakes, #teamyellow being focused and having the necessary length in his strokes, the better serve and better drop shots. #teamyellow won the third and fourth game and the match with a total score of 3:1 (11:6, 3:11, 11:5, 11:6).

By now, it is starting to get expensive to pay for all the meals. I mean, the burgers and cevapcici were great and pretty cheap for Austrian standards. But these costs have to end! Today I will sleep, tomorrow is time for revenge!

Find more pictures from Zagreb on our Facebook page!

So we decided that the third stop of the Squash World Tour should be Berlin – Germany, since our media team for the first stop (Peter’s girlfriend) had some Roller Derby business there and Peter decided to join her.
I had never been to Berlin before and only heard good things – so it was an easy choice.

After leaving work in the early afternoon with beautiful sunshine I hopped on the plane for an easy 1:30h flight to rainy Berlin. Forgot my jacket. Damn.

#teamyellow kept me busy

Already being a little sick and having some muscle ache after dragon-boat racing the prior evening resulted in me getting sick that evening.
Peter had been in Berlin since the morning and I had to find them at some obscure place on the other end of Berlin,  dragging  my luggage on a rainy day with only my shirt on.

But I couldn’t show any weakness. So we went from one place to another, having some original Asian food, taking pictures of the television tower in the rain, shopping in a futuristic sports outlet (btw, if the guy working there reads this: Thanks for telling the girls the store closes in 2 minutes! Best bro ever!).

On Saturday the weather remained bad and I bought a jacket and tried to save energy during sight seeing. I had to be at my best to get the lead on the Squash World Tour.

Peter and the media team seemed to sense this weakness and carried us from one obscure place to another. This continued on Sunday when I already felt better after a good 9 hours of sleep.

Somehow they found the coffee shops farthest away from any station one can imagine – passing a lot of nice other coffee shops on the way just to end up at a “special” one – where the coffee tasted just like in any other place I have been.

Anyways, after 50 kilometers of walking through Berlin, we finally made it to the Squash center near the airport – it’s called Airport Squash & Fitness.
We played a game to warm up and I felt good. Peter seemed a little bit slow and I took the unfortunately unofficial game 11-6.

No mistakes

But it was not all he had in him. He immediately changed when we started our competition and Peter’s strokes became more powerful. I managed a small lead at 3-2 in the first game, and then he began with a furious serve-series where I made easy errors and never could get the lead in a rally. #teamyellow took advantage of the situation masterfully – not making a single mistake. I had no chance. He took the game 11-3.

I knew I had to risk more at the return of serve. So I tried. But today seemed not to be my day. 5 easy mistakes gave Peter a 5-0 lead in the beginning of game two – crucial for that game, as it turned out. I began to get some feeling for the ball and managed to keep up with Peter at the time, but the lead turned out too high and he took the game 11-6.

Being down 2-0 is not easy mentally, but I had to try my best. Still having trouble with Peter’s service he now also had some lucky strokes, where the ball hit the corner exactly and bounced off unpredictably,  or he hit it with the edge resulting in a perfect drop. And again – this made all the difference and in a (for me) frustrating manner, Peter also took the third game 11-6.

It was time to go home. I have to acknowledge that his serve and backhand were too strong for me today and on the fast court, my running performance was not enough to compensate for my weak strokes. I know what I have to work on – so be prepared for a beating next time #teamyellow.

So after letting Peter suffer on the bike for 3 hours and making the first point in the first match on the Squash World Tour, things deteriorated quickly: 1:0 became 3:11 quickly due to a well moving Peter and me not getting the touch on the ball.

“I should have trained more”, was my first thought walking out of the court. But I quickly focused on the task ahead: “Move better. Let him run more. Try to find your touch – without it you can’t win anyways.”

It got a little better in the second game. I was down by 5:9 when I finally hit some strokes like I wanted to and equalized at 10:10 after two game points for Peter. With some magic (luck) #teamyellow took also the second game 12:10 and now led 2:0.

But my touch was back. I was more confident in my drop shots and I used them to move Peter a lot and forced him to make the mistakes.  He digged deep and with some incredible moves he was able to keep up until 8:8.  Under a lot of pressure #teamorange won the 3rd game with a phenomenal finish 11:8.

It was on. Being down 1:2 is not an easy situation, but I felt confident in my play and knew that I had the stamina for 5 game.

The fourth game started with some lucky points by #teamyellow and easy mistakes from #teamorange and soon I was down 5:7. My memories are somewhat blurry as I couldn’t hold up the focus of the 3rd game and Peter also started to hit some ridiculous drop shots even Usain Bolt couldn’t have reached. My spirit was broken, Peter won the 4th game 11:7 and thus won the match and the first point of the Squash World Tour.

I still wanted that burger though. After a short shower and a friendly goodbye from the charming old slovakian receptionist, we headed to the restaurant. The burger compensated for the bitter loss I had suffered just minutes earlier.

As if loosing the squash match and paying for the meals was not enough, I got a flat tire too. Just my lucky day.

It was time to head back home. By bike again of course. It was obvious Peter gave his all in the match as he was suffering from the beginning in the battle against the wind. We moved as fast as a kid walking on the street. It would be a long journey home at this pace. Fortunately Hainburg was not far away and we could take the train from there. And indeed, as we passed the train station Peter stopped and we three had some lack of motivation to continue the long drive back.

For some reason I still don’t understand, we continued. And it became the long journey we had all feared. My only delight was Peter’s face, slowly deteriorating over time. Some revenge after all. But to be fair, he fought like a king and we got to enjoy a wonderful evening in the Donauauen with a beautiful sunset and even a hog at some point. After about 4 exhausting hours, we reached Vienna. What a day. Looking forward to the next stop on the Squash World Tour – this time organized by #teamyellow!

It’s 11 am and Peter, his girlfriend Jasmin and I meet in Vienna to begin our trip to Bratislava. I am hung over from last night’s party and have muscle ache from the workout two days before. Getting old is shitty. Good thing I have a plan to humiliate Peter despite his long sleep and better recovery after workouts.

The rules clearly state that the person responsible to organize the trip can do that according to his preferences. Well, I was organizing this trip and really looking forward to a nice burger paid by #teampeter #teamyellow. To make that happen, I just had to make sure he barely can move when we arrive there. A nice 3 hour cycling-tour should do the job.

So there we were. Excited (for a free burger) me, happy Jasmin and not so happy Peter. Rules are rules. We headed to Bratislava and after a few kilometers I already knew my plan was working. While he got slower and slower, Jasmin had a fun time taking pictures of us and I was thinking about which burger I would order later. Cheeseburger. Big. With Jalapenos. Mhmmm…

After a quick stop at McDonalds for a strategic energy supply, we arrived at the squash court/ fitness center. It was a nice quiet place, about 3 people in the fitness center, nobody playing squash – perfect conditions. At the counter, a guy who had clearly passed his best age asked us if we had reserved a court. We look at 4 empty squash courts, back to him, “of course we did, we wrote an e-mail”. He clicks around a little bit… “Ahhh yeah. Reservation by e-mail is not possible. You have to call number. Last time e-mail!”. I love the Slovak charm.

Feeling lucky he accepted our e-mail reservation, we started to warm up and began the first match of the squash world tour. I won the right for the first service.

I made the first point of the Squash World Tour, it was an easy error of Peter. My plan had worked. It was a terrible point, but I knew I could improve and he was playing awful – as expected after 3 hours of cycling. I could already taste the delicious cheeseburger. Medium or medium rare?

[-> read part 2]