25 October 2011

PROBABLY THE MOST STUNNING SHOT OF ALL TIMES: by MIGUEL ANGEL RODRIGUEZ

Holy moly! I only believe my eyes because I've seen from Miguel Angel Rodriguez a similar attempt last year at the 2010 London Open. Well, the man who likes to go the wrong way as we called him last time, or if you prefer, the quickest man on earth on 5 meters likes not only dancing on the court but also has shots that only a Zen Buddhist Karate Matrix Magician - who has the power of slowing down the time and even foresee the future - should be capable of. Rodriguez, of course, went again the wrong way, then turned 180 degrees to hit this volley out of the blue and am afraid I called David Palmer's famous shot at the 2011 TOC in New York a bit prematurely the shot of the century. (By the way, Palmer and Rodriguez train these days together, let's hope that will enable this funny genius to go less often the wrong way and strengthen also the "boring structure part" of his game in order to get into the top10 - which would be just great for squash in general). Back to the current video, it is pretty funny how the commentators reacted: long seconds of silence before Joey Barrington started to employ various superlatives ("outrageous shot", "that's ridiculous", "who plays a shot like that?"). It's a shame this rally did not happen in front of a larger crowd, like Palmer's at the TOC, and that the referees did not see at first that the ball has passed Lincou by far by the time he raised his racket to appeal for a Let. But this time I don't really blame them, I guess they were as amazed as anyone else in the audience, facing a never seen, an almost religious-like revelation situation, kind of Jesus walking on water. Luckily science - video review - allowed to award this shot with what it deserved, a clear No Let! and point! Thank you Mr.Rodriguez for existing.