R2: Nele gets her revenge
[4] Nele Gilis-Coll (BEL) 3-0 Kenzy Ayman (EGY) 12-10, 11-5, 12-10 (46m)
A few weeks ago, Kenzy stunned Nele in the third round of Squash on Fire, beating the Belgium 3/0. And although today, Nele put the record straight, the young 21 years old Egyptian showed she was no fluke.
Kenzy has to be saluted for the way she turned her game back. As a junior, she was not a nice player to watch or play. She had a very excessive swing, and was blocking a lot. I had a chat with her at the time, about 2 years ago. And went ‘How do you want to be remembered? Raneem El Welily or xxxx.” And I called the name of a woman player famous for blocking. “I want to be remembered like Raneem”. “so you have to change the way you play”. And she did.
She is now a very dangerous player, but because of her squash, not her racquet! She was leading in the first game 8/3, she lost it 12/10, and again in the third, 3/0, 7/2, 8/4, before the hard work the Belgium made her work started to pay dividends, and the Egyptian lost her head and probably started thinking she might win this again, making 5 errors in 6 points.
Nele clawed back to 8/8, 9/9. Kenzy had a well-deserved game ball, but Nele was not the same player that she’s been in recent months. Now confident in her physical strength, she made the rallies very hard, and the mixing of the Egyptian shots was not enough to contain the Belgian and it’s 12/10 again, thanks to a few clips of the tin at the crucial times…
Nele : I struggled for the last year and a half, I’ve been playing pretty badly. But even compared to a few weeks ago, I just feel like a different player.
I had a few tournaments under my belt now in the last few months without pain, so I have tried to stay positive even after a loss, trust in what I am trying to achieve. With every tournament, I’m getting more and more confident, not only in my body but also in my mind.
Every one has always niggles, but when it gets so bad… I’m someone that normally sweep it under the carpet and thinks, ‘it’s ok, I’ll be fine’. But it really got so bad, I had some bad losses. And that affects you physically, but more mentally. You just lose confidence, and that is one if not the most important thing in sport.
Anyone can get any shot, everyone is fit, it’s all about confidence in the mental aspect that makes the difference.
I’m just happy that I kept trusting the process, that I continued putting in the work, and showing up, even if I wanted to quit a thousand times in the last months. I’m just trying to enjoy being on court again, and I express myself more, regardless of the result. If I manage to do that, then I’m happy.
I have had the help of Bart Wijnhoven (former David Palmer mental coach) for the last couple of months. He is also there to remind me that people close to me will still love me even if I lose, because sometimes, you forget. When you lose, you feel that you’ve let everyone down. But you don’t. And it’s a nice reminder. That made me a bit freer on court…
