Paul Coll: Breaking The Stranglehold

IN a squash epoch when the sport has long been under the domination of the game’s foremost nation, Egypt, and eight of the sports last 10 major titles have been annexed by the country’s outstanding practitioners, Paul Coll’s victory at the British Open in 2021 was something of a seminal moment for the sport, as well as the proud New Zealander himself.

This moment of supreme triumph was the realisation of a dream that started in the small town of Greymouth, on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island, which began when a teenage Coll chose squash over the traditional Kiwi obsession of rugby.

Selected for the New Zealand World Junior Team to compete in the junior World Championships in Quito, Ecuador, Coll played a key part in a highly creditable sixth place finish and realised that he had indeed found both his passion and his metier.

Despite flirting with the pursuit of a degree in architecture at Auckland University of Technology the New Zealander firmly followed his heart onto the PSA World Tour in 2016 winning the Australian Open from an unseeded position.

Yet it was the Kiwi’s 2016 victory at the Channel Vas Championships in London which firmly established Coll, by now rejoicing in the sobriquet of ‘Superman’ due to his extreme athleticism and penchant for the spectacular dive, as a major threat to the game’s Egyptian elite.

Coll’s consistency on tour as an almost permanent feature in the last eight of the PSA World Tour’s elite events soon saw him reach No.10 in the world rankings the following year.

At the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Coll was to provide the ultimate proof of the grit, guts, and jaw-dropping mobility, which hallmarked his game enroute to a final defeat to England’s celebrated former World No.1 James Willstrop, which also underlined his unscratched potential as well as a ferocious thirst for battle.

The Missing Piece in the Jigsaw: Coach Rob Owen

The momentum now firmly behind Coll’s career continued to gather in 2019 with the addition of the renowned coach Rob Owen after Coll reached out via Facebook.

The fruits of their squash union soon became apparent as Coll’s subtle defensive use of height and the increase of his front court attacking options became apparent under the shrewd Owen’s tutelage.

Later that year Coll became the first New Zealander since the great Ross Norman in 1986 to make the final of the World Championships only to come up short, once again to the wiles of an Egyptian, the mercurial Tarek Momen.

A proud New Zealander, Coll also took the lead in taking the NZ men’s team to a 5^th place finish at the World Championships which was their best in 26 years.

Two final appearances at Canada’s Troilus Cup and the Windy City Open in Chicago once again saw Coll’s title intent thwarted by Egyptian excellence at the hands of Momen and World No.1 Ali Frag before the COVID-19 Pandemic casting a giant shadow over squash placed the game firmly in lockdown.

Yet Coll’s return to the boards and his insatiable hunger for improvement saw him move to No.4 in the PSA world rankings with a runner-up slot at the Qatar Classic.

The HEAD Graphene 360+ Speed 120 Slimbody

In December 2020 in order to make that final step from challenger to champion Paul Coll took the decision to join Team HEAD.

In pursuit of extra control in all areas of his game Coll signed to play with the HEAD Speed 120 Slimbody with the New Zealander particularly appreciative of HEAD's AFP (Adaptive Fan Pattern) stringing technology which he credits with adding more control of shot and extra feel.

The Slimbody frame has also become vital to Coll when taking the ball in short as his attacking game blossomed.

The Final Step to No.1:

Moving to World No.2 in December 2021 it was clear that the experience Coll was absorbing from his string of title denouements were now making him the main threat to World No.1 Farag and very much highlighting Coll as the game’s coming force.

This was finally realised when Coll came from a game down to break Farag in the final of the British Open with a relentless performance as Coll became the first New Zealand winner of the game’s oldest major.

The emotional courtside scenes between Coll and Owen after this supreme triumph still linger long in the memory.

Yet at 29, Coll’s development continues and he finished 2021 by defeating Farag twice more in the Canary Wharf Classic final before, in a defining victory, repeating the feat at the CIB Black Ball Squash Open in December to become the first non-Egyptian to win in the land of the Pharaohs in over four years.

Arguably more than any other it was this breakthrough success, underscored by his all-consuming desire for perfection, which may well mean Coll’s elevation to World No.1, as of March 2022, is unlikely to be a short one.

WORDS BY ROBERT MITCHELL