“At the end of a match like that, when it’s that close, you feel like, ‘Yeeeeeaaah!’ ” Donna said. “But my heart just sunk. I’m happy we won but gutted we’re the ones who put them out of the tournament. It doesn’t feel good. I hope it never happens again.”
Squash at this pace isn’t for the faint-hearted. Certainly not for the claustrophobic. As London broadsheet The Times headlined a story after a particularly fiery match at Glasgow in 2014: “Fear and Loathing in Glass Cages.”
This match was tinged with controversy, just as Donna’s women’s double fixture with Rachael Grinham had been earlier in the day when they lost on the final point of the third set when the referee didn’t award a controversial let call.
On that occasion, Grinham threw her racquet into the glass background and stormed off devastated.
Against her husband, she got the rub of the green in the final points of the third set.
Doubles squash is a funny beast. It’s only played every four years at Commonwealth Games with the court widened and the tin at the front lowered.
Players clamour all over each other and the interpretation of what constitutes a “let” (when the point is replayed) and a “stroke” (when a point is awarded) after a player gets in the way of the ball they’ve just struck is confusing.
“They do give some shocking decisions,” Donna said. “But I’ve had just as many go against me. I don’t think the last no-let they got was a no-let, but Rachael and I lost 11-10 on a no-let that should never have been a no-let this morning. We are briefed on what it should be, but it’s a mixed bag. The best we could do is play the ball as much as we could, so we couldn’t let the refs a chance to get involved.”
Either way, it doesn’t matter now. Donna didn’t just win the match but also a bet: Greg must cook dinner for the couple for the next month.
“I don’t know if I want him to make dinner,” she said with a laugh. “I should’ve bet that if I win he has to shave off his mullet and moustache. That would’ve felt good. I might have to put up with him being in a terrible mood for a while.
“To be fair to him, after I had a tough loss this morning, he was still there for me. He’s still the main person that’s there for me, and I’m there for him. We’re not signing the divorce papers after today. We’re still all right.”
Wet and wild
You’ve heard of Bondi Rescue, but what about Canal Rescue?
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