Victor Crouin reached the semi-finals of the Tournament of Champions this week, one of the biggest tournaments on the pro circuit, in New York. The Toulonnais was beaten by world No. 1 Ali Farag (3-0), after defeating No. 3 (Paul Coll) and No. 7 (Marwan Elshorbagy). From Grand Central station where the event took place, he deciphers this performance, which will allow the 11th player in the world to climb the hierarchy again.
Good for confidence
“It was a very good week. So, it’s not yet a final, but it feels like… It remains my second best performance on the pro circuit and it sounds like a click”he asks straight away.
According to him, the mental work he has been doing recently has finally borne fruit, after a complicated start to the season: “That’s what made the difference! I feel like I’m back where I was last season. It bodes very well for the future, even if I know that nothing is acquired and that everything will be put back on the table during the next deadlines.”
Close matches
Victor Crouin won his first two rounds 3-2. First against Elshorbagy, whom he had never beaten (“it came back to 2-2 but I managed to turn the situation around”). Then especially against Coll, “who remained on sixteen consecutive victories, the only one to have beaten Farag this season”. After an excellent first game won 16-14, Crouin “managed to keep [son] intensity until the end. It’s a big performance.” !
Photo DR.
Mutual respect with the world No. 1
As in Paris a few months earlier, the Toulonnais suffered the law of Ali Farag. Titled in New York, the Egyptian flies over the circuit. “Of course I still lost in three games, but I held on a little more than in Paris. There are sequences of points where I manage to take control, but it requires physical and cognitive rigor that is hard to maintain There is enough to push him a little further to his limits and it is not inaccessible, retains Victor Crouin. For this, these good passages must be even longer to break his pattern of play and sow doubt in his head.”
After his victory, Farag wanted to pay tribute to the Frenchman, showing him all his respect. Touch. “He said he pulled out one of his best performances, that means he doesn’t take me lightly and that if he gives me a way in, I’m going to rush in. It’s my aim”underlines Crouin, who also has the greatest respect for his elder, “one of my biggest inspirations”.
1. In platinum level tournaments (highest category), he has a title in 2022 in Qatar.
2. He will notably have two titles to defend: that of champion of France (February 7-10 in Chartres) and on Squash on Fire in Washington (February 14-18).
2024-01-26 17:53:00
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