R1: Gregory Gaultier (Fra) 3-0 Victor Crouin (Fra) 11-2, 11-4, 11-6 (34m)
Veteran Greg Gaultier wins all-French battle against up and coming Victor Crouin in three
Victor (on twitter)
Very tough result yesterday against The General! That’s what you get with Greg ; the game goes quickly and when you manage to feel slightly better on court, well it’s already too late 😅
Can’t wait to see him to do some damage this week!! It’s good to have him back on tour 😇Greg: “Obviously it was probably the toughest draw to play Victor in the first round,”
“He won three events in a row in France and beat most of the French players. He has played quite a bit the last two months and I didn’t play a tournament since January, which was kind of an easy tournament but December was this one and I’m feeling more confident now.
“As you can see I’m not wearing the knee brace anymore. Mentally, it’s a big difference for me. I was wearing something heavy and as long as you wear something you feel a bit of a handicap as well, you feel restricted. I had an injection, it’s like a gel that goes to the joint, eight weeks ago and I took ten days off after that and then decided to go on the court, take away my knee brace and I didn’t feel any pain anymore.
“It’s a big bonus, especially now at my age, I’m training really hard but my leg was a pain when I started to play again last year – it was always on and off in my training and at tournaments. Sometimes it was sharp pain and other times it was playable, it wasn’t all the time nice. The good thing now is that I can play squash twice a day, which is unbelievable for me coming from being on crutches to running pain free.
“You focus more on your targets, using a lot of variation. I wish I could play like I did ten years ago when I was volleying everything and playing fast. I can do it for a bit but I need to manage it. It’s a bouncy court here so you need to find the right balance and not rush, so it was mainly focusing on hitting my targets to then create an opening and go for my shots.
“A little word for Victor: shame we had to play together, but hopefully it was a good experience for him and I wish him well in his upcoming tournaments.”
🗣 "I am feeling more confident now. I am not wearing the knee brace now and mentally, it is a big difference for me."
Gregory Gaultier is more than happy to be back on court and fully fit, and he defeated compatriot @VCrouin to reach the last 32!#BlackBallOpen pic.twitter.com/2ouNjXOxdr
— PSA World Tour (@PSAWorldTour) March 19, 2021
