Chris’s resolution is stay aggressive
CHRIS SIMPSON has gathered crucial momentum as he targets specific goals in 2019.
The 31-year-old Sarnian ended 2018 ranked 40th in the world, which he immediately admitted is ‘pretty disappointing’, but promising showings at the Black Ball Open in Cairo followed by the London Open last month have him looking forward with optimism to the new year.
‘It [40th] is certainly a lot lower than where I would have wanted to be now if you had asked this time last year,’ Simpson said.
‘Looking at the rankings, I think I can beat players above me, but it’s doing it and doing it consistently.
‘This season I started off really well in the US Open, I played two of my best matches there and it just so happened I had a tough draw with Gaultier in the second round, and I was feeling really optimistic about my season.
‘Then I just went on a roll of playing awfully. I think for five tournaments in a row I had first-round exits, although they were all winnable matches. I was just not playing well and it got to the point where I was not enjoying my squash.
‘But then the last month has been really good, I have got back to playing how I want to play – a bit more aggressive, which is what I worked on over the summer.’
Simpson’s next three major PSA Tour events all take place in America, with the Tournament of Champions in New York followed by the Motor City Open in Detroit and then the Chicago-based World Championships in February.
There is also the British Nationals in Nottingham to look forward to among those events.
‘I am not too bothered about getting my ranking up quickly. It’s just about getting good results and the ranking will follow,’ Simpson said.
‘I have never made a quarter-final of a World Series event – I have been very close – and that’s something I want to do in 2019.
‘The other goal, and I think I said this last year, is the Nationals. It’s not a ranking event, but for me it has always been a very prestigious and very important tournament.
‘Nick Matthew is not in there this time and he has won it 10 of the last 11 years I think.
More in Wednesday's Guernsey Press.
