Nadal slayer’s tattoo inspires Thame pro squash player

A young, world-ranked squash player from Thame, has spoken about how tennis player, Stanislas Wawrinka’s win against Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open over the weekend, inspired him not to give up after his own defeat.

Wawrinka’s tatoo (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Will John, a former pupil at Lord Williams’s School, Thame, is currently playing in a PSA (Professional Squash Association) event in Canada, and was seriously thinking of giving up squash after a 3 – 0 defeat in a qualifying final at Bankers Hall PSA Challenger 10, match in Calgary, last Thursday (23/01).

A downcast Will wrote in his blog: “Today I lost 3-0 against Reiko Peter world ranked #119. If I don’t get some results soon I will be reconsidering my future as a squash player……….maybe I should go to university and have a great time. Maybe get a job and earn some money. Go out a lot more. Have a car. Be independent. That all sounds quite nice to me! So why am I still here? Why am I still doing this? Travelling half way around the world to still under achieve. Something won’t let me stop. There is a drive within me. But that is on thin ice now. I am going to do everything I can to make this step forwards but I don’t know if it is going to be enough. I have had very little in the form of validation that I can be a top player. Only mine and a select few’s belief.

I would say I have 7 months to show that I can do this. Or that’s it.”

Then, among the encouraging and sympathetic emails from members of Will’s Squash Club, Racquets, Thame, came one from a friend telling him about a poet, Samuel Beckett reference, that Wawrinka has tattooed on his left forearm – ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’

Four or five days later, Will wrote: “Thank you for all the messages I have received after my loss in Calgary. I went through a hard time questioning myself a lot as you could all see from my last post. But four or five days later and now I feel I have learned how to be a bit kinder to myself to support myself rather than leaving myself high and dry out there.

“A lot of people said they thought I was beating myself up and being too hard on myself. A huge part of the game and life comes from within so if you’re talking bad to yourself then that’s only gonna slow things down. So thank you for helping me to realise that.”

Today, as this article is being written, Will is playing against Michael Harris of England, ranked at 128. Everyone at Racquets and Will’s other friends in Thame, are hopeful of some good news from Calgary later today. But even if he doesn’t win, no doubt Will John will, like all top sports people, learn from his defeats and lose better next time.