Squash Source

16 responses to “Equipment Report: British Open 2016”

1. Luis

   April 28, 2016

   Very interesting. This is really Pink Panther detective-worthy work. Thanks

   Reply
2. Aaron

   April 26, 2016

   Hi Pierre,
   Although it may be considerably more difficult to identify, it would be great to know which strings these pros are playing in their racquets.

   Reply
   1. Rasmus Petersen

      April 26, 2016

      Yeah, I was thinking the same, when I had a glimpse at the pictures earlier today – but didn’t put it in my comment exactly because of the difficulties with finding out.
      But it would be nice – and perhaps even to know the tension of them!

      It also struck me that it looks as if a lot them play with the Tecnifibre 305 (which by the way comes in three different gauges!)

      Reply
   2. Pierre

      April 27, 2016

      It’s tough to tell, although we could make some guesses.

      The green string has got to be Tecnifibre 305. We can’t tell the gauge, but that’s:

      • Max Lee
      • Omneya
      • Ramy
      • Salazar
      • Mayar Hany
      • Nicol
      • Greg
      • Raneem
      • Olivia Blatchford
      • Massaro
      • Gawad
      • Simpson
      • Joey Chan
      • Liu Tsz-Ling
      • Farag
      • Urquhart
      • Annie Au
      • Abouelghar
      • Willstrop

      The red string is probably Tecnifibre X-ONE Biphase:

      • Nicolette Fernandes
      • Nouran Gohar
      • Saurav Ghosal
      • Victoria Lust

      There are some that are kind of purple-ish and these might be Ashaway SuperNick XL Titanium:

      • Tesni Evans
      • Nicolas Mueller
      • Line Hansen

      For the black strings I’m just not sure, could be Tecnifibre 305+ or Tecnifibre DNAMX (especially the Tecnifibre racket players), possibly Ashaway PowerNick 19, could also be the Eye X.Tech strings (especially the Eye racket players) or the Harrow Barrage (Harrow players):

      • Coline Aumard (plays w/ Eye)
      • Amanda Sobhy (Harrow)
      • Simon Rosner (Oliver)
      • Nour El Sherbini (Tecnifibre)
      • Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Tecnifibre)
      • Camille Serne (Prince)
      • Mohamed El Shorbagy (Tecnifibre)
      • Omar Mosaad (Head)
      • Ryan Cuskelly (Harrow)
      • Fares Dessouky (Eye)

      There are some orange strings, which are Ashaway SuperNick ZX:

      • Adrian Waller
      • Raphael Kandra
      • Mathieu Castagnet

      These Harrow players may be playing with Harrow strings:

      • Nele Gilis – probably Harrow Barrage
      • Marwan El Shorbagy – Harrow T200 or T300N maybe
      • Fiona Moverly – Harrow T200 or T300N maybe
      • Heba El Torky – Harrow T200 or T300N maybe

      And then there are these characters:

      • Nick Matthew – heard he uses PowerNick 18 but I don’t get why the color would be different
      • Cameron Pilley – ??
      • Alison Waters – Ashaway SuperNick XL??
      • Coppinger – ??
      • SJ Perry – Ashaway ZX in the crosses and XL Micro in the mains ??????

      Reply
      1. D

         April 27, 2016

         Hi Pierre,

         A few years ago, I was able to buy uncolored Powernick 18 strings, also called “natural”, off squashgear. I suspect this is what Nick Matthew was using, I’m just not sure why. Maybe because Dunlop has white strings and red Powernick makes it obvious he’s sponsored by a different string manufacturer?

         As for Mueller, he uses Wilson strings:
         https://psaworldtour.com/players/view/966/info
         http://squash24seven.co.za/luxilon-pro-shot-rough.html

         Older wilson strings:
         https://twitter.com/muellernicolas/status/439812513870671872

         Sarah-Jane Perry I believe uses RAB Sensor Fibre strings, yellow:
         https://psaworldtour.com/players/view/7883
         https://hitthenick.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/we-ask-the-pros-strung-out/

         Reply
         1. Pierre

            April 27, 2016

            Thanks D, I didn’t realize the PSA Website sometimes lists their string sponsors!

            PowerNick 18 Natural: http://www.squashgear.com/aspow18squas.html

            Cameron Pilley uses Karakal apparently, so probably the Karakal Evolution 115: https://www.karakal.com/product.php/138/15/karakal_evolution_115_squash_strings_100m_coil

            Rosner uses Oliver SQX9: http://www.oliver-sport.de/en-sqx9-squash-strings-sqx-7/

            Coppinger uses Salming string apparently, but not sure which version

            Serme is listed as Prince, so maybe the Lightning XX: http://shop.princesquash.com/Lightning-XX-18-Black.aspx

            Cuskelly uses Tecnifibre: https://psaworldtour.com/players/view/1049/info

            Reply
3. German

   April 26, 2016

   Hi … I’d bought a pair of salming viper in December 2015 … But I’m not happy with those … The upper material is very bad .. And a little hard in the sole .. I do prefer the adidas stabil always

   Reply
4. D

   April 26, 2016

   Hey Pierre, Omneya doesn’t have her own signature version of the Vapor. She plays with the Harrow Stealth, which is 5g heavier, and a different balance.

   Cheers

   Reply
   1. Pierre

      April 26, 2016

      Hey D, yeah I had thought so too but Dave at Harrow told me at one point it was a custom Vapor. Check this photo:
      https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a94y7FGKUEiQdw9fZKykLg6m5lgq1xDNAtu5lhY6f4P3Adqwga5qAENOsK0O46Fh6aNazdoAfw=w1280-h1024-rw-no

      Reply
      1. D

         April 26, 2016

         Wow, that’s a great photo. Sneaky! Thanks for the clarification Pierre.

         Reply
         1. D

            April 26, 2016

            I definitely thought something was off that you everone else was correctly identified with the Stealth but not Omneya. Wrong I was!

            Reply
         2. Pierre

            April 26, 2016

            That’s a tricky one. It was nice of Steve Cubbins to take the exact photo we needed 🙂

            Reply
5. Rasmus Petersen

   April 26, 2016

   It looks as if Omneya Abdel Kawy and Raneem El Weleily are playing with the old version of the Harrow Vapor (black, green, yellowish) – whereas Ryan Cuskelly might be playing with the newer one (black and red).
   It just strikes me as a bit strange, since the old one is leaving the market – I mean; if the players are sponsored by Harrow, when then play with the old version? The rackets should be similar, as far as I know.

   Is Camille Serme’s special edition of the Prince Rebel possible to buy anywhere?

   Reply
   1. Pierre

      April 26, 2016

      Yes you’re right. Omneya actually has her own signature version — you can see them all on the Harrow Vapor page. The paint job can chance the weight of the racket slightly, so some players probably want to stick with exactly the same racket if they can.

      I heard Camille’s racket is not available for sale. Too bad, because it looks very cool.

      Reply
6. Carlos Porras

   April 26, 2016

   Well, there is no mention to Borja Golan and his Eye Rackets X.Lite 120 Control and his Salming Viper.
   PS: Recently he won his 14th Spanish Championship, clearly our best player ever!

   Reply
   1. Pierre

      April 26, 2016

      I didn’t see there were any pictures of Borja 🙁

      Reply