J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions 2020 Program

John G. Nimick
Tournament Chairman
President, Squash Engine Inc.
During the fall, I regularly asked my team, “What’s new about this year’s ToC?
What will the audience remember? What will they think is special
about 2020?”
Once again, we’ll have all the world’s best players here, including three-time
champion Nour El Sherbini, who will take her shot at tying the incomparable
Jonathon Power with four ToC titles in the event’s modern era. Mohamed
Elshorbagy, one of the true gentlemen of squash, will be going for title No. 3,
potentially leveling him with superstars Peter Nicol and Ramy Ashour. We
are thrilled to welcome Greg Gaultier back to center court after his forced
absence due to injury and surgery, and we will wave the stars and stripes when
Amanda Sobhy mounts her effort to become the first American to win the title
since 1992. The RAM Challenge, and the privilege of having both Ramy Ashour
and Nick Matthew back at ToC, will be a major highlight of the week.
But what’s new? We’ve pretty much settled on the right set up for the arena.
We can’t jam in any more seats or many more lights, speakers or screens.
We’re up to 28 sessions of play and we expect to welcome a record of more
than 13,000 ticketed spectators; tens of thousands more will watch for free by
the front wall. We also have some of the finest and longest-serving sponsors
— J.P. Morgan, Lexington Partners, NBCUniversal and Dunlop, to name four —
that any annual sporting event could hope to have.
I got my answer a few weeks ago when I heard a disk jockey on the radio ask
Bruce Springsteen the same question. “How do you still bring energy and
meaning to performing a hit from ’75?” he was asked “You must have played
Born to Run 5,000 times.”
The grizzled rocker with the black leather jacket and a white Fender Telecaster
slung over his back responded, “You got a dog?”
“No.”
“Well, I got a dog. I take that dog for a walk around the block twice a day when
I’m home, and I got a big block. It don’t matter if it’s rainin’ or hotter than
Hades. It don’t matter if we go at sunrise or in the dead of night. Me and my
dog love to go around the block.”
Sometimes it’s not what’s new. Sometimes the joy is in the work itself, in
hearing the audience cheer, stomp and whistle, while you play that song the
best you can. That’s what we’ll be doing this year, we’ll run the 2020
J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions the best we can.
John G. Nimick
Tournament Chairman
President, Squash Engine Inc.