Bermudian World Champ to Defend Title
Most Bermudians have probably never heard of the sport of ‘Rackets’ even though the current World Champion is a Bermudian, James Stout, who is best known on the Island as an outstanding squash player.
Squash is probably the closest game to Rackets, which began in the 18th century in British Prisons, but is now played only at a few exclusive courts, mainly in the UK and North America.
Played on a peculiar indoor court with a hard slate floor, it also has what appear to be rather strange rules if you happen to be the World Champion. James has held the title for the past 2 years and has never been challenged – until now. In order to make a challenge, a player has to win a series of major international tournaments and amass enough points to satisfy the governing body of the sport that he is a worthy challenger.
Alex Titchener-Barrett of England narrowly defeated James in the 2010 British Open, and he has since qualified to make a challenge, so the two men will face off against each other in two matches, one at the New York Racquet and Tennis Club on Saturday 13 November, and the second leg at the Queen’s Club in London on 20 November. Each of the 2 matches are best of 7 games (each game goes to 15 points, similar to squash). However, there is a complicated system for deciding how many games they have to play in the second leg if one player convincingly wins the first match in New York. When James won the World Championship he won the first match 4-1 in New York and only had to win 2 games in London to take the title. Yes, it is complicated!
These two top players have faced each other on five previous occasions, with James holding a slight edge with 3 wins and 2 losses.
When asked about the chances of retaining his title James said, “I’ve been training hard and I feel confident that I’m up for the challenge. I’m looking forward to it.” During their last encounter in the British Open, James suffered from leg cramps and despite taking an early lead he eventually lost 4-3 in the closest of matches. He explained, “Rackets is really tough on the body compared to squash. There’s a lot of twisting and turning, and rather than wooden floors with some give, rackets is played on a very hard slate floor. Matches can also be much longer and can last for up to 3 hours. That’s why fitness is very important.”
Stout is currently a rackets and squash coach at the prestigous New York Racquet and Tennis Club so he will be playing on his home court in the first match. He first took up racquets as a 13 year old when he attended Cheltenham College in England. Prior to that he had been an outstanding squash player who excelled in the BSRA’s Junior Squash Programme. His parents, John and Karen Stout will be there to cheer him on during the first leg in New York, and they will also travel to London for the second leg on 20th November along with two of his brothers, Andrew and Christopher, who are both keen squash players, as is his father.
James has the unique distinction of being the only Bermudian to ever hold the title of World Rackets Champion and he is the first person from outside the U.K and the U.S. to hold the title for almost 100 years. The only other person to do was, J. Jamsetji of India who held the title from 1903–1911.
James also has the unique distinction of being the only person for over a century to hold both the U.S. Open Rackets title and the U.S. Open Real Tennis title (another ancient racket sport and a pre-cursor of tennis).
