Mike Corren is a PSA touring pro, currently recuperating from injury in New Zealand. Mike's world ranking peaked in 2004 at #38, but he has vowed to threaten that again next year when he returns to the circuit. With some luck we should see quite a bit of Mike in 2007 when he bases with Sport and Health to attack the US circuit later in the year. In the meantime enjoy his entertaining style and relive what he calls  "the single greatest performance by a sportsman over successive days". In this story Mike brings to life a week of squash that stays with many Australians who witnessed Rodney Martin overcome a supreme run of opposition players, including the mighty Khans, to win the 1991 World Championship. Whilst never dominating in the way Hunt or the Khans did through their respective eras Martin was nevertheless a great player whose extraordinarily quick hands could dispatch a devastating array of shots and bring a gallery to its feet. (Ed.)

        In any sport, a fan or enthusiast could go back and talk about epic performances by an individual or a team, after all, that's what legends are made of! In boxing you have the Rumble in the Jungle and any one of the three Ali v Frazier fights, Michael Jordon haunting the Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs or how about Pete Sampras throwing down aces while sobbing between points for his ill coach in the Australian Open against Jim Courier?

Examples abound, and yes, in Squash we have our fair share as well, and wouldn't it be fantastic if sports fans around the world would re-tell the tale of Jonah Barrington's breaking of Abou Taleb in the 1966 British Open Quarter Final; or the great Geoff Hunt coming back from the dead to win his eighth and final British Open against the seventeen year old Jahangir in 1981? You have Chris Dittmar's effort in beating Jahangir for the first time in the semi final of the '89 Worlds in Malaysia and then losing the next day from 2-0 up against Jansher. In so called "modern times" you then have Pete Nicol's come back from the dead victory against John Power in the 2003 British Open semis. All classic encounters to go down in legend and to match any example from any sport at ANY time! (no bias there WHATSOEVER!) But think about this, how many sports out there can boast a performance by an individual who takes out three of the greatest players who lived on successive days, and with no excuses, just cleanly outplayed on the day? Well, Rodney Martin can put Squash in a fairly good position to claim bragging rights on that feat!

The event that Rodney "chose" to unleash this performance, was the 1991 World Open in Adelaide (good timing), and to do this Rod was faced with the prospect of meeting Jansher Khan, the world's #1 in the quarters, Chris Dittmar the #3 in the semis, and the world's number two, Jahangir, in the final. Dittmar for example, was going after a World crown that he dearly wanted in his home town and had targeted the event and in doing so had put in a  huge work load to prepare for it. Rod's record against Dittmar was fair with the edge going to the big left hander from pure consistency, also Dittmar had defeated Rod in the National League that had been set up over that Australian season, not to mention beating Jansher 3-1 in a $20,000 winner take all challenge match held in Melbourne! Jansher was...well....Jansher! Number one in the world and already reigning and three times World Champion. Court coverage and fitness supreme, a daunting task to anybody, even the great Jahangir.

Speaking of Jahangir, 1991 had been a classic year thus far for him. After pulling out of the 1990 World Open with claims of fatigue and an impending marriage, he had been written off as burnt out and finished. Yet, he lined up for the first tournament of the year, the Welsh Leekes Classic, overweight but apparently working hard, aiming once again for that British crown. He had defeated Rod in an ugly Quarter Final showdown, with Martin accusing Jahangir of deliberate blocking tactics. Jahangir went on to lose the next day to Chris Robertson and then in the final of the next event to Jansher (Spanish Open). Rod again lost to Jahangir 3-1 in the final of the French Open, which marked Jahangir's second tournament victory in a row, and just as significantly, his second win over Jansher in as many events (German Open)Jahangir went on to beat Dittmar in Scotland and then topped it off with a tenth British Open in a row beating an erratic Martin in the semis and totally deflating Jansher 3-1 in the final. There was a gap during the summer leading up to Adelaide where the majority of the Aussies went home, except Robertson, who stayed on in Europe and lost to Jahangir in the final of the Italian Open.

So the form man HAD to be Jahangir, he was fit and hungry again and the World Open would be the perfect way to top it all off for the great man. Dittmar was the dark horse, perhaps the sentimental favourite, not to mention an excellent record in  World Opens past. Jansher was the reigning champ and always roared back after being defeated. Chris Robertson would be there as ever, the tactician, gnawing away at the heels like an annoying terrier! (sorry Robbo!)Funnily enough, Rod didn't seem to come into the equation at the time, quite silly seeing the man was a three time runner up in the British Open! Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise as the pressure was firmly at the feet of his rivals.

As the early rounds progressed the form book was running to plan, Jansher disposed of Mark Cairns in straight games, Dittmar destroyed Brett Newton, Rod dropped the first to Jason Nicolle and Jahangir also dropped a game to Paul Carter. Play then moved to the glass court and Jansher continued his attack beating Sami Elopuro, again 3-0. Dittmar made mince meat out of young country man and future top ten player Craig "nugget" Rowland, Jahangir enjoyed a straight game win over up and comer Pete Marshall and Martin beat fellow AIS player Adam Schreiber 3-0.

So as the quarters began things were looking "steady"! Jahangir destroyed Ross Norman 3-0, Dittmar beating Anthony Hill to the bare minimum of points and Robertson taking out Brett Martin 3-1 in their usual highly entertaining clash of styles.....then came....the match to fire up the event! Perhaps one thing that was on Jansher's mind as he started this match was the worrying notion that if Rod was "on", things could get a little out of hand, especially seeing this was Australia and that Rod had Geoff Hunt on hand to talk tactics with. The opening rallies though looked custom made for Jansher, long, searching and with Jansher finishing with some lovely touches, especially with the forehand drop, things looked gloomy for the Aussie. But then Martin's play became tighter and tighter, almost hypnotic, and Jansher was well and truly caught in the spell, like a fly in the spider's web. Loose balls were simply hit for clean winners in the style that only Martin could execute. In the second game Jansher's head went down, he recognized the signs and knew, that on this day, there was no escape. Amazing!

In 34 minutes Martin had destroyed the champion and in doing so, set the event alight! Could he keep it going though? He was next faced with Dittmar who had ripped his three opponents apart not dropping more than a hand full of points along the way. Daunting stuff! Rod though, did have an edge. All of Dittmar's opponents leading up to this Semi Final clash had been utterly devastated with no seeming resistance at all. This was awesome in one respect but in another, Dittmar hadn't been tested, blooded...where as Rod had had a tussle in the first round and also had to get his play to the highest level in order to displace Jansher. As the match started that theory seemed a tad silly as Dittmar went to 10-0 unanswered with almost perfect squash. His mixture of length and short play was spot on and all Martin could do was hold on and hope for something to fall off! And it did! Dittmar's mixture of length and short play all of a sudden became lop sided in favor of the short game, and giving an on-form Rod Martin the front court too early was the worse kind of trouble! Dittmar took that game 15-5 but now had a dogfight on his hands! He again started the second like a train but this time it was only for a 2-0 lead as Martin started peppering the nicks and returning the pressure superbly. This match in it's own way is some of the highest quality squash I have ever witnessed, the pressure of the rallies, the length and all out attack, in short it had everything. Martin took the next three games 15-13 17-14 15-13, but there was something that the close score line couldn't tell, it was the feeling of the hold that Martin had over the match which even Dittmar commented on. " I was in every game but just felt that I was struggling to keep up, I feel like I'm in a daze right now, like I wish we could get up and start it all over again".

Martin's victory had set up a showdown with his nemesis Jahangir who had beaten Robertson 3-1 in a display of nicks and volleys that were truly devastating, in fact, it was true credit to all of Robbo's fighting abilities that he was able to nab the second game 15-14, such was the quality of Jahangir's offensive.

I'm not sure how well Rod must have slept the night before the final with Jahankir (JK), his record against the great man in big finals was 0-3 and the nature of his matches with Khan as the years progressed must have also worried him, he showed increasing frustration with JK's tactics and this had upset his game accordingly. What we didn't know is that Rod had worked during the summer with Ian Lynaugh (Father of Rugby International Michael) on his mental approach to the game and especially on his approach to facing Jahangir who had thwarted him in the British Open every year since 1987. Jahangir on the other hand, must have slept like a baby, snug in his PJ's with his mug of warm milk next to him and his teddy (little ted?!) close at hand, safe in the knowledge that he had defeated the Aussie time after time and that after all, this would be just another chapter in his legend and that it was....meant to be!

Rod had both Geoff Hunt's and Kenny Hiscoe's advice to draw on, and both had definite ideas about how to play the great man, mainly that he needed to be broken up with rhythm, that if you allowed him to set off at his 'million miles per hour' pace you would be a walking dead man. As the match began, Jahangir's familiar pattern was unleashed, with Hunt, now in his role as TV Commentator praising his old rival for his breathtaking power and pace. Martin was keeping up though, there was a few nervous errors, but also some great winners, after all he WAS five in the world at the time and one of the deadliest strikers of the ball EVER, a steam rolling was never on the cards. Jahangir pinched the first game 17-14 and it looked to the untrained eye like plain sailing ahead and a seventh World Open on the cards. Oh how very wrong! Martin came out in the second and completely changed the pace of the match, a total chalk and cheese transformation. Jahangir's rhythm was broken and also alongside his points deficit he was becoming increasingly annoyed with the decisions of the referee, one Chas Evans of New Zealand.

Now, I have met Chas in his native NZ and found him to be firstly, a man with a great passion for the game and secondly, somebody who will stand firm in his beliefs! It seemed that Chas, unlike a lot of the English ref's of the time, felt that yes Jahangir did indeed have a habit of blocking and standing on the ball, and that perhaps his legend and reputation had blinded the judgment of certain refs. This presented JK with a host of problems, first the obvious, he was being given 'no lets' and 'strokes' against  in situations where he was unfamiliar...so he was losing points. Second, because he had been accustomed to a certain way of being treated regarding decisions, he now felt victimized, and perhaps worst of all, Rodney now felt justified and supported. The second game went 15-9 to Rod and the third was a pure Martin master class at 15-4, Jahangir's head was down, could the unthinkable happen? Being the great player and legend he was, JK fought back hard in the fourth, but the momentum was with Martin and there was that same feeling of impending doom that Dittmar faced. At 13-13 there was a disputed decision over a ball that JK thought hit the tin, on replay the ball looked to be a tad too close to the top edge, even Hunt thought it may have been down, but it certainly wasn't clear cut and after being blooded on the circuit for five years against some of the roughest and toughest players of all time, there was no way Martin was going to be offering to play a let ball! The last point was pure magic with Martin hitting a forehand drop into the front corner nick from an angle that, well, defied logic somewhat! Jahangir looked stunned, Rod did a celebratory war dance, Geoff Hunt was lost for words, and the crowd of course went crazy!

 The win over Jahangir capped a series of performances for Martin in the tournament that would go down in squash history. The top three players in the world, two of which are rated the greatest ever, the other certainly the toughest! All three victories made against all unique challenges and circumstances. Martin did indeed have other performance highs after this victory until injury cruelly cut him down well before his time, but something that will never be taken away is what could be called the single greatest performance by a sportsman over successive days. Now I would argue for that one at the bar ANY day!