Murr Center to Host Open

Batten down the hatches—the world’s best squash players will arrive at Harvard this weekend for the 2005 U.S. Open Squash Tournament.

It’s the first time that the Open, which will take place at the Crimson’s Murr Center Nov. 4-8, will be held at Harvard. It has taken place at Boston’s Symphony Hall for the past three years.

The Harvard squash teams’ traditional home in the Murr Center now includes the 13 glass-backed courts and one four-sided glass feature court, in addition to a temporary 700-seat squash arena located on the indoor tennis courts.

“I really think that our facilities will be showcased to the community over the four or five days that the tournament will take place,” said Harvard squash coach Satinder Bajwa. “There will be around 2,000 to 3,000 spectators, a lot of whom have not yet seen the Murr Center. Having this tournament will make sure that anyone who’s associated with squash will know about the Murr Center by the end of the tournament.”

The tournament will feature the 24 best male players in the world.

The competing women’s squash players range from No. 5 to No. 30 in the world rankings. The finals will be played starting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

Lily Lorentzen, a freshman on the Harvard women squash team, was one of the women competing in the tournament. Lorentzen lost to England’s Suzie Pierrepont yesterday in five sets, 9-4, 9-4, 8-10, 6-9, 9-0.

Earlier this week, she said she was looking forward to the weekend’s competition and the atmosphere that it will bring to Harvard.

“It’s always more exciting having a bigger crowd and it will be great in terms of what it will do for the community,” Lorentzen said. “It’s great to see the highest level squash coming here. It will be inspiring for people to watch.”

Lorentzen, a four-time 19-and-under junior national champion, a two-time U.S. junior team member, and the fifth-place finisher at the 2005 British Junior Open, was accepted into the class of 2008 but spent the past year-and-a half touring with the Women’s International Squash Player’s Association.

“This type of competitive environment is a normal event for me,” she said. “I’m always nervous for the event, but this one I actually feel really good about. I am a little more relaxed, especially because I am at school.”Bajwa echoed Lorentzen’s sentiments.

“I think watching the tournament will give a little bit of inspiration to my team,” he said. “My players can see the experts in the world doing their thing on the courts. It will give them motivation and help them to start getting excited about playing.”

“I’m excited that Harvard is holding the tournament because of the support the Harvard squash community will give the competitors,” Lorentzen added,

Junior Siddharth Suchde, who played in the Best of Boston Draw but did not make it to this weekend’s competition, said that the tournament will present a positive opportunity for viewers.

“It’s quite unique,” he said. “You don’t usually get to watch this level of competition right at your doorstep. The team will learn quite a bit from watching.”

As if the tournament itself were not anticipated enough, the arrival of additional events brings historical significance.

Before this year, the U.S. Open Tournament was exclusively a men’s event. Women’s and juniors’ events, however, will debut at the U.S. Open level this year.

“This is the first time at the U.S. Open that you’ll have women and juniors and men all playing at the same time,” Bajwa said. “The Harvard facility is able to cater to such a large-scale event. It would not be possible

Suchde encouraged the Harvard community to take note of the event.

“It’s an extremely enjoyable tournament to watch,” he said. “If you want to know something about squash, it would be great to go down and watch it.”

—Staff writer Samantha A. Papadakis can be reached at spapadak@fas.harvard.edu.

Despite touring internationally, Lorentzen noted that a tournament of this caliber tends to be an exciting learning experience for everyone involved.

“It’s a really good experience for me to play against girls that are at such a high level,” she said. “It gives me a reality check and I learn a lot from watching the other players.”