Reporting by Sylvain Ternon
There are always players who get luckier than others in racketlon draws – and this year the top half of the Men’s Elite is absolutely stacked. Luke Griffiths, apparently, is allergic to easy draws.
A three-time World Champion who rarely, if ever, enjoys a favorable draw, Luke once again seems destined to take the hardest possible route.
But in the end, maybe that’s exactly what he needs to bring out the very best in himself.
This year will be no exception. His draw could certainly have been worse… but not by much.
No warm-up rounds in sight: his theoretical path to a fourth World Title starts with Henrik Mustonen of Finland, then looks set to go through Swede Jesper Hedlund, number one seed from the Netherlands Koen Hageraats, racketlon legend Jesper Ratzer, and then Joerg Kanonenberg in the final. Just writing those names makes me tired.
It is largely down to the fact that he does not play as many World Tour tournaments as others. With just six, it is the lowest of the top ten, a half or even a third of his peers there, naturally affecting his seeding (he is seeded fifth here).
Needless to say, it won’t be a walk in the park. Even so, he remains, in my opinion, the clear favorite to win this year’s title.
Sadly Luke’s brother Leon will be unable to defend his title as he has an injury he has been unable to shake off in time for the tournament.
Despite the advantage of seeing Joerg, placed in the opposite half of the draw (a very dangerous matchup for Koen), Koen Hageraats will most likely have to face Luke in the quarter-finals.
Against the Brit, he still hasn’t found the key. And I’m certainly not the one who can help him with that, because I never found it either…
Winning the table tennis and badminton battle will be extremely difficult, and the squash and tennis combination looks even tougher. A huge challenge awaits Koen in what could be his last opportunity on home soil.
In my opinion, his best chance lies in squash. Can he find the inspiration to keep Luke to around 12 or 13 points and put him under pressure before tennis? I’m not so sure.
To make matters worse, the home favorite can’t even hope for an early upset against Luke that would have brought Henrik into his quarter-final instead. Henrik has, quite simply, probably the worst possible profile for Koen, largely due to Koen’s very strong squash being basically taken away by the fact that Henrik is/was a pro squash player.
Jasper Ratzer: here we go again!
With all due respect to my fellow countryman Julien Castel, one of the tournament’s seeded players, it seems very likely Jesper will reach the quarter-finals without too much trouble.
That would set up a highly anticipated clash between Malte Thyregod. They know each other well, being compatriots and having teamed up to win the World Doubles this year and played each other in the attached singles tournament.
Malte will, however, need to be careful of some promising young Brits. First, he plays Anant Gupta, finalist this year at the British Champs, and then, if he wins, the winner of Jamie Watkins-Rees and Matthew Davidson.
Despite Malte’s very impressive performance against Jesper in Denmark, where he won 21-23, 21-14, 7-21, 21-8, I expect Jesper to have prepared exactly as he should and to be fully ready this time.
I therefore see Jesper reaching the semi-finals against Luke, although I believe Malte has what it takes to challenge him in three of the four disciplines. The difference in squash should ultimately prove decisive in Jesper’s favor.
The top-half semi-final
Will the third meeting finally be the one for Jesper? We’d all love to see it. It would be a fantastic story, 13 years after his first world title.
But reality doesn’t care much about stories. So if I have to give a clear prediction, the advantage goes to the new generation.
Luke has, in my opinion, the weapons to make the difference in tennis and badminton, which should compensate for any disadvantage he has in squash.
Table tennis could be extremely close. The attacking style of both players could create significant gaps if either one gets “in the zone.”
Once again, this will be the match to watch at these World Championships – if it happens again.
Lengghenhager’s year? Silver for Joerg?
Let’s be realistic: very few people would bet on the next World Champion coming from this half of the draw. That said, it’s still an extremely interesting section.
Nicolas Lenggenhager, the number three seed, starts as the favorite in the third quarter. A potential quarter-final against Bohm would give him a significant edge based on their previous meetings – 7-1 in the Swiss’ favour, with the German’s only win being an 11-up match in the 2024 World Tour Finals and apart from that Nicolas winning all 21 sets played (albeit things have been slightly closer in their three meetings this season).
The real danger may come in the second round, where he would play the winner of a match between the experienced Jimmy Tay and 2024 World B Champion Jonathan Ritter, in what looks like a very tight contest.
Even so, I’m backing Nicolas to reach a historic first World Championship semi-final, earning the opportunity to face Joerg for a place in the final.
Joerg firing to the final?
Joerg Kanonenberg, who commentator this year John Williams, has dubbed ‘The Canon’, faces President of Norway Racketlon Ola Ulmo in the first round.
Also, the rising youngster Matěj Volf or Thorsten Lenfter might pose some threat. However, I trust Joerg’s versatility and consistency to reach the semi-finals without too many problems.
Then comes the big question: which of Nicolas and Joerg will reach the final? Overall, across singles and doubles matches, it is seven wins apiece. In singles, Joerg has a 3-1 head-to-head record, but that goes to 3-2 if you count their rubber in last year’s Team Championships match between Switzerland and Germany, which Nicolas had the better of, very slightly – 32 points to 31.
Even more intriguingly, the sports can go either way. Joerg has always comfortably won their tennis sets and Nicolas has won all the badminton sets, but one of them was only 11 10 and table tennis and squash have gone different ways on different occasions.
I tip Nicolas to have an advantage going into tennis. The question is whether that lead will be enough to withstand Joerg’s inevitable comeback in tennis.
Unfortunately for Nicolas, I don’t think it will. Joerg is mentally one of the strongest players in the field, and tactically one of the smartest.
He always finds solutions to limit the damage in the disciplines where he’s expected to struggle. I can see him making up the deficit in tennis and booking his place in the final.
To wrap things up, there are undoubtedly some great matches in store, particularly Luke’s match with Mustonen and his likely encounters with Koen and Jesper.
The bottom half will also have my full attention because of what’s at stake. Whoever comes through that half of the draw will become a first-time World Championship finalist.
That alone promises a bottom-half semi-final that should be every bit as exciting as it is unpredictable!
