Rebecca Macree Enters World Open
Date: 2002-10-28
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England's Squash World # 11 Rebecca "Bex" Macree has confirmed that she will take part in Gothenburg Racketlon World Open.

Together with Magnus "Gusten" Gustafsson Macree will be the only World Open participant of World Top 10 standard in any of the individual disciplines. But whereas Gusten has retired from top international tennis Bex, 31, is still active, desperately trying to re-enter the World Top 10 list from her present #11 position.

Macree's entry means that the English team will finally be complete. Until now the English have missed a lady and was hoping to perhaps borrow one from Scotland - a proposal firmly turned down by the Scots. According to Scottish team captain Phil Reid both of the Scottish ladies would "rather be in league with the devil". Since the point in time when Reid was informed about England's new entrant, however, his language has been less confident and he has been described as "a little perturbed" that England have managed to find themselves "a lady of such quality". A very prestigeous team match for third prize between England and Scotland is expected to take place on Friday evening 19:30.

But it remains to be seen how much of a threat Macree will turn out to be. One should keep in mind that this is her first ever appearance in a Racketlon context and apparently she has little experience in any of the other racket sports. Nevertheless, Bex has reportedly spent the last couple of days on racketlon courts training for World Open and there is little doubt that the points she will loose in squash will be easily counted. Also, there seems to be no doubt about her competitive nature.

Macree, a squash professional since the age of 18, has recently attracted the attention of English media by adopting a Serena Williams style eye-popping, skin-tight all-in-one match suit and consensus seems to be that she "has shown the yank just how it should look". See pictures! The World Open management team under the lead of Håkan Granberg puts great hope into the expectations that she might wear the catsuit in Gothenburg ...considering the impact this might have on the image of the tournament and even the game of Racketlon.

Another fascinating fact out of several about Bex is that she currently serves a 42-day ban from Squash imposed on her by the Women's International Squash Players' Association for misconduct on court. The ban meant that she could not play in the Squash World Open tournament in Qatar. But frankly, who needs a Squash World Open when the best racket player in the world is appointed at the Racketlon World Open? Bex should rest assure that there will be no bans imposed on her in Gothenburg. Instead, the World Open management team will appreciate some refreshing temperament on court and are proud to welcome Bex to the game of Racketlon.

Bex will enter the tournament in the English team match against Finland. Friday evening, 5 o'clock. More fascinating facts about Bex here.

 


Bex. In catsuit.

 

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