Another magical finish to the ToC last night in Grand Central.

Packed to the gills in the bleachers (defending U.S. national champions Julian and Natalie up in the cheap seats) and six deep behind the front wall. Everyone in their seats ten minutes before the men’s final. It really was sold freaking out. 

A mob of media people. Richard Eaton was the UK journalist on site this time, here for just for his second ToC. Cameramen everywhere. I counted six photographers on court after the women’s final, although one was Natalie Grinham’s sister Rachael snapping a few shots for Mum back home—Rachael said to me that her mum gets so nervous that she can’t watch either of them play unless they are playing each other. 

I had trouble extricating myself from the post-match chit-chat—some of it with Tim Garner about his regular back-page column in Squash Player that focuses on transportation mishaps that continually plague pro players—and got over to Penn Station forty minutes after my train was scheduled to depart. Oddly, it had been delayed for some reason and was in the last minute of boarding when I walked into the foyer, so I gladly jumped on to it. Sometimes it pays to be blow off your schedule.