The 2018 FS Investments U.S Open Squash Championships has featured a number of exciting ways for fans to engage with all the action.
The Dunlop Meet & Greet Experience allowed John Cranmer to have the rare opportunity to spend time with a PSA professional. They were thrilled to talk with Nour El Tayeb, the world No.3 from Egypt. They talked about her training regimen, her hopes for this season and life on the PSA World Tour. Cranmer first picked up squash in the early 1990s at Rutgers School of Law—Camden, playing on new hardball courts. He now plays at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. He received a Dunlop Prize Pack, including a racquet bag, racquet and other gear.
The Hit With a Pro contest occurred on semifinal night. Saurav Ghosal, the world No.11 from India, hit with Pedro Ferreira. A native of Lisbon, Ferreira has lived in the U.S. since 1999. He and his wife live in Pittsburgh; he is a professor of social media and data at Carnegie Mellon. He is an active player at CMU’s courts. a Philadelphia who is an avid fan of the U.S. Open. They played on the ASB GlassCourt for a half hour. Afterwards, also Ferreira received a Dunlop Price Pack.
In addition, each night at the U.S. Open has featured other fan engagement with prizes and Dunlop gear: tee-shirt, hats, sweatbands and white balls autographed by top players as giveaways in between games; lucky row giveaways; and guess the game score and the match time contests.
Perhaps the most exciting new initiative was the Dunlop Racquet Spin. Randomly selected spectators and participants from SquashSmarts, the Philadelphia youth enrichment program, came on court to determine who serves in all the semifinal matches.
Dunlop is an official ball and eyeguard sponsor of US Squash and a U.S. Open sponsor and the official ball of the PSA.
Moreover, twenty-five different groups—middle, high school and college programs and East Coast clubs—each enjoyed a bespoke U.S. Open evening. They met players, received giveaways and shared a special experience at the Open.