MIDTOWN — The horde of commuters and tourists bustling through historic Grand Central Terminal over the next week will be treated to an odd sight — world-renowned squash players pounding it out inside a four-wall glass cube at Vanderbilt Hall.
The J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions is expected to draw 48 professional squash players who will vie for the title in full view of roughly 200,000 onlookers, said Beth Rasin, the tournament's associate director.
“Players love the event,” Rasin said. “And they also love the setting.”
The TOC, as the tournament is known in squash circles, is now in its 15th year at Grand Central. Organizers have taken over Vanderbilt Hall, using its east side to house the glass-walled court and stadium seating. A bar and a retail store on the west side of the hall will allow squash aficionados to mingle.
“We are the only annual sporting event held in Grand Central Terminal,” Rasin said.
The male and female players hail from more than 20 countries.
Amr Shabana, of Egypt, was the No. 1 player in the world from 2006 to 2009. He's 32 now and a self-proclaimed "dinosaur" of the sport.
Still, he's hoping to go home with the top title — a feat he managed in 2006 and 2007.
“The only thing going for me now is experience,” Shabana, who is ranked eighth worldwide, said with a smile.
Friday marks the official start of the tournament, but on Thursday night a few squash-world notables faced off in the Legends Showdown — a couple of good-natured exhibition matches for veterans of the sport.
Peter Nicol, a three-time TOC title winner, was busy hitting balls inside the glass cube on Thursday afternoon in advance of the evening’s matches.
“It’s absolutely fabulous to play in Vanderbilt Hall,” said Nicol, a native of Scotland who was a squash all-star in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“There’s an energy to it,” he continued. “When I was younger, I found the energy difficult, but as I got older, I got to appreciate the noise and everything else.”
Squash is a game of movement, Nicol said, with the players navigating a limited space to connect their racket with the ball without letting it bounce more than once.
“It’s a bit of a dance,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a bit of a fight.”
Nicol is retired now, but when he was an active competitor, he said the TOC was one of the top four events he looked forward to every year.
Although he enjoyed a lengthy career playing professional squash, Nicol said he is happy to be competing against other retired players now.
"Have you seen these guys?” he said, smiling as he pointed out two younger men competing in court behind him. “I don’t want to play them anymore."
Courtside tickets range from $8 to $160, or visitors can simply walk inside the station’s entrance at 42nd Street and Park Avenue and peer through the glass wall.
The tournament is scheduled to run through Thursday, Jan. 26.
