Walton squash professional Tom Richards is taking his comeback from injury step-by-step.
The 27-year-old, who has battled back after four months out with a hamstring problem, beat compatriot Ben Coleman 3-0 in the first round of the World Squash Championships in Manchester on Monday.
It set up a second round clash with former world number one and number three seed James Willstrop on Tuesday evening, which Richards lost 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 in just 39 minutes.
But he felt a run of good form was just around the corner.
“I’m not confident in my game at the moment, I think I’m lacking matches,” said the St George’s Hill club member.
“I’m not in top form, but I’m working hard and doing all the right things, so it’s only a matter of time.”
Richards’ training partner Walton’s Joe Lee crashed out 3-0 in the first round to India’s Saurav Ghosal also on Monday.
And for him it was back to the drawing board.
“It was a hard match and I feel like I didn’t do a lot wrong,” he added.
“My length wasn’t good enough and he was hitting a lot of winners. I’m pretty disappointed. The next step is to keep my excitement up.
“I’m going to bury my head for two days then get back into training ahead of my next tournament in Qatar.”
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