Matty Banting admits it’s a strange time to be sitting atop the World Qualifying Series ratings. With the WSL yet to make any announcement beyond the postponement/cancellation of all events up until the end of May, he’s been left to wonder if his best start to a season since he fell off tour has come during the worst possible year.
For one, all that beautiful momentum he carried through the Aussie leg has been halted in its tracks, left to simmer and sputter and hopefully fire up again once things get back underway.
But when is that? This year? The next? Surely the next …
Matty doesn’t know.
‘I was thinking it would be sick if the US Open was on in late July,’ he says.
‘I’d love it to be but I don’t think it’s going to happen.’
And if things do get pushed back to next year?
‘I was thinking hopefully they don’t wipe away the points, but I don’t think they will,’ Matty says.
The thing is, he’s already lost a year to injury, and another one at 25 going on 26 will do him no favours.
But what do you do?
If you’re Matt Banting, resident of Port Macquarie and the best surfer on the QS after 15 events, you surf and you train and you talk to your mate Beyrick De Vries and realise how lucky you are to still be doing those first two things. Beyrick is holed up in his home in South Africa, unable to do much of anything. Most of Matty’s rivals in Europe, the States, and South America are in the same boat.
That spells a possible edge if things do get underway sooner rather than later, but even beyond that, it’s just nice to get outside and go for a paddle.
‘I’m feeling pretty lucky,’ Matty says.
‘Just seeing my parents and still being able to exercise and stuff – it puts more appreciation back in the system.’
