Fifteen Years Ago in Squash Magazine June/July 2002
Martin Bronstein reported on the 2002 British Open winner and favorite cover subject Sarah Fitz-Gerald. At the age of thirty-three, Fitz-Gerald romped to victory without losing a game (she gave up just twenty-eight points the entire tournament). Less than a year later, the Australian retired. Based in Melbourne, Fitz-Gerald has trained pros like Nicol David and Dipika Pallikal Karthik as well as led World Squash Federation coaching conferences; she and her husband Cameron are Oceania agents for CourtTech and have built or renovated more than thirty courts in Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia and New Zealand; and last year she was elected a vice president of the WSF. Now forty-eight, she’s still a force on court. She has captured three World Masters titles, including back-to-back 45+, as well as three British Open Masters titles, and is guiding a tour group of Aussies to the 2018 World Masters next summer in Charlottesville.
Ten Years Ago in Squash Magazine June 2007
Mike Corren wrote a remembrance of the epic men’s 1991 World Open in Adelaide, Australia, with compelling photographs by Steve Line. Rodney Martin, seeded five, knocked out the top three players in the world in stunning succession: Jansher Khan in the quarters, Chris Dittmar in the semis and Jahangir Khan in the finals. After capturing four more PSA titles including the 1991 U.S. Open, Martin retired in 1994. He worked at the Australian Institute of Sport for a decade, training a generation of Australian champions. In 2003 he moved to the States. Now based in Greenwich, Martin has privately trained dozens of American juniors, including national champion Chris Hanson; and he is a coaching home-away-from-home for many touring Australians. Fifty-one, Martin divides his time between the States and Australia: he and his wife Amelia (former world No. 26) have taken over her parents’ eight-court club in Melbourne, Tonic Squash & Gym, and they are looking at building a club in Brisbane.
Five Years Ago in Squash Magazine June/July 2012
Richard Eaton chronicled the 2012 British Open, the first after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. Nick Matthew, defending champion, cruised to his third British Open title, becoming the first Englishman to ever capture three. Since then, Matthew has published his memoir, Sweating Blood: My Life in Squash; had a daughter, Charlotte Rose, in September 2014; stayed the top five in the world rankings; won twelve more PSA tournaments, including the 2013 World Championship; led England to victory in the 2013 World Team Championship; totted up his eighth British national championship; and was awarded an Order of the British Empire. Matthew turns thirty-seven next month. After his performances this spring—winning at Canary Wharf and reaching the finals of the British Open—his pending retirement is very much on hold.
