In the words of her British compatriot Nick Matthew, a three-time men’s world squash champion, Laura Massaro is “one of the few people” who got into the face of eight-time women’s world champion Nicol David when she seemed unconquerable, “and said, ‘OK, I’ve got respect for you but I’m not going to lie down for you just because you are Nicol David’.”
That fire still resides within Massaro, 32, and disappointed after losing to Egyptian Nour El Sherbini from 2-0 up in last month's World Open final, the 2013 world champion and world No 2 will be looking to make amends at this week's PSA World Series Finals in Dubai.
The top seeded woman in the draw, Massaro is also excited about Wednesday’s match with David, who she meets for the first time since losing to her in December’s Hong Kong Open final.
Excerpts from an interview with the winner of 17 tour titles:
You were up 2-0 against El Sherbini in World Open final and lost. Does that defeat still rankle?
Obviously it was disappointing to not to get over the finish line and finally win that match, but overall I feel as though the performance that week was really positive. I got some of my best squash out that week. I was 2-0 up against someone who went on to win it and then, obviously, take the No 1 spot. If I am 2-0 up here, I will be happy because it will mean I have won.
You finished at the top of the World Series rankings this season, so winning here should provide the perfect end to the season?
Yeah, my target is to finish the season off on a high. I have worked really hard all year at the World Series events to try and perform as well as I can and then qualify for the World Series Finals. So, certainly I will try and do as well as I can here. Obviously, it’s a little bit unknown with the format and the best-of-three matches instead of the best-of-five, so it will be really nice to get off to a good start.
You have been drawn in the same group as Nicol David. Looking forward to renewing your rivalry with her?
I haven’t played Nicol since maybe October of last year, so it will be exciting to get back on court and see how I fare.
You and David, both 32, are the elder stateswomen of the tour. What do you think of the youngsters like El Sherbini coming through?
It’s exciting. As one of the older players on the tour, you want to just carry on being a part of the new play that’s come in, try and grow your game, try not get too fixed with your own game and try and make sure that you adapt. The game moves on a lot quicker than I think anybody realises and the minute you stop improving, you are not only left behind but you are going backwards. So one minute you can be Top 5 in the world, next minute you can be outside the Top 10. So it’s just about keeping an eye on the game, keeping yourself hungry, trying to improve your own game as the younger ones are coming up as well.
You lost to David in the final of the last World Series Finals for women. This event is making a comeback to the calendar after missing out for two season. How important is it for women’s squash?
It’s like you are playing those World Series events all year and you hope to make the World Series Finals, and when it’s not on, it’s a real disappointment. I feel like it’s really given an edge to the World Series events that have been on all season. You know, you’ve always had one eye on how I am doing on the qualifying list; am I gonna make it to Dubai.The way that we have been treated here this week so far is amazing. I think, with it being the first year, I guess people were a bit unsure of how that would go, but knowing how it’s gone this year and everyone would definitely want to be back next year. It’s definitely going to add something for next season for people trying to qualify I think.
You talked about Dubai… how important is this for squash? To visit new markets?
It’s hugely important to just try and grow the sport. Obviously we are looking to try and get into the Olympics if we can and grow the sport worldwide, get more people playing it and enjoying the game. I have only been here a couple of days and I have met so many people who are keen squash players. They just love the sport and follow everything on SQUASHTV. So it’s really nice to see the passion that’s behind a lot of that.
But squash does struggle to get enough columns of print space?
It is really difficult trying to get into newspapers, onto media outlets, onto sports channels that are already inundated with other sports as well. So you’re obviously fighting against other really high quality sports. We did an exhibition challenge with the darts players who are here this week, this morning on the squash courts. It’s things like that that can really raise the profile of sports. But ultimately, it’s about getting participation, it’s getting people to play the game and then the more people play the game, the more people will watch it when its on TV and the more people will get involved. So yeah, it’s a tough situation to be in, but everyone’s doing the best they possibly can.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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