Valokuvaaja Sofia Tapolan squashin maailman rankingykkösiä esittelevä upea näyttely, osa 5/5. Viidentenä vuorossa on kolminkertainen maailmanmestari Nick Matthew.
The only Englishman to win a World Championship title, Nick Matthew is one of the greatest British players to play the game.
Nicknamed ‘The Wolf’, Matthew’s talent for the sport was clear at a young age. He was crowned the 1999 British Junior Open Champion after reaching the semi-final of the World Junior Championships the year before.
2006 saw Matthew become the first Englishman to win the British Open since 1939, defeating Frenchman Thierry Lincou 3-2 in a five-set-thriller in the showpiece final but it was 2009 that saw Matthew fly up the to become World No.1 for the first time.
Matthew played a starring role at the 2010 Commonwealth Games for England, winning the Gold medal with defeat of compatriot James Willstrop in the final before going on to defeat Willstrop again to become the first Englishman to win the World Championship.
He followed that up by winning the event again the year after, this time beating Gregory Gaultier at the final hurdle to add it to his list of accolades. October 2013 saw Matthew release his autobiography, Sweating Blood: My Life in Squash to positive critical acclaim.
The Englishman won the World Championship again in November of that year, defeating Gaultier once more and he became the first man to retain Gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, defeating Willstrop again in the singles. Matthew finished off 2014 by capturing his second British Grand Prix title in December after seeing Mathieu Castagnet off in the final.
The Yorkshireman was simply brilliant at the start of 2015, lifting the Swedish Open, Windy City Open and Canary Wharf Classic titles.
The Windy City Open title was the most significant of the three because it gave Matthew the distinction of becoming the oldest ever winner of a PSA World Series event at the age of 34.
A superb season was capped by an honour from Her Majesty the Queen of England who awarded Matthew an OBE in her birthday honours list.
