5 Questions to Coline Aumard
By James Roberts, Squashmad Reporter
There is just 1 day to wait for the release of the official list of players entering the 3rd edition of the PSA Open International de Nantes, which in early September will kick off an exciting 2017/18 season of events to be broadcast live on Squash TV. In anticipation, the tournament organisers recently caught up with current World no. 30 and French no. 2 player Coline Aumard, who will definitely be part of an exciting women’s draw, and asked her 5 questions.
Below is a translation of this quick-fire interview from the original French, which was posted yesterday to the official tournament website, where you can catch up with all the latest news about this fast developing tournament.
1. Coline, the Nantes public will get to watch you for the first time, what made you decide to come to this the third edition of the tournament?
That is right, it was not possible for me to come last year. The tournament was organised to take place at the same time as the European Individual Championships. This year, the date works in terms of my schedule and the prize fund is higher. It is therefore more attractive for me to enter this time. Sadly, since last season I have not been able to do any $5Ks because the points are insufficient to improve my world ranking. I therefore have to pay close attention to ranking points to avoid playing any tournaments that could slow down my progression in the world rankings.
2. You will without doubt be amongst the seeded players. What will be your objective this year?
I would indeed like to be one of the seedings. In addition, it is the start of the season, the tournament is in Europe and has a very good reputation. There are likely to be players from the top 20, therefore I hope to finish in the top 4. We will see in a few days time when the entries are closed. My objective is to progress as far as possible in the draw. As the tournament is in France, to win it would be magical. I will therefore take things match by match but give my all to go all the way.
3. Last year, Hana Ramadan, the very young Egyptian, breezed through the competition and dominated her opponents. This year, with an increase in the overall prize money, the number of Egyptians is likely to increase. Why is it that they are dominating world squash so much these days? Do you fear coming up against one in the draw at Nantes?
Hana Ramadan is a very talented young player and she will be a top player in the future. Egypt has a large group of young players coming through making them the biggest squash nation in the world. There is a good chance that I will come up against one or a few Egyptian players but I am used to this in all the tournaments that I play so I will go there without any pressure, whether I have to play Egyptians or not.
4. You have been the French no. 2 now for several years, and we have noticed that you have improved not only through contact with Camille, but also through your determination and commitment to work hard, and especially playing close matches against the world’s top players. You are now flirting with the world top 20, so what are your objectives for the new season?
Thank you that is kind. The last 2 years were indeed very interesting but sadly last season was not what I was hoping for results wise. I did some soul-searching and thereby took some decisions to help me achieve the objective of entering the world top 20. I am really looking forward to starting the new season, for which the PSA Natnes will be my first tournament.
5. You will be coming to the city of Nantes and help your young fellow team members a lot – what do you think of this kind of event? Do you think that in the future it can become an unmissable event for women’s squash in France?
The development of women’s squash in France is very important to me. Coming to participate in this PSA is risky because I can’t bank on the security of the ranking points, but the organisation of such an event in France is very important for its development so I did not hesitate to register to play. I’d like to thank all of you for offering us a tournament like this one, the prize fund for the PSA Nates is very important to help young French players with their rankings. In addition, the quality of this men’s and women’s PSA can only help with the development of French squash on the world stage.