Matthew picks top PSA award
England’s World No.1 Nick Matthew has been named the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Player of the Year for 2013.
The 33-year-old from Sheffield capped off a triumphant year by claiming his third World Squash Championship crown on home soil in November, beating Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in a thrilling 3-2 final in a year which also saw him marry partner Esme and release his autobiography ‘Sweating Blood’.
Alongside recapturing the World Championship trophy, Matthew also won his first ever Hong Kong Open in December to add to runner-up berths at the 2013 US Open, Swedish Open, North American Open and Qatar Classic.
“It’s an amazing honour and a privilege to win the Player of the Year award,” said Matthew, who was presented with the award at the Canary Wharf Classic at London’s East Wintergarden today.
“I’ve had some great battles with most of the players so it’s very humbling to have been voted as the player of the year by them.
“If you’d stopped 2013 half-way through, you would have said I had an ok year but hadn’t pulled up any trees. Then I ended the year very strong, starting with the World Championships, and it shows how your year can change on one week or one result.
“It’s also great to collect this trophy in front of a packed audience at Canary Wharf. It sort of feels like I’ve won the tournament so I need to re-focus on the event now and try to add a fourth title here.”
Promising Egyptian youngster Karim Abdel Gawad collected the PSA Young Player of the Year award after an impressive 2013 campaign in which he broke into the World Top 20 for the first time.