Alan’s Blog

Six-times champion Nick Matthew makes farewell appearance at the East Wintergarden By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor The Canary Wharf Squash Classic will enjoy a boost in status as the popular London tournament celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2018 with a significant rise in prize money. A dazzling array of the world’s leading players, led [...]

Squash is just one big global family By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor World Squash Day brought the sport together like one big global family with some amazing events taking place all over the planet. And nowhere was the idea of family more apparent than at the US Open in Philadelphia, where Egyptians Ali Farag [...]

Squash’s history in bite-sized chunks By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, October 14th 2017, In celebration of World Squash Day, The East Coast Squash Academy is excited to release the most all- inclusive infographic of squash statistics representing the history of squash, its massive global appeal, fun facts and interesting trivia. The Squash [...]

Double the fun says Cam Pilley The world’s leading squash players are encouraging every club on the planet to open their doors to support World Squash Day.  This annual event to promote the game takes place on Saturday October 14th and former world champions Nick Matthew and Laura Massaro, and world doubles champion Cam Pilley, [...]

Laura and Nick urge clubs to get involved to grow the game By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor England’s leading squash players are encouraging every club in the country to open their doors to support World Squash Day. This annual event to promote the game takes place on Saturday October 14th and former world champions [...]

Nick Matthew targets the World Champs, British Open and a fourth Commonwealth Games gold in his final season on tour By ALAN THATCHER, Squash Mad Editor Squash star Nick Matthew has announced that the 2017-2018 squash season will officially be his last playing season. The 37 year-old from Sheffield, Yorkshire is already classed as one of [...]

Time waits for no man, apart from the never-ending knock-ups in squash By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor At long last, the PSA are planning to reduce the length of pre-match knock-ups. A trial will be held in the forthcoming World Series Finals taking place on stage at Dubai Opera House. And I hope all [...]

Gaultier’s golden run is down to being relaxed and confident By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor Top coach Bradley Hindle is gaining a reputation as one of the best brains in squash. He is in big demand. As well as being Malta’s national coach, he has recently launched his own academy and his growing reputation [...]

Nick Matthew Academy Masterclasses to launch in UK after PSA World Series Finals in Dubai By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor Nick Matthew is getting ready for a busy summer, preparing to star on stage at the Dubai Opera House and launching a new series of coaching camps in the UK in addition to his [...]

Knowledge is power for the memory man of squash as he plans for life after stellar playing career Interview by ALAN THATCHER, Squash Mad Editor Nick Matthew is enjoying a successful end-of-season flourish after making it a priority to manage his schedule carefully to peak at the right times. He has also stepped back from massive [...]

Sumner Malik is guest of honour at the East Wintergarden on Monday By ALAN THATCHER, Squash Mad Editor Three-time World Champion Nick Matthew has pledged to donate every penny of his prize money from next week’s Canary Wharf Squash Classic to the #Sunshine4Sumner campaign. World No.4 Matthew, the top seed at Canary Wharf, is making [...]

Former star is on the ball, growing the game in India By ALAN THATCHER Squash in India is being given a massive injection of energy thanks to the efforts of former professional Ritwik Bhattacharya. The staging of the $50,000 Men’s CCI International at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai was the most ambitious project [...]

Tribute to the busiest man in squash By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor When you are invited to a special function to name a court in honour of someone who has devoted years of their life to squash, it’s usually because that person has moved upstairs to the great glass show court in the sky. [...]

Teenager appears in court on murder charge By Alan Thatcher, Squash Mad Editor The sudden death of a national squash champion is being linked to a murder enquiry. Colin Payne was my doubles partner at Maidstone Squash Club more than a decade ago. I never thought I would have to write his obituary, let alone [...]

Jahangir Khan lifted the level of squash by 15 to 20 per cent. Roger Federer did the same for tennis, but maybe by five or ten per cent. [...]