For squash's 'French General' Gregory Gaultier it’s all about perseverance as he turns 35

Matt Jones - Editor 11:24 22/06/2017
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  • Gregory Gaultier

    He will be 35 before the end of 2017 but Gregory Gaultier’s twilight sporting years have been among the best of his career.

    The enigmatic Frenchman became the oldest world number one male squash player this April amid a stunning winning run of 27 consecutive matches.

    Of those, he’d only dropped a jaw-dropping six games, adding six calendar year titles to give him 34 in a glittering career.

    Since finally lifting a coveted World Open crown in 2015 at the fifth time of asking, it would have been easy for Gaultier to walk away. He even contemplated it after an injury-plagued 2016 season.

    Along with Nick Matthew, 36, and James Willstrop, 33, Gaultier is among the elder statesmen of men’s squash today, a game which has been gaining in popularity, leading naturally to the emergence of new talents.

    James Willstrop

    But while Karim Gawad, brothers Mohamed and Marwan El Shorbagy, Ali Farag and Fares Dessouky forge their own paths and write new chapters for the game, Gaultier says he’s not ready to close the book on his own story just yet.

    “I’m 34, No1. I could retire as the No1 of course but at the moment I don’t want to retire,” said Gaultier, whose near flawless year came to a shuddering halt at Dubai Opera earlier this month as he lost all three games at the season-ending PSA World Series Finals to relinquish his grip on the trophy he’d won 12 months earlier in the UAE.

    “I don’t see myself turning the page yet. I’m still enjoying these types of moments and I want to give it a go for maybe another year, or two, or three. There’s still a few more chapters left to write.

    “I know squash is on the way up and I don’t want to miss these types of moments, where we are at this fantastic event. We have had good events in the past but not as well  organised as this so I want to be part of this and then we will see how it goes.”

    English legend Matthew is also among the male elite, ranked number four in the world, so Gaultier sees no need for the old men to retire just yet, although he does want to go out on top when it finally is time.

    “I don’t want to retire far down the rankings either. I want to retire at the top,” he  added. “I still feel in good shape. Nick is too and he wants to keep playing until the Commonwealth Games (in 2018). Maybe after still, I don’t know.”

    Gaultier admits he was “very average” as he was ravaged by injuries in 2016, including an ankle issue that ruled him out for two months. But he battled back to win in Dubai to close out the campaign – his third World Series crown.

    And, after a run of four successive failures in the final of the World Open over an eight-year period (2006, 2007, 2011 and 2013) before finally triumphing in 2015, he admits plans of retirement were shelved as he knew he’d been through worse.

    “There were a lot of emotions. And a big relief,” Gaultier recalls of a straight sets 3-0 triumph over Egypt’s Omar Mosaad in the United States, having earlier tasted defeat against Matthew (twice), Amr Shabana and his epic maiden world final loss to Australia’s David Palmer in 2006.

    Gaultier had led 2-0 in the final and was five match balls up in the decider before Palmer somehow stormed back to inflict a psychologically damaging 3-2 defeat on the then 23-year-old.

    “Afterwards I felt like I’d been carrying around a big bag of weights for the last 10 years,” he says.

    “Every time you come into a tournament you feel like that so I had to find a way to go to the event and just put my focus on one thing, not look at the big picture like I have to win.

    “That’s what I tried to change and I went there with less pressure and I managed to play the crucial points really well. It was all about focus. And I managed to do better than in the past.”

    Asked how he kept coming back and maintained belief in himself after 2006 was followed by three more final defeats, Gaultier has one word.

    “It’s all about perseverance,” he added. “There was one or two I should have won and of course I was disappointed, but as long as you don’t win, you have flashbacks, which put you down. But you have to see what you can take from these losses.

    “I have a chance every year to win. I managed to deal with my emotions better and this is what really helped me win in 2015. I deal better now with my focus, concentration and when I’m really focused on tactics and what I have to do on the court, I don’t get distracted.

    “This is where I really perform at my best and where it’s really hard to beat me.”

    To keep him on the court and in that winning form, Gaultier’s training regime has changed dramatically, perhaps not surprisingly, during his advancing years.

    He added: “There are lots of things I was doing in the past that I’m not doing now, that I’ve changed. Let’s say some fitness work I changed.

    Gaultier and Laura Massaro pose with their 2016 PSA Dubai World Series Finals 2016 trophies.

    Gaultier and Laura Massaro pose with their 2016 PSA Dubai World Series Finals 2016 trophies.

    “For example I used to run a lot and now I do more bike. Less impact. Not as intense. Lots of stretching, yoga and physio work, recovery.

    “That is really the key between tournaments. You have to train smart. I spend a lot of hours on quality rather than quantity. When I was younger I was so intense and now I’m more efficient to try and preserve and save my body.”

    The man known as the ‘French General’ has plundered trophy after trophy this year. Of the 2016/17 season’s eight PSA World Series tournaments, the Epinal-born Gaultier has won three, including three in a row with the Windy City Open, British Open and El Gouna International from February-April.

    With that elusive World Open crown finally lifted in 2015, there might not seem much else left to conquer, but while he’s on top, the General is still formulating battle plans.

    “I want to win as many events as possible, like this one (World Series Finals),” he said. “People remember only winners of finals or world championships. These are my targets throughout the year. I always try to perform in any tournament.

    “If or when I stop of course you will have regrets for certain things, but as long as you give your best every time, (you can be satisfied). You can’t be 100 per cent every tournament, it’s impossible.

    “Maybe only once a year you are at 100, other times 98, 95 or 80 or 50, but you have try hard not to have regrets. That’s what I’m doing now, especially in the latter stages of my career.

    “I don’t want targets and to think ‘why didn’t I try harder there’, or ‘why didn’t you do this and this’. I try even if I’m tired or have aches and pains, to prepare myself, to bring my best. Sometimes people can be better than you on the day but you have to try and find a solution to win.”

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