James Willstrop

James Willstrop (born 15 August 1983, in North Walsham, United Kingdom) is a professional squash player from England.

Biography

Willstrop is recognised as a young squash talent with a big future ahead of him. He has an unusual build for a squash player, being 6'4" and 91 kg.

Willstrop crowned a sensational junior squash career in 2002 when he claimed his third consecutive British Junior Under-19 National Championship title, to establish himself as England's most successful junior player of all time – having won National titles at all age groups (under-12, under-14, under-17 and under-19), and British Junior Open trophies at under-14, under-17 and under-19. In the same year, he established himself as the world's top junior player, claiming both the European and the World junior titles.

Willstrop has gone on to be one of the youngest players ever to play for the senior England team, representing his country for the first time at both the European and World Team Squash Championships in 2003.

The tall Yorkshireman has made rapid progress on the senior stage. In 2004, he won the Pakistan Open title in Islamabad (upsetting Amr Shabana in the quarter-finals) in his first appearance in a PSA Super Series final. In 2005, he finished runner-up at the British Open as the seventh seed, then followed this by outplaying a top-quality international field in Doha to lift the Qatar Classic trophy in only his second Super Series final appearance. This first-time success led to Willstrop leaping six places to a career-high World No. 2 in the PSA world rankings published that December. The new ranking catapulted Willstrop to the position of top-ranked Englishman – which led to his promotion to squad number one in the England team for the 2005 World Team Championships in Pakistan later in the month, when he led the team to victory for the first time in eight years.

In the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Willstrop partnered Vicky Botwright to a Silver Medal in the Mixed Doubles. Willstrop also won the 2007 British National Squash Championships title, beating John White in the final. In December 2007, Willstrop helped England retain the World Team Championship title in Chenai, India, and won the English Open, beating fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew in the final.

Willstrop retained his British National title in February 2008, beating Lee Beachill in the final. He also finished runner-up at the British Open for the second time in May 2008, losing in a five-set final to David Palmer. Willstrop held match balls at 10-9 and 11-10 in the fifth game, but Palmer ultimately won 11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 6-11, 11-10 (3-1).

External links

* [http://www.jameswillstrop.co.uk/ jameswillstrop.co.uk]
* [http://www.psa-squash.com/entry/ranking.php?player=T02600 Profile at psa-squash.com]
* [http://dev.squashinfo.com/player-13 Profile at squashinfo.com]
* [http://www.squashpics.com/james_willstrop.htm Page at squashpics.com]
* [http://www.squashsite.co.uk/james_willstrop.htm Birthday tribute on SquashSite]