Rachael Margaret Grinham (born 22 January 1977 in

Toowoomba, Queensland Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

) is an Australian former professional squash player. She won the World Open in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2009. She reached the World No. 1 ranking in August 2004 and held it for 16 consecutive months.

Career

Early years

Grinham was the winner of the World Junior title in 1993 aged 16. In her bid to defend that title in 1995, she was beaten by Jade Wilson from New Zealand in the final. Around that time she was also part of the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

squad. Since joining the WISPA World Tour during 1994, her array of strokes and strong temperament initially took her steadily towards the top 20, a barrier she finally breached in the middle of 1997. She won her first tournament in 1998 when she was 22 years old, beating Tracey Shenton for the Open Toulouse Central in France. She also lost to Tracey Shenton in the same year at the Isostar-Beverwijk tournament, Netherlands. At the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

in 1998 her partnership with Robyn Cooper brought them a silver medal in the Women's Doubles.

1999

Rachael had a good year in 1999 winning the Swiss Open, Germering Open and Indian Open beating Claire Waddell, Sabine Schoene and Claire Nitch respectively. She ended the year ranked No. 18 on the

WISPA Tour The Women's Squash Association (WSA) was the governing body for the women's professional squash circuit between 2011 and 2014. It was based in London, England. The body operated in a similar fashion to the WTA for tennis. The WSA World Tour inv ...

2000–2001

Rachael finished 2000 by climbing 6 places in the ranking up to No. 12 in the world. She won two tournaments, Milo National Open beating the future world No. 1

Nicol David Malay titles#Datuk, Datuk Nicol Ann David (born August 26, 1983) is a Malaysian retired professional squash (sport), squash player. She was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, ceding the ranking in September 2015 ...

and successfully defended her Indian Open title by beating Salma Shabana, the sister of the male current world No. 1

Amr Shabana Amr or AMR may refer to: Science, environment and medicine * Antimicrobial resistance, of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites) to antimicrobials * Magnetoresistance#Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR), Anisotropic magnetoresistance, resi ...

. She climbed 4 places in 2001 to No. 8 in the world. A family final finally first happened at a WISPA World Tour event in Malaysia in February 2001 when she beat sister Natalie for the Kuala Lumpur title. Later that year, she beat

for the DMC title.

2002–2003

The first half of 2002 did not go well for Rachael until she beat England's Tania Bailey for the Singapore Open. One month later she took the Credit Suisse Privilege Ladies Open, one of the finest squash tournaments in the world beating

Natalie Grainger Natalie Grainger (born 8 July 1977), also known for a period by her former married name Natalie Pohrer, is a former professional female squash player. Grainger was born in Manchester, United Kingdom but raised in South Africa, which she repre ...

. Rachael and Natalie had won a women's doubles bronze medal at the 2002

. She climbed to No. 6 in the world by the end of the year. At the beginning of 2003, she claimed the Vassar College Class of 1932 beating

Vicky Botwright Victoria Botwright (born 18 June 1977) is a squash coach and former professional squash player from England. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 5 in 2005. In 2008, she finished runner-up at the World Open, losing in the fina ...

. She reached two finals in Helioplis Open and Hurghada International in Egypt but lost both to former world No. 1 and retired player, Carol Owens. Arguably, 2003

was the turning point for the 29-year-old, who pulled off a semi-final upset over the top seed, Carol Owens, then the World No. 1, before beating Cassie Jackman in the final to claim the title for the first time. She ended the year ranked No. 3 in the world.

2004

2004 was far the best year in Rachael's career. She has based herself in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

for a few years and it had proved to be a great place to hone her game. She may be slight in stature, but there is no doubting her tenaciousness, which saw her become world number one in August 2004. She started the year by claiming the

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Open, the richest squash event in the world, by beating top seed

Cassie Jackman Cassandra Jackman (born 22 December 1972 and competing in some years as Cassie Campion) is an English former squash player who won the World Open in 1999. She was England's leading player throughout much of the 1990s and the first few years ...

. Later on, she beat

again, then the World No. 1, for the Texas Open title. Three months later, she claimed the Hurghada International in Egypt which she lost last year beating the local favourite,

Omneya Abdel Kawy Omneya Abdel Kawy (; born 15 August 1985, in Cairo) is a former professional squash player from Egypt. Career Omneya crowned a successful junior career in 2003 in her home city of Cairo when she became the first Egyptian woman to win the World ...

. She reached the final of Brunei International but lost to

Vanessa Atkinson Vanessa Louise Atkinson (born 10 March 1976 in Newcastle, England) is a former professional squash player from the Netherlands, who won the World Open in 2004 and reached the World No. 1 ranking in December 2005. Atkinson was born in Englan ...

. After a series of successful tournament wins, Rachael became the world No. 1 in August after dethroning

. She continued her run by beating Cassie Jackman again for the Bahrain Classic Title. She retained her

title by beating

. She lost again to

in the final of the

Qatar Classic The Qatar Classic is an annual international squash tournament that takes place in Doha, Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast ...

Open. At the World Doubles Squash Championships, Rachael won the women's doubles title in 2004 (partnering Natalie), and the mixed doubles title in 2004 (partnering David Palmer). She ended the year ranked No. 1.

2005

She held on the top ranking at the beginning of the year. In April, she failed to defend her Texas Open title where she lost to

. Later this month, she won her first

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

Challenge beating

. A month later, she successfully defended her title by defeating local favourite

in the Hurghada International final in a 3–2 thriller. She took sweet revenge from Vanessa Atkinson beating her for the PMI Women's Open title. She lost her

title suffering a loss to

in semi-finals. She beat

again for the Hedonism title in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. She held top spot for 16 months only losing it to Vanessa Atkinson in November. December 2005 saw her reach the final of the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

World Open in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, only to be beaten by Malaysia's

. She finished the year at No. 2 ahead of Vanessa Atkinson.

2006

and

pushed her down to number three in the rankings at the start of 2006, but apart from tilting at

titles, she claimed

Gold in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

early in the year when she teamed up with sister Natalie to win the Women's Doubles title and another family final resulted in a silver medal for her with Natalie taking gold in the singles at the same Games. At the World Doubles Squash Championships, Rachael won the mixed doubles title 2006 (partnering Joe Kneipp). In May, she failed to defend her Hurghada International title losing 3–2 to local favourite and 2004 & 2005 finalist,

. The next four tournaments saw her lose to

in the final of the

Challenge, semi-finals of the CIMB Malaysian Open, final of the Hotel Equatorial

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

Open and final of the

. Finally, in October 2006 Rachael broke her run of being beaten in

WISPA Wispa is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury. Using aerated chocolate, the bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England, and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983. I ...

Tour finals when after a run of four defeats she triumphed at the Weymuller US Open beating

. She suffered another two losses to

in the semi-finals of the CPS Hong Kong Open and the World Open.

2007

Rachael won five titles in 2007 – the Hurghada International and the Alexandria Sporting Club Open in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, the Vassar College Class of 1932 Open in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

, and the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

World Open in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. In the

final, she came back from two games down to defeat

7–9, 4–9, 9–3, 10–8, 9–1. In the World Open, she beat sister Natalie in the final 9–4, 10–8, 9–2.

2010

Due to an injury, Rachael missed some of the 2010 season. However, she stayed in the top five, only moving to slot number 6 at the end of 2011. She was also a part of the Australian team that won the gold medal at the 2010 Women's World Team Squash Championships.

2012

In September, Rachael dropped out of the WSA Top 10 for the first time in a decade. She was also defeated in the first round by

at a Malaysian Open.

2013

During this year Rachael was beaten at a semi-final finish by her younger sister Natalie. After that, she appeared in the Cleveland Classic's first round. She lost in the CIMB KL Open first round, had a second-round finish at the Allam British Open, and won her 32nd title at the Victoria Open.

Personal life

Grinham came out as gay in May 2017. Grinham and her girlfriend,

Jenny Duncalf Jennifer Duncalf (born 10 November 1982) is a former professional squash player from England. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 2 in December 2009. Biography Duncalf was born in Haarlem, Netherlands, but was a pupil at Ha ...

were the first two squash players to publicly come out while still active in professional play. Her younger sister

Natalie Grinham Natalie Marie Grinham (born 16 March 1978 in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian former professional squash player. During her career, she has won three Commonwealth Games gold medals, and finished runner-up at both the World ...

is also a former professional squash player.

World Open

Finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Source:

Major
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
final appearances

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
: 5 finals (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Hong Kong Open: 1 final (0 title, 1 runner-up)

Qatar Classic The Qatar Classic is an annual international squash tournament that takes place in Doha, Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast ...
: 3 finals (0 title, 3 runner-up)

Career statistics

Listed below.

WISPA Titles (27)

All Results for Rachael Grinham in WISPA World's Tour tournamentWomen's International Squash Players Association
''Note:'' (ret) = retired, min = minutes, h = hours

WISPA Tour Finals (Runner-Up) (14)

References

External links