Vanessa Louise Atkinson (born 10 March 1976 in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a former professional squash player from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, who won the World Open in 2004 and reached the World No. 1 ranking in December 2005. Atkinson was born in England, but her family moved to the Netherlands when she was still a child. She began playing squash as a youngster in

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

. She now resides in Harrogate, Yorkshire, with her partner James Willstrop, himself a professional squash player and a former World No. 1. Atkinson's biggest win came in 2004 when she won the World Open title in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

by defeating fellow compatriote Natalie Grinham (at that time still representing Australia) with a score of 9–1, 9–1, 9–5 in the final. Atkinson also has won major tournaments in

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 ...

, New York, Monte Carlo,

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and Ireland. Atkinson retired from professional play in May 2011.

World Open

Finals: 1 (1 title, 0 runner-up)

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

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 ...
: 2 finals (2 titles, 0 runner-up)

Malaysian Open: 2 finals (1 title, 1 runner-up)

References

External links

* *
Interview at Squashtalk.com - June 1999

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Vanessa Dutch people of English descent English female squash players Dutch female squash players English emigrants to the Netherlands 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Newcastle upon Tyne