Looking Back at a Squash Legacy With Susan Devoy

In recognition of Rotorua-born squash player Susan Devoy’s exalted status PSA website caught up with the sport’s only ‘Dame’, who ranks only behind the great Heather McKay and Malaysian legend Nicol David in the major winners list and has a very strong case to be considered the female game’s greatest ever performer. RJ Mitchell interviews the sports hero for the official squash website.

Devoy, 56, stands second on the list of modern day British Open winners with eight titles to her credit and a further four World Opens that combine to credit her with 12 major titles and put her third in the major winners all-time list, Mitchell writes.

Devoy’s British Open dominance started in 1984 with a rollercoaster four-set victory over Lisa Opie in which the latter’s fiery temperament added considerable spice to a match that was to be one of the most talked about of the decade.

“When you win your first major title it is always a gateway moment, it gives you the belief, you have the knowledge you can do it and it is in you. Then the key is to get out there and do it again, back it up as quickly as you can and I was lucky enough to come back and defend it and then keep the run going all the way to seven in the British,” Devoy recalled.

Having opened the country’s foremost squash facility in 2011, the Devoy Squash and Fitness Centre, Devoy’s passion for the sport she dominated in the 80s and early 90s still burns bright.

Original article by RJ Mitchell, PSA World Tour, August 4, 2020.