Dubai: England’s Laura Massaro, who goes into the Professional Squash Association Dubai World Series Finals as the women’s top seed, is happy to play the age game and prove that age is not a barrier to success even in a physically demanding sport like squash.
At the age of 32, Massaro may enjoy senior status on a tour crammed with younger, hungry and focused players, but her confidence continues to prosper making her assert that her best is yet to come.
“It’s a bit of a trade-off with how good I can be at this point of time with my squash and mental side and of having the same same physical capabilities that a 20-year-old has,” said the Englishwoman. “But I’m feeling good, I keep myself in shape and I certainly feel I can still improve.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to stay sharp, focused and confident and I think if I can do that over the next couple of days, I think I can win this.”
With 17 career titles to her name, including the British Open in 2013 and World Championship in 2014, Massaro has proven herself on the big stage and she says she is determined to atone for a loss to Egypt’s Nour Al Sherbini in the World Championship final in April, which cost her the world number one ranking.
“Obviously it was disappointing to lose the final but overall it was a really positive week for me,” she says. “I definitley felt I played some of my best squash out there and where my form’s been since January is really nice,
“I’ve had a couple of good weeks off training with the mindset of a big push for this event, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m really excited to be here.”
Massaro revealed that she was keen to regain the world number one ranking and said that it was her biggest goal next season .
“That means winning big titles like Dubai,” she said. “So that’s where I’ll be looking to improve over the summer. Work on areas of my game to get into contention for those big titles. So hopefully I can do well here which is something I can carry forward to next season.”
