Dubai: Three-time world champion Nick Matthew said he will take a call on retirement following his holiday after crashing out of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Series Finals at Dubai Opera on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old Englishman fell to his second consecutive group stage defeat on Wednesday losing 2-0 against current World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt (11-7, 11-6) after having earlier lost 2-1 to Egypt’s Marwan Al Shorbagy (13-11, 8-11, 7-11) on Tuesday.
He now plays Germany’s Simon Rosner for pride from 3.45pm on Thursday.
“Now is not the time to make decisions like that,” he said of retirement. “That’s for when you’re fresh, but obviously when you do get beaten up quite badly like that you start to consider, have I still got it? I’ll look into things like that seriously when I’ve had a holiday and enjoyed Dubai. “I haven’t entered into anything yet for next season, fortunately entry for those tournaments doesn’t close until July or August, so I can make a decision on my schedule when I’ve had a rest and I think that’s the right time to do it, not now.”
Of his loss to Gawad, he said: “The scoreline doesn’t look too good and in the end he made me feel old and slow today.
“I tried to warm up to be as fast and sharp, but I guess it gets tougher to be as fast as someone 10 years younger.”
Shying away from talk of retirement, he added: “I’m still in the world’s top four and sometimes I can be too hard on myself, but I really have to take stock, I’m 37 next month, and not too many people in the history of the game have been top four at my age. So, without being like ‘look at me’, I need to just take stock and say ‘I’m not too bad’. I’ll have plenty of time at the end of the season to reflect.”
This is the second successive year that Matthew, who has never won this tournament, has gone into the final group game with nothing to play for. “I really didn’t want to be in this position again when you’ve got nothing to play for but pride going into the last game. I’m gutted about that, but I will always try my best regardless of whether I can win the tournament or not.
“Your last match is always the memory you take with you into the summer so I will try to put in a better performance than today and go with happy memories into my time off.”
Elsewhere on Wednesday, England’s Alison Waters also crashed out of the tournament following a 2-0 defeat to Raneem Al Welily, while Marwan Al Shorbagy virtually assured himself a place in the semis after a second win 2-1 over Simon Rosner. Camille Serme is in a similar situation following a second win 2-1 over Nouran Gohar.
Results
(Wednesday, first session)
Camille Serme bt Nouran Gohar 2-1; 11-6, 12-14, 14-12
Karim Abdel Gawad bt Nick Matthew 2-0; 11-7, 11-6
Raneem Al Welily bt Alison Waters 2-0; 16-14, 11-7
Marwan Al Shorbagy bt Simon Rosner 2-1; 11-8, 4-11, 11-6
Tuesday’s late games
Men’s Group A
Simon Rosner bt Karim Abel Gawad 2-1: 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 (48m)
Marwan Al Shorbagy bt Nick Matthew 2-1: 11-13, 11-8, 11-7 (49m)
Men’s Group B
Ali Farag bt Gregory Gaultier 2-0: 11-5, 11-7 (28m)
Mohammad Al Shorbagy bt James Willstrop 2-0: 11-8, 11-9 (39m)
Women’s Group A
Camille Serme beat Alison Waters 2-1: 9-11, 11-5, 11-3 (39m)
Nouran Gohar bt Raneem Al Welily 2-1: 13-11, 3-11, 11-3 (35m)
Women’s Group B
Laura Massaro bt Nicol David 2-0: 12-10, 12-10 (30m)
Sarah-Jane Perry bt Nour Al Sherbini 2-1: 9-11, 11-9, 11-4 (37m)
