Natalie Grinham

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Natalie Grinham (born 16 March 1978, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia) is a professional squash player. During her career, she has won three Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, and finished runner-up at both the World Open and the British Open. She reached the World No. 2 ranking in 2007. She represented Australia in international squash competitions up to 2006. She is married to the Dutch squash player Tommy Berden, and took up Dutch citizenship in February 2008. Natalie's older sister Rachael Grinham is also one of the world's leading professional squash players.

Natalie's most significant tournament victory to date came at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, where she represented Australia. She defeated World No. 1 Nicol David in the semi-finals, before going on to beat her sister Rachael in the women's singles final 2-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-6 to claim the Gold Medal. She then went on to claim two more Gold Medals in the doubles competitions – partnering Rachael in the women's doubles, and Joe Kneipp in the mixed doubles. Natalie and Rachael had previously won a women's doubles Bronze Medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The sisters also won the women's doubles title at the 2004 World Doubles Squash Championships.

Natalie has finished runner-up at the World Open three times. In 2004 she lost in the final to Vanessa Atkinson 9-1, 9-1, 9-5; in 2006 she lost to Nicol David 1-9, 9-7, 3-9, 9-5, 9-2; and in 2007 she lost to sister Rachael 9-4, 10-8, 9-2. She was runner-up at the British Open in 2005, losing in the final to Nicol David 9-6, 9-7, 9-6.

Natalie is married to the Dutch squash player Tommy Berden and has lived in the Netherlands since 1999. She became a Dutch citizen in February 2008. She last represented Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Under the World Squash Federation's current rules, players must wait for three years before becoming eligible to represent a different country. So Natalie will become eligible to represent the Netherlands in international tournaments in 2009.^[1]