Natalie Grinham

Natalie Grinham

Natalie Grinham
Full name Natalie Marie Grinham[1]
Country  Netherlands
 Australia (until February 2008)
Residence Almere, Netherlands
Born (1978-03-16) 16 March 1978
Toowoomba, Australia
Height 155 cm (5 ft 1 in)
Weight 55 kg (121 lb)
Turned Pro 1995
Retired 2014
Plays Right Handed
Coached by Allistair McCaw
Racquet used Dunlop
Women's singles
Highest ranking No. 2 (February, 2007)
Current ranking No. 26 (June, 2014)
Title(s) 15
Tour final(s) 36
World Open F (2004, 2006, 2007, 2009)
Medal record
Womens' squash
Representing  Australia
World Team Championships
2002 Odense Team
2004 Amsterdam Team
2000 Sheffield Team
Commonwealth Games
2006 Melbourne Women's singles
2006 Melbourne Women's doubles
2006 Melbourne Mixed doubles
2002 Manchester Women's doubles
Representing  Netherlands
World Games
2009 Kaohsiung Individual
2013 Cali Individual
Last updated on: June 2014.

Natalie Marie 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. Accordingly she has represented the Netherlands from 2009 onwards.[2]

Natalie gave birth to her first child, a boy named Kieran, in May 2010. She however made a quick comeback to the game winning the Women’s Atwater Cup in Canada, upsetting third seed Joelle King in the final of the WISPA World Tour Silver 20 event in March 2011, less than a year after the birth of her son.[3]

World Open

Finals: 4 (0 title, 4 runner-up)

Outcome Year Location Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2004 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Netherlands Vanessa Atkinson 9–1, 9–1, 9–5
Runner-up 2006 Belfast, Northern Ireland Malaysia Nicol David 1–9, 9–7, 3–9, 9–5, 9–2
Runner-up 2007 Madrid, Spain Australia Rachael Grinham 9–4, 10–8, 9–2
Runner-up 2009 Amsterdam, Netherlands Malaysia Nicol David 3–11, 11–6, 11–3, 11–8

Major World Series final appearances

British Open: 1 finals (0 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2005 Malaysia Nicol David 9–6, 9–7, 9–6

Hong Kong Open: 1 final (0 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2007 Malaysia Nicol David 9-3, 9-5, 10-8

Qatar Classic: 2 finals (0 title, 2 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2006(/07) Malaysia Nicol David 9-7, 2-9, 9-7, 9-2
Runner-up 2008 Malaysia Nicol David 11-7, 11-3, 11-9

Malaysian Open: 1 final (0 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Opponent in the final Score in the final
Runner-up 2008 Malaysia Nicol David 11-1, 11-4, 11-6

Rivalries

Natalie Grinham in action

Natalie vs. Nicol David

Natalie Grinham and Nicol David have a long rivalry history. They have met 30 times during their careers, with Nicol leading their overall head-to-head series 23–7. Nicol is Natalie's most frequent opponent on tour. 16 of their matches have been in tournament finals, including two in the World Open tournament. The World Open 2006 final between Natalie and Nicol is dubbed to be one of the greatest in the Women's World Open history.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Australian women biographical entry". Womenaustralia.info. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  2. ↑ Natalie goes Dutch
  3. ↑ "Grinham Back On Winner’s Podium In Montreal". WorldSquash.org.
  4. ↑ "Nicol David fights to the death for her second World Open title". Squashtalk.com. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
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