France's Greg Gaultier Takes Over World Number 1 Ranking by Nathan Clarke April 1, 2014 - 31-year-old Frenchman Gregory Gaultier has moved ahead of England’s Nick Matthew to top the PSA World Tour Rankings in April. Gaultier, who held the
No.1 ranking in conjunction with Matthew in February, the first time
ever that two men held the post simultaneously, finds himself back on
top after lifting the 2014 Windy City Open crown in Chicago in early
March. Despite having ranked
no lower than World No.8 since May 2006 and having been ranked within
the top four players in the world consecutively since December 2011,
Gaultier has only previously had sole possession of the World No.1
ranking on one occasion, when his name topped them all in November 2009. “Becoming World No.1
is a massive achievement,” said Gaultier. “I’ve been working hard all
my life to make this kind of thing happen. “It’s important to get
there but the really important thing is to stay as long as possible.
That’s something I didn’t manage to do in the past, so I hope I can do
better and at least stay at No.1 for more than one month - which is a
goal. “It’s important for
myself in terms of achievement but also for all the people who have
been working with me for all these years like my federation and club so
they can be recognised as well.” With Gaultier ranked
World No.1, Matthew falls to second in the rankings while Egyptian duo
Mohamed Elshorbagy and Ramy Ashour, the man Gaultier beat in the Windy
City Open final, trade places to occupy third and fourth, respectively. “It’s tough to stay at
the top,” added Gaultier. “The competition is really hard with all the
other top players and youngsters coming through but the good thing
about it is that everybody pushes each other to bring the best squash
possible. “I love the
competition and it makes me work harder everyday and makes it really
interesting also for my team and myself. You really need to adapt your
training constantly to what players bring and you have to find
solutions. “I can’t win all
matches even if I wish I could. The other players in the top are really
strong and even if I am 100 per cent I can’t guarantee a win as the
level of certain guys can be amazing. “But I will keep working hard to do better if it is possible and I have goals for this year and hope I will reach them.” Elsewhere in the top
10, Spanish champion Borja Golan moves ahead of England’s James
Willstrop to a career-high World No.5 while England’s Peter Barker
leapfrogs Egyptian pair Amr Shabana and Karim Darwish to World No.7. Indian No.1 Saurav
Ghosal also rises two positions to equal his highest ever career
ranking of World No.15 with England’s Chris Simpson breaking into the
World top 20 for the first time in his career to occupy the World No.20
position. PSA World Tour Rankings – April 2014 RANK NAME COUNTRY POINTS 1 Gregory Gaultier FRA 1319.000 2 Nick Matthew ENG 1301.000 3 Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY 980.000 4 Ramy Ashour EGY 777.500 5 Borja Golan ESP 644.500 6 James Willstrop ENG 634.000 7 Peter Barker ENG 535.000 8 Amr Shabana EGY 526.500 9 Karim Darwish EGY 446.500 10 Daryl Selby ENG 442.500 11 Simon Rosner GER 421.000 12 Tarek Momen EGY 390.000 13 Omar Mosaad EGY 383.000 14 Miguel Angel Rodriguez COL 369.500 15 Saurav Ghosal IND 326.000 16 Laurens Jan Anjema NED 320.000 17 Cameron Pilley AUS 319.000 18 Karim Abdel Gawad EGY 302.000 19 Alister Walker BOT 299.500 20 Chris Simpson ENG 251.500
