Lincou Celebrates Ten Years In Top Ten
by Howard Harding
2 August 2011 - Whilst Englishman Nick Matthew extends his reign at number one in the Dunlop PSA Men's World Squash Rankings, it is France's Thierry Lincou who grabs the headlines at eighth place in the August list published today by the Professional Squash Association by celebrating his tenth full year in the world top ten!
After joining the PSA in 1994, it was in April 2000 that Lincou first broke into the top ten - but slipped back to 16 by the end of the year.
But, in September 2001 - after reaching the final of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open the previous month unseeded - the 11-time French national champion leapt 12 places to No8, and has maintained this top ten status to date.
"I am very proud of this longevity in the elite group of the PSA," said the 35-year-old from Marseille on hearing the news. "We all know how tough it is to break into the top 10 and it is even harder to stay, so 10 years means really something for me and my entourage.
"I think that I managed to keep my discipline, my training regime, my motivation to do my best and most of all the passion of this great game," added the former world champion and world number one. "For that I have to be really thankful to my coaches Paul and Franck, my wife Celine, my daughters, my parents, my brother, my clubs and all my supporters.
"I always had a good base of physical abilities," said the winner of 22 PSA World Tour titles from 41 final appearances. "I was always careful about the quality of my training and was able to stay injury-free most of my career - until eight months ago when I fractured my patella (not even in squash but on a leg press machine!!
"It was very challenging to be able to adapt myself to new situations, new rules, new players, new styles of games.
"But it is not over," concluded the distinguished Frenchman.
Lincou joins Australian David Palmer as the only player on the current Tour to have maintained a top ten presence for ten whole years. Coincidentally, Palmer also joins his rival back in the top ten after slipping out of the elite group last December.
In a relatively unchanged world top 20, Egypt's Ramy Ashour is at No2, while compatriot Karim Darwish is in third place and England's James Willstrop at No4.
Englishman Daryl Selby rises a single place to No11, while Australian Cameron Pilley jumps three places to No14.
August 2011 Top 20 (inc. points average):
1 [1] Nick Matthew ENG 1,380
2 [2] Ramy Ashour EGY 1,331
3 [3] Karim Darwish EGY 959
4 [4] James Willstrop ENG 897
5 [5] Amr Shabana EGY 832
6 [6] Gregory Gaultier FRA 795
7 [7] Peter Barker ENG 596
8 [8] Thierry Lincou FRA 499
9 [9] Mohamed El Shorbagy EGY 479
10 [11] David Palmer AUS 418
11 [12] Daryl Selby ENG 407
12 [10] Mohd Azlan Iskandar MAS 366
13 [13] Hisham Mohd Ashour EGY 357
14 [17] Cameron Pilley AUS 354
15 [15] Laurens Jan Anjema NED 348
16 [14] Omar Mosaad EGY 339
17 [16] Wael El Hindi EGY 339
18 [18] Adrian Grant ENG 279
19 [19] Alister Walker BOT 263
20 [20] Olli Tuominen FIN 263
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