Kingston upon Hull, United Kingdom--Laura Massaro, the only English player to have won both World and British Open titles, says her break from the tour this year could have led to her retirement.
Massaro begins an attempt to win back the British Open with a first round encounter on Tuesday with Joshana Chinappa, the Indian national champion, but it might all have been so different.
Only two months ago the 31-year-old Lancastrian was unsure whether she would ever play professional squash again because she felt so mentally and emotionally exhausted.
Right then Massaro's chances of challenging to regain the British Open title she captured two years ago with a startling win over the titleholder Nicol David looked distinctly doubtful. It took five weeks away from the tour to feel better.
She admits that had this positive feeling not returned she could easily have given up. "I think I would have considered retirement," she said.
"As an athlete you need passion. I don't want to go along not being the best I can be. I need 100 percent drive to improve myself and if I'm not driven, I'm not going to improve myself.
"So if you take as much time out as I needed to get my enthusiasm back, you are taking a risk if it doesn't come back."
That spectre remained a possibility for two weeks because when Massaro went on holiday to Dubai with husband Danny, she began to feel that this was the good life.
But after three weeks she became a little bored, and after four she wondered what she was going to do next.
AFP
