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| French squash player Thierry Lincou, the former world champion and the most successful French player of all time, pictured here in 2009, has refuted suggestions he is about to retire |
Former world champion and the most successful French player of all time, Thierry Lincou, has refuted suggestions he is about to retire.
Many people thought that the Marseille-domiciled legend from Reunion Island is playing his last World Open here and that, at the age of 34, would call a halt to a famous career next week.
But Lincou now says he plans to play one more World Open and at least one more season, a decision which will delight almost everyone in the sport.
Lincou has also done more than any player to develop squash in France after becoming world number one for the first time in 2003 and World Open champion in Doha in 2004.
More than that, he is hugely popular around the world for the way he combines a high profile with humility, creating simultaneously an unusual charisma and an aura of approachability.
Three years ago at the World Open in Bermuda, Lincou said he would probably play two more years.
Asked again here Friday, he said: "I've done an extra year, eh? Well, I will probably do one more World Open."
He went on: "It depends. I am down to play the whole year in 2011 - and then I will see.
"It's always connected to my mind and to my feeling of purpose, and how to balance that with my family life.
"But everything is moving well. I am involved in trying to make good management (of my career). I have to make eally sensible management on all these key points."
What has encouraged Lincou to continue competing has been his consistency, which has brought him eight quarter-finals, two semi-finals, and one title this year.
He has also planned a careful schedule, and learned to be subtlely more assertive in his style, helping him to economise further with his movement.
"Apart from two upsets I have been playing to a pretty consistent top ten standard this year. So I am really relaxed and just hoping to enjoy myself," Lincou said
It is this attitude which is causing him to view this World Open, the richest ever, as just another big tournament.
"I know it's the World Open, but in my mindset it's another big match on the tour," he explained. "I just want to be consistent like all the other times, where I think I reached a minimum quarter-finals.
"That's my target for this tournament. It's a bonus if I go further."
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