World No.6 Georgina Kennedy occupies the No.1 seed position in the women’s draw for this year’s National Championships and is determined to add her name to the trophy after missing the 2022 event due to injury.
We caught up with her to talk about her desire to claim the title, her game at the minute and memories of the British Nationals from her junior days.
“I’m really excited to be top seed for this year’s Nationals,” said Kennedy.
“Obviously, I was runner-up there two years ago, and then unfortunately had to pull out last year with an injury. So I didn’t really get a chance to try and get the title and I’m really looking forward to giving it a go this year.
“It’s the first event after the off-season, so it’ll be really interesting. Everyone’s going to be fresh and gunning for it. I’m honoured that I’m the top seed and it’s really cool.
“It would mean a lot to me to win it. As I said, I’ve never won it before. Becoming British Nationals champion is such a huge achievement. So it’s definitely been one of my goals since I was young and I want to try and tick that off.
“My game is in pretty good shape at the minute. I took a nice break off after the World Tour Finals, and then I’ve had a really good block of training. So it’s nice to be able to be in one place for a little while and actually work on a few things for a longer period of time because we don’t get the chance in the season, I’m just looking forward to seeing where my game is out in a competition again.
“I remember I played Laura Massaro at the British Nationals when I was a junior, it was an amazing experience. She obviously chopped me. She taught me what it meant to be like one of the top players in the world. That was an amazing experience playing Laura. It’s crazy now that she was top seed then and I’m top seed now. I’m in the same position as her because she was obviously one of the best female squash players in England and it’s pretty cool to draw comparisons.”
“The women’s draw is really strong. There are a few really good qualifiers as well who are going to be gunning to get into that main draw. So it’s definitely very open. In the top half, you’ve got me and Jaz [Jasmine Hutton] as the top seeds, and then you’ve got SJ [Sarah-Jane Perry] and Tesni [Evans] in the bottom half. So it’s going to be really exciting. We’ve got tough matches before that too, so I’m looking forward to it.”
You can watch the 2023 British National Championships LIVE on SQUASHTV with updates on the England Squash Facebook, Twitter & Instagram channels.
