Tania first played squash at the age of nine and won her first junior tournament at the same age - the Lincolnshire under 12's. This triumphant start was not continued however when in her second tournament she lost without winning a single point! Ahhh.
As a junior Tania improved rapidly and won many titles around the country. She captained England teams to World and European titles and won the British Junior Open amongst other accolades. In 1997 Tania became the World Junior champion in Rio de Janeiro and this led to her decision to play the game professionally.
Tania joined the rankings at No.51 in 1997 but by 1999 she was
in the world top ten, had won three wispa titles and had already defeated the
current world no.2. At only 20 years old she was being touted as one of the most
promising English juniors ever. However, after reaching the World No.5 spot
Tania was involved in a car crash aged 21 that led to career threatening knee
surgery. This put her progress on hold for at least a year and she fell rapidly
down the rankings.
In 2002 Tania came back from injury stronger than ever and although was seeded 15 she made it through to the final of the British Open (the Wimbledon of squash). On her way she defeated the numbers 2, 3 and 5 seeds, but was beaten in the final by the No.1 after her massive efforts. 2002 was also the year of the commonwealth games in Manchester and Tania had regained her World No.5 spot and was back into the England team for the games. In the doubles she got to the final together with her partner Cassie Jackman and together they won the silver medal.
Tania's progress has unfortunately been halted recently due to the epstein-barr virus. She was diagnosed with the severe form of glandular fever in February 2003 and has yet to fully recover enough to get back into the World top 5. Tania has had a solid 2005/2006 season after a promising end to the 2004/2005 season. She has reached the Semi Finals in Seattle, Monte Carlo and the British Open.
2006 has been Tania's comeback year and she has become National Champion, won a commonwealth bronze medal, won the Vassar Open, won the European and World team championships with England, won the PSL title with Duffield, made the biggest finals of her career in Malaysia and Hong Kong and become England No.1 and World No.5.
Other News...
Tania's birthday in October 2006
Squashtalk have written two excellent profiles on Tania, These can be found by clicking the links below...