Малайзиялық сквош жұлдызы: Дэвид Никольдің жетістіктері

Malaysian squash player

David is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under the tutelage of Richard Glanfield. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this, until Raneem El Weleily emulated David's feat by winning her second World Junior Championship in 2007. David joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month on the tour. The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open. On 7 June 2008, David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D. B. in conjunction with the birthday of the His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on 26 June 1975. David was also invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia. Considered by some the greatest women's squash player, David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won a record nine times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015). She also held a 13 month, 51 match winning streak, from March 2006 until April 2007, when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. David has also obtained the WSA Player of the Year on seven occasions, 2005–2010 and 2012. In a poll conducted in 2018 by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), David was voted by fans as the greatest squash player of all time in the women's category. In February 2019, Nicol announced her retirement plan, and decided to retire at the end of the 2018/2019 PSA season in June. In another poll conducted by the World Games in 2021, David was crowned as the World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time with receiving a total of 318,943 votes and being the only Malaysian and Asian athlete among 24 candidates.

Born in Penang, David is the daughter of Ann Marie David, a retired Malaysian Chinese school teacher of Hokkien Hakka descent and Desmond David, a Malaysian Indian engineer of Tamil descent, She has two sisters, Lianne and Cheryl, both of whom are accomplished squash players at the national level. As a youngster, mathematics was David's best subject at school; she dreamed of one day becoming an engineer. She was raised a Roman Catholic.

David played squash when she was five years old, and received coaching at the age of eight. who led her to represent her home state of Penang, along with her sisters. Her first national level victory was also in 1992 at the Milo Dunlop Sport National Junior Interstate Championship, where she won silver in the Under 16 category. In the same year, she won her first two international titles – the Hong Kong U 13 and the Scottish Junior Open Under 12. In 1999, David began to win major junior tournaments, including the British Junior Open (Under 17 champion), David also is one of a few squash player to have won all the age categories in the British Junior Open.

David joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour. Within a month, Hotel Equatorial announced its two year worldwide sponsorship for her. David also won a sponsorship on the WISPA tour by Dunlop squash. In July, David won the World Junior title for a second time, beating Omneya Abdel Kawy in just 17 minutes with a score of 9–2, 9–4 and 9–2 in the final. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this until 2007, when Raneem El Weleily won her second World Junior Championship. David also won the individual event in the Asian Junior Squash Championships by defeating her compatriot Tricia Chuah in the final with a score of 9–5, 9–6 and 9–0; and helped the Malaysian team to the team event title. In 2002 David, together with her mixed double event partner Ong Beng Hee, won a Commonwealth Games silver medal for Malaysia after losing to Glen Wilson and Leilani Rorani in the final. Earlier in the year, David defeated Ellen Petersen of Denmark with a score of 9–2, 9–7, 8–10, 9–4 to win the second Kuala Lumpur Open title of her career. David failed to retain her Asian Games gold medal in 2002, when she lost 9–7, 9–5 and 9–7 to Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong in the final in Busan, South Korea. David was the losing finalist twice in 2003, losing to the more experienced Cassie Jackman on her home ground and then to Linda Elriani in the Monte Carlo Classic in November. She reached the semi final of the World Open in Hong Kong, losing to Cassie Jackman with a score of 9–6, 9–3, 9–4 in the final. David did not perform well in the other major WISPA events; she was eliminated in the first round of the Carol Weymuller US Open, in the British Open and in the Texas Open. In the Qatar Classic Open, David lost in the second round to Natalie Grinham with a score of 9–2, 7–9, 9–0 and 9–4. In 2004 David again failed to win any title. Her achievements included getting into the final of both the Kuala Lumpur Open and the semi finals of the World Open, to rise two places to number four in the January 2005 WISPA rankings.

Defeated only twice in 2005, the 21 year old from Penang returned to her home country in July after winning the gold medal at the World Games in Germany. she then became the first local player to win the Women's CIMB Malaysian Open Squash Championship title in the event’s 31 year history. In October, David proved that her success in the World Games and in the Malaysian Open was not by chance by becoming the first Malaysian to win a British Open title, the first Asian to win the women's crown, when she beat Australia's Natalie Grinham in the women's final in straight games that lasted in 55 minutes. Within two months after the British Open and the World Games win, David won the World Open in Hong Kong for the first time and world number one ranking for the first time in January 2006. Later in the year, she was voted by her fellow members of the Women's International Squash Players Association as the WISPA Player of The Year 2005. David became the World's number 1 female squash player in January 2006 at the age of 23 to become the first Malaysian and the first Asian woman to be ranked World number 1 in the sport. She also became the twelfth holder of the position since the rankings were first produced in April 1983. David started to show progress later in the year and recovered from the setback to win six straight tour titles and reclaimed the World number 1 spot. David successfully defended her World Open title on 25 November 2006, at the Ulster Hall in Belfast by defeating Natalie Grinham in the final that was said to be "one of the great finals of the Women’s World Open". She became the first Malaysian athlete to win a world championship title for the second consecutive time, and the fourth person in history to retain the World Open Squash Championship. the Dunlop British Open Championship, the Hong Kong Open, the Penang Open and the CIMB Malaysian Open. David topped the December WISPA ranking with a points average of almost twice that of her nearest rival, Rachael Grinham, and in the same month, in the second annual WISPA Awards, she was voted best female player of the year for the second time.

David captured another six titles in the early months of 2007, then lost the final of the British Open to Australian Rachael Grinham in a five set final lasting 87 minutes. A month later, David again failed to defend her World Open title when she stumbled in the second round, losing to Shelley Kitchen with a score of 0–9, 1–9, 9–2, 9–3 and 6–9 in 69 minutes. It was the first time since April 2004 that David did not qualify for the quarters of a tournament, losing to the same person who denied her the bronze medal of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 9 months previously. In December, David won the inaugural Asian Sportswoman of the Year, beating more than 100 competitors who represented 25 sporting bodies. In 2008, David won ten tour titles and was unbeaten. David completed her most successful year to date, retaining her Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open title David celebrated her second full calendar year as world number one in the December Women's World Squash Rankings thus bringing her reign at the top of women’s squash to 30 straight months. David's WISPA title successes in 2008 began with the Apawamis Open in New York in February, and then lead Malaysia to the bronze medal in the Women's World Team Championship in Cairo.

With a lead over her nearest rival, she led in the Women's World Squash Rankings published on 1 January 2009 by the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) – thus moving into her 30th successive month as the world’s number one female player. David headed an unchanged top four, with Natalie Grinham (Netherlands) at No. 2; her older sister Rachael Grinham (Australia) at No. 3; and Natalie Grainger, of the United States, at No. 4. After the defeat, David recovered to capture the inaugural Cayman Islands Open. She managed to avenge her loss to Grainger early in the year by beating her 11–8, 11–6 and 11–5 in the final. It is her 35th tour crown and her 50th appearance in a WISPA Tour final. A week later, David went on to win her second title of the year by again dispatching Grainger, this time in four sets. A week later, on 1 August, David picked up her fifth consecutive Malaysian Open title, winning 11–6, 11–8, 9–11, 11–7 in a 60 minute match against 25 year old Londoner, Alison Waters. David thus became the first player to win five Malaysian Open titles in a row since its inception in 1975. Dominating on the squash courts, David beat Natalie Grinham to win her third consecutive Singapore Masters championship, and her third title within a month. On 12 September, David lost to Madeline Perry in the British Open quarter final in a five set match that lasted for 76 minutes; 15 days later, she recovered to defeat arch rival Natalie Grinham in the final of the World Open Championship, obtaining the title for a record fourth time. David started 2010 ranked number 1 for the 42nd consecutive month. She appeared in the WISPA calendar for the month of January. David competed in her first tournament in March, the US$53,000 Chennai Open; she won all her matches in straight sets and was crowned as the champion, avenging two straight defeats to Jenny Duncalf in late 2009. Thirteen days later, in the Kuala Lumpur Open, David defeated the fourth seeded Egyptian Omneya Abdel Kawy who upset second seed Jenny Duncalf in the semi finals in straight sets to win her second successive WISPA title of the year. It was David's sixth title in the Kuala Lumpur Open tournament as she had previously won it in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008. David had won five more tour titles since April. This include winning the "prestigious" World Open title on 22 September. In October, in the women's singles final of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, David defeated Jenny Duncalf 11–3, 11–5, 11–7 in 40 minutes to win the gold medal. David did not drop a game in the entire tournament, just as she did in the 2010 World Open in Egypt. Nicol David added another feather to her cap, becoming the first player – male or female – to win the US Open for the third straight year. The 31 year old Nicol, a seven time world champion and five time British Open winner, exacted sweet revenge over Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini to win the US$115,000 (RM479,320) tournament in Philadelphia.

David and Natalie Grinham have a long rivalry history. As of March 2012, they have met 36 times, with David leading their overall head to head series 29–7. and 16 of their matches have been in tournament finals, including two in the World Open tournament. On 27 September 2009 in the $118,000

No. Date Tournament Opponent in Final Score in Final Length (H:MM) 1. 19 April 1998 Milo Open (1) Janie Thacker 5–9, 4–9 (ret) Unknown 2. 4 July 1999 Kuala Lumpur Open (1) Carol Owens 0–9, 2–9, 5–9 Unknown 3. 16 April 2000 Milo Open (2) Rachael Grinham 2–9, 4–9, 6–9 Unknown 4. 24 June 2000 YTL Open Carol Owens 1–9, 5–9, 2–9 0:35 5. 16 March 2001 DMC Open Rachael Grinham 4–9, 2–9, 4–9 Unknown 6. 23 August 2003 Malaysia Women's Open (1) Cassie Jackman 5–9, 9–1, 4–9, 7–9 0:47 7. 22 November 2003 Monte Carlo Classic Open Linda Elriani 10–8, 1–9, 6–9, 1–9 0:42 8. 15 February 2004 Kuala Lumpur Open (2) Vanessa Atkinson 0–9, 7–9, 9–1, 2–9 0:28 9. 24 July 2004 Malaysia Women's Open (2) Vanessa Atkinson 2–9, 4–9, 0–9 0:25 10. 21 November 2004 Shanghai WISPA Worldstars Open Cassie Jackman 2–9, 3–9, 0–9 0:27 11. 6 February 2006 Apawamis Open Vanessa Atkinson 6–9, 2–9, 10–9, 7–9 1:05 12. 18 February 2006 Kuala Lumpur Open (3) Vanessa Atkinson 7–9, 9–4, 1–9, 3–9 0:42 13. 28 April 2007 Seoul City Open Natalie Grinham 4–9, 4–9, 0–9 0:43 14. 24 September 2007 British Open (1) Rachael Grinham 9–7, 9–4, 3–9, 8–10, 1–9 1:27 16. 2 February 2011 Cleveland Classic (1) Laura Massaro 9–11, 7–11, 11–9, 8–11 1:01 17. 15 September 2012 Malaysian Open (3) Raneem El Weleily 10–12, 13–11, 6–11, 2–11 0:36 18. 5 February 2013 Cleveland Classic (2) Raneem El Weleily 11–3, 5–11, 11–9, 5–11, 9–11 1:00 19. 26 May 2013 British Open (2) Laura Massaro 4–11, 11–3, 10–12, 7–11 0:44 20. 4 March 2015 Windy City Open Raneem El Weleily 16–14, 10–12, 7–11, 7–11 0:57 21. 30 September 2017 Oracle Netsuite Open Sarah Jane Perry 11 8, 11 8, 7 11, 12 14, 7 11 Unknown

On 7 June 2008, David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D. B. in conjunction with the birthday of His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. On 12 July 2008, David was among 497 people honoured in conjunction with the 70th birthday of the Penang State Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas. David was also one of the 28 people who received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri award (DSPN), which carries the title Datuk, making her the youngest person ever to be conferred Datukship in Penang. once quipped that David is "now more famous than me". David was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics of 2004, and was appointed UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia. On 23 September 2019, David was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate (Ph. D.) in Sports Science by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

The ACE Pictures has on 7 June 2021 announced a biopic in English based on David's life story titled 'I am Nicol David' will soon be produced.