First PSA Bronze Title Felt Amazing For Gregoire Marche

As we reach the end of another season, the PSA’s Matt Coles has been talking to the stars of the PSA World Tour about their 2018/19 campaigns. Here he catches up with French No.1 Gregoire Marche.
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The 2018-2019 season has been a great one for France’s Gregoire Marche, as he moved up into the top 16 in the World Rankings, became France’s No.1, and won the biggest title of his career.

The first of the Frenchman’s two victories came in the States, as he won the Three Rivers Capital Pittsburgh Open, his first PSA Bronze crown.

He beat Egypt’s Zahed Salem in a thrilling five-game final, and Marche said that it was “amazing” to take the title in Pittsburgh.

“Pittsburgh was a great week for me. Before going there, I knew that almost everyone in the draw could win it and I felt better and better everyday there!” Marche said of his time in Pittsburgh.

“Winning an event like this, it’s always something that I was looking for and it felt really amazing to finally get that big win!”

His second victory of the 2018-2019 campaign in his final event of the year. Marche took victory on home soil, at the 5R Montpellier Metropole Open.

Marche overcame former World No.1 James Willstrop in the final, and he was happy to take the crown at this home club.

“Montpellier was different because I was the No.1 seed and I had to confirm the good season and the good results I had recently, so I had to really take care of my emotions and just thinking about what I had to do on court,” the World No.18 added.

“Of course it was great to win in my own club, I felt that they put myself in the best conditions to get this title so I’m very thankful for this!”

The Frenchman suffered from some tough draws at the start of the season, as he faced Mohamed ElShorbagy, Ali Farag and Simon Rösner in the early rounds of tournaments before Christmas.

Despite the tough draws, Marcche still believes that the 2018-2019 season has been his best on the PSA World Tour to date.

“This season has been the best for me by far. I didn’t start really well but I felt I was playing much better and I had some bad draws but I changed a few things in my training and it took a while to see the improvement. But, [I am] very happy overall even if i could sneak a few more wins,” he said.

After starting the season just inside the top 30, Marche found himself in the top 16 in May, his best ever position in the World Rankings, and he puts it down to relaxing more on court.

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“Getting in the top 16 is a huge help for tournaments coming up. I was aiming for this top 20 for a long time and I felt very relieved after this, so I played more relaxed after and it’s how I am enjoying my squash at the moment,” the Frenchman explained.

Like most of the players on the PSA World Tour, Marche has taken a break after the season finishes, but he will soon be back in training for the start of the new season.

“The off season is always very important so I’ll take some days off to refresh my body and then I’ll train harder from the first week of July to the end of August,” he said.

“We have a great exhibition tournament in Mauritius again in July and after that I’ll have around 5 weeks to get ready for the season! I’ll probably stay in Aix-en-Provence with all the players here and train with my own staff.”

The Frenchman will be looking to push on even more come the start of the new campaign, and he has a specific goal in mind for next season.

“Next year, the main goal will be to break into the top ten but I will not think about this too much! [I will] just try to work on few things and play more relaxed like I used to do!”

Keep an eye out for the next player’s review of the 2018-19 season in the coming days, as Amanda Sobhy reviews her campaign.