Millie Tomlinson: ‘Really Pleased To Break The Top 20’

In the next part of a series taking a look back at the 2019-20 season to date, MATT COLES spoke to Millie Tomlinson about her form over the last 12 months.

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The 2019-20 season saw England’s Millie Tomlinson break into the top 20 of the World Rankings for the first time in her career.

Although she was unable to stay there throughout the campaign, the Englishwoman admitted it had been a goal of hers for a while.


”I was really pleased with this, as it had been a goal of mine for a long time,” Tomlinson said.

“I had a lot of support that helped me to achieve this, especially from local businesses Dentisan and PDHsports. I feel really lucky that they continue to support and believe in me.”

The 27-year-old has now dropped down to World No.25 with the rankings now frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Tomlinson’s first aim for when the Tour gets back underway is to reach that top 20 mark once again.

“I was hoping to rise back into the top 20 during this season, but I am now using the season postponement to the best of my ability. I will definitely be back up there next season,” she said.

Tomlinson’s best result came in her first outing of the 2019-20 campaign, and the Open de France – Nantes presented by Tailor Capital.

She reached the quarter-finals of the PSA Silver event, before losing out to home favourite, and eventual winner, Camille Serme, a match she always knew would be tough.

“I have always enjoyed playing in Nantes, and enjoyed reaching the quarters. However, playing Camille Serme on home soil was a tough gig.”

That was her best result of the campaign, with plenty of second round appearances at the major tournaments.

One of the Englishwoman’s aims is to start advancing further in the big events, and to do that, she has been working on her game, along with her mental attributes.

“I am continuing to work on my attacking game, confidence, and technical abilities. I am doing this with the help of the England Squash team, specifically Tania Bailey,” Tomlinson explained.

Overall, the 27-year-old believes that she played well to start with, and that consistency was a key part of her game in 2019-20.

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However, she would not put a rating on her campaign, as the PSA World Tour had to cut the season short due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s tough to look back and rate the season, since it was cut short half way through,” the Englishwoman explained.

“I worked a lot on explosiveness over the last summer, and feel that I was playing well during the first half of the season and gaining momentum. My results were fairly consistent, apart from during a spell of illness in late September.

“I’ve had some really enjoyable matches over the season – being part of the best PSL team in the country with Nottingham, and playing [Nour El] Sherbini for the first time in Cairo.”