Gregory Gaultier

Known for his imposing physical style and unrelenting stamina, Gregory Gaultier is one of the most combative players on the PSA World Tour and will go down as a true great of the game when he eventually hangs up his racket.

‘The French General’ showed promise from the very start of his career, reaching the final of the World Junior Championship in 2000 before losing to Karim Darwish but he made up for that by winning the 2001 British Junior Open.

The enigmatic Frenchman reached the final of the World Championship in 2006 after defeating defending-champion Amr Shabana in the semi-final. Despite going two games and five match balls up in the final against Australian David Palmer, Gaultier was pegged back and the match eventually ended in a 3-2 loss.

He has since lost a further three World Championship finals, in 2007 against Amr Shabana, and in 2011 and 2013, on both occasions losing out to Englishman Nick Matthew.

Gaultier became the first Frenchman ever to win the British Open, in 2007, defeating compatriot Thierry Lincou in the process. He also became the only Frenchman to win the Tournament of Champions when he triumphed over Nick Matthew in 2009’s final.

November 2009 saw Gaultier become World No.1 for the first time, becoming only the second Frenchman to do so, after Lincou, and it would be five years later, in February 2014, before he once again topped the world rankings.

In 2014 he won World Series titles at both the Windy City Open and British Open, while also reaching the final of the Tournament of Champions and the Hong Kong Open.

Gaultier picked up another PSA World Tour title at the Grasshopper Cup in April 2015 but he was denied his third British Open title by Mohamed ElShorbagy a month later as he narrowly lost to the Egyptian in a titanic five-game encounter.

However, the Frenchman bounced back magnificently at the start of the 2015/16 season, claiming the US Open title before making it to the final of the Qatar Classic in November, again losing to ElShorbagy.

The biggest moment of his career was to come just two weeks after his Qatar Classic defeat though as he ended years of World Championship final heartbreak by finally lifting the sport’s most prestigious prize after beating Omar Mosaad - resulting in emotional scenes as he also became the World No.1 for the fourth time.

An ankle injury sustained during his Tournament of Champions semi-final clash in January 2016 with Matthew left Gaultier out of action for two months, where he followed up a semi-final finish at the British Open with final defeats in the Grasshopper Cup and El Gouna International.

He finished off the season with a flourish though by overcoming Australia’s Cameron Pilley in the final of the PSA Dubai World Series Finals - lifting his third World Series Finals crown in the process.

The 2016/17 season, particularly in the second half of the campaign, saw Gaultier dominate like never before in his extensive career, with six successive titles and a 27-match unbeaten run seeing him return to the top of the World Rankings – making him the oldest player ever to top the PSA Men’s World Rankings. 

The Frenchman was also awarded the PSA Men’s Player of the Season award to recognise his achievements over the season. 
 
Gaultier started the season poorly, with a shock defeat to Egypt’s Fares Dessouky seeing him exit the Hong Kong Open at the second-round stage. 

However, after a runner-up finish at the China Open the following month, Gaultier returned to form at the NetSuite Open where he beat England’s James Willstrop to lift his first title of the season. 

An ankle injury curtailed his defence of his PSA Men’s World Championship crown, however the French General soon came back and prevailed in an incredible semi-final match against then World No.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy at the Tournament of Champions – later to be named PSA Men’s Match of the Season. 

Gaultier’s unbeaten streak then began with victory at the Swedish Open, closely followed by the Frenchman capturing the Windy City Open title for the second time in his career. 

More success ensued as Gaultier added the British Open title to his collection, beating home favourite Nick Matthew. His hot run of form continued to April and May of 2017 as he took honours at the El Gouna International, Grasshopper Cup and Bellevue Classic before Egyptian Ali Farag ended his unbeaten run on day one at the PSA Dubai World Series Finals.

The Frenchman then made the last eight of every tournament he then entered. That included the semi finals of the Qatar Classic and the World Championships at the end of 2017.

He also made the last four at the Tournament of Champions, Grasshopper Cup, El Gouna International and British Open. However, Gaultier suffered a knee injury at the US Open in October 2018, and missed around 12 months of action.

He made his return at the WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship in Washington, D.C., and was a key part of the French quartet which finished in 3rd place at Squash on Fire, alongside Gregoire Marche, Baptiste Masotti and Mathieu Castagnet.

He made the last 16 at the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions on his return to the PSA World Tour, but had to wait until after the sport’s suspension before he took another victory. The ‘French General’ has since won four times on the PSA Challenger Tour, taking the Expression Networks Nolan and Liam’s Tournament, Expression Networks Prague Open, Expression Networks Enjoy Open and the Czech Pro Series 1, in what was his first appearance of 2021.