Nick Matthew defends Commonwealth Games squash title after surgery

Nick Matthew became the first man in Commonwealth Games history this week to retain their singles squash title after beating his fellow countryman, James Willstrop in five sets.

Matthew took gold after an enthralling match ended 11-9 8-11 11-5 6-11 11-5 and he became England’s first flag bearer to win gold at the games since Darren Campbell helped England sprint team narrowly beat Jamaica in the 4 x 100m relay in 2002.

Matthew’s victory was made even more remarkable by the fact that just five weeks previously the Sheffield born 3-time world champion’s dream of defending his Commonwealth title was hanging in the balance.

Last month, the 34-year-old was lying on a hospital bed waiting to have surgery on his knee with what he described as a “throbbing pain” in his body after first feeling a discomfort in his right knee whilst on court on 16th June.

Following a week of treatment and analysis, surgery was recommended as the best option and in order to allow him maximum recovery time and the best chance to be able to compete in the games, just seven days later Matthew was having work done to repair a small tear in the meniscus.

The operation performed in Sheffield Claremont Hospital meant that any pre-Games training regime had to be completely rethought as Matthew was forced to work tirelessly on the recovery of his knee in order to be in the best possible shape to defend his title.

Matthew praised the work of the medics as “incredible” and claimed that his knee is feeling as good as it ever has, showing the fantastic work done by all those involved with his recovery. Matthew undertook his intentsive rehabilitation programme with ISEH partner the English Institute of Sport (EIS) and paid tribute to his support team after his win. "Five weeks ago I was on a hospital bed having just woken up from general anaesthetic. How they've done it, Jade [Leeder, EIS Physiotherapist], Mark Campbell [EIS Strength and Conditioning coach], Derry, Rob, the doctors, everyone who’s worked with me, they need to retire now because it can’t get better than that!”

To win gold at the Commonwealth Games twice is an achievement in itself, but to do it in the fashion that Matthew did, following such a large setback so close to the competition and win gold shows a lot about a person's character and takes a considerable amount of hard work, dedication and skill.

After sealing victory Matthew’s joy was clear, he kissed his knee in celebration to signal a remarkable turnaround from hospital bed to Commonwealth Games champion in the space of five weeks.

The ISEH's Prof Fares Haddad said "Nick Matthew's rapid recovery clearly illustrates what is possible when a motivated athlete has appropriate minimally-intrusive arthroscopic surgery and has their recovery supervised by a skilled multidisciplinary team".