International Women’s Day 2024 - Australian Open Legends

Today marks just 12 days until the City Tattersall’s Group Squash Australian Open takes place in Sydney.

It also marks International Women’s Day 2024, where one of the aims is to “celebrate women’s achievement”.

One clear area where that is possible is to look back at the honour roll of the Australian Open which reads as a ‘who’s who’ of legends who have laid the foundation for the current generation of players.

To mark International Women’s Day, we celebrate the achievement of five women who have taken the squash world by storm.

Heather McKay AO MBE - 14 Australian Opens
Heather McKay (nee Blundell) dominated the women’s game in the 1960s and 1970s, winning 16 consecutive British Open titles between 1962 and 1977, and claiming 14 straight Australian Open titles from 1960 to 1973.

She won the inaugural women’s World Squash Championship in 1976, winning it again in 1979.

In over 20 years of competition, McKay lost just two matches, once in 1960 to Yvonne West and in 1962 to Fran Marshall, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken.

McKay was also a proven talent in tennis and racquetball, and represented Australia in hockey between 1967 and 1971. 

In 1969, McKay became a Member of the British Empire (MBE) and in 1979 was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to squash. She is a Member of the World Squash Hall of Fame.

Vicki Cardwell BEM - 8 Australian Opens
Vicki Cardwell (nee Hoffman) was a dominant force on the world and Australian squash scene from the late 1970s to the mid-90s. In the seven year period between 1978 and 1984 Cardwell reached the semi-final or final of every tournament she competed in throughout the world and the final of every tournament contested in Australia.

She won the British Open crown on four occasions and the World Open Championships in 1983. Cardwell was a member of the Australian team at the World Women’s Team’s Championships in 1981, 1987 and 1989 and was ranked world number one from 1980 to 1983.

Cardwell won the Australian Amateur Women’s Championship in 1978 and then won seven Australian Women’s Open Championships, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988 and 1989.

When she retired In 1997 aged 42, she was still ranked inside the world’s top 30.

In 1981, Cardwell was awarded the Order of the British Empire Medal (BEM) for her service to squash and in 2005, she was inducted into the Squash Australia Hall of Fame.

Michelle Martin OAM - 7 Australian Opens
Training under legends Geoff Hunt and Heather McKay, Michelle Martin came from a talented squash family and was the younger sister of world class players Brett and Rodney Martin.

She won her first competitive tournament in 1990 and made it to her first World Championships final in 1992. 

After going down on that occasion Martin went one better the following year, the first of three consecutive world titles. She also won six straight British Opens titles from 1993 to 1998 and held the world number one ranking from 1993 to 1995 and again in 1999.

On national duty, Martin represented Australia at six World Women’s Team’s Championships and at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games where she won two gold medals. She also represented Australia in the 1996 and 1999 World Cups and won seven Australian Opens between 1991 and 1999.

Sarah Fitz-Gerald AM - 4 Australian Opens
Sarah Fitz-Gerald won the World Open Squash Championship five times between 1996 and 2002 and held the World No 1 ranking through 1996 to 1998. After knee surgery in late 1998 and in 1999 she came back to reclaim the top ranking in 2001 and held that honour until she retired from the World Tour in 2003.

Fitz-Gerald represented Australia 75 times, including a gold medal winning performance in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. 

A strong junior career instantly translated to success in the senior ranks, however it was not until her victory in the World Open championships in Malaysia in 1996 that she achieved ‘superstar’ status when she lost just 29 points in the entire tournament.

Her credentials were confirmed the following year when she won seven titles including  her second World Open title in Sydney and her first Australian Open at home in Melbourne. 

Judith Fitz-Gerald - 4 Australian Opens
While her daughter Sarah’s exploits on the squash court may be superior, history will always look kindly on the impact Judith Fitz-Gerald (nee Tissot) had on the game.

Judith became the first female player to win the Australian Open on four occasions (1952, 1956-1958), and the first to win three consecutive titles. Ironically, her daughter also won four Australian Opens, three of them consecutively.

She went on to coach both daughter Sarah and Carol Owens to world titles, was a highly sought after coach at state and national level and managed the Mordialloc Squash Centre for two decades.