Jonathon Tyler Power (born August 9, 1974) is a retired professional

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player from Canada. In 1999, he became the first North American squash player to reach the World No. 1 ranking. He won 36 top-level squash events during his career, including the World Open in 1998, and the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

in 1999.

Career overview

Power began playing squash at the age of seven and turned professional at age 16. After joining the

Professional Squash Association The Professional Squash Association (PSA) is the governing body for the men's and women's professional squash circuit. The body operates in a similar fashion to the ATP and the WTA for tennis. The PSA's highest professional level, the PSA Wor ...

(PSA) Tour in May 1991, he went on to win 36 PSA tournaments, and appeared in 58 finals. Career highlights included winning the World Open (1998), the British Open (1999), the

Super Series The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception w ...

Finals (2003 & 2005), the

PSA Masters The PSA Masters is a prestigious squash tournament which is one of the premier events on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour. It is the only PSA World Tour event which is open exclusively to the top 32 players in the world rankings, and ...

(2001, 2002 & 2005), the Tournament of Champions (1996, 1999, 2000 & 2002), and the men's singles Gold Medal at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

. Power is considered to be one of the greatest shotmakers in the history of the game, having perfected a wide range of drop shots and deception shots. He was often a crowd favourite, partly because of his emotional outbursts and verbal exchanges with referees, which sometimes led to him being compared with

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

. Power's rivalry with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Peter Nicol Peter Nicol (born 5 April 1973) is a former professional squash player from Scotland, who represented first Scotland and then England in international squash. In 1998, while still competing for Scotland, he became the first player from the UK ...

was one of the most famous and extended in the history of the game. In January 2006, Power returned to the World No. 1 ranking, four-and-a-half years after the previous time he was ranked in the top spot (marking the longest gap between periods of holding the World No. 1 ranking of any player in history). He lost the No. 1 ranking in February 2006 to David Palmer, but regained it again on 1 March 2006. One day later, on 2 March, Power announced his retirement from professional squash. His wife, Sita, gave birth to their daughter named Parker on January 23, 2007. Power played for Canada at the 2007 and 2009 World Team Championships. He defeated several highly ranked players and showed he was still competitive at world level. He also won the 2008 Canadian Championships, defeating

Shahier Razik Shahier Razik (born November 18, 1977, in Cairo, Egypt) is a professional squash player who represented Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Paci ...

in the final.

World Open final appearances

British Open final appearances

Commonwealth Games final appearances

External links

Jonathon Power as a professional coach to Diego Elias
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BBC article on Power's retirement

Bruce Grierson article "Court Jester" on Power's rise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Jonathon 1974 births Living people Canadian male squash players Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in squash Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in squash People from Comox, British Columbia Racket sportspeople from British Columbia Racket sportspeople from Ontario Sportspeople from Toronto Squash players at the 1995 Pan American Games Squash players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Squash players at the 2002 Commonwealth Games