Annelize Naudé (born 1 January 1977) is a Dutch former professional squash player. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 13 in January 2006, and won five

WISPA Wispa is a brand of chocolate bar manufactured by British chocolate company Cadbury. Using aerated chocolate, the bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England, and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983. I ...

tour titles as well as having been the runner-up nine times since 1996. She retired as a professional player in 2010.

Professional career

Naudé's international squash career began in 1996; her world ranking after her first year was No. 53. She climbed up the rankings to No. 36 two years later, but her rankings then fell to a career low of No. 86 in May 2000. Her ranking rose again to No. 25 in late 2001, and she reached No. 20 a year later. She achieved her career best ranking of No. 13 four years later, in January 2006. Naudé reached her first final in an international tournament in 1999 in the Danish Open, but she was subsequently defeated by Pamela Nimmo. Naudé won her first professional title in 2002, also in the Danish Open, when she beat Senga Macfie in the final which lasts in five sets 3–9, 4–9, 9–5, 9–3, 9–4. She then had to wait for two years for her second title, this time in the Swiss Open, beating Laura-Jane Lengthorn in the final. Naudé then lost to former world No. 1

Vanessa Atkinson Vanessa Louise Atkinson (born 10 March 1976 in Newcastle, England) is a former professional squash player from the Netherlands, who won the World Open in 2004 and reached the World No. 1 ranking in December 2005. Atkinson was born in Englan ...

in the final of Mexican Open. Naudé appeared in her 12th

World Tour final at the Internationaux de Creteil in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

; she then won the match by beating

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

’s Lauren Siddall to her fourth title of her career.

Personal life

Naudé grew up in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

before moving to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. She was based at Kempton Park Country Club, and was coached in her early days by Phillip Schelbusch and Jean Grainger, which took her to national titles at various junior levels before she moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and eventually took on

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

nationality and become a fixture in their national team. Annelize is currently busy following her other passion in life, music. Since retiring from squash at the end of 2010, she is a qualified

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

and well established dj.

Career statistics

Listed as the following:-

Professional Tour Titles (5)

All Results for Annelize Naudé in WISPA World's Tour tournament

WISPA Tour Finals (runner-up) (9)

References

External links

* *
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naude, Annelize Dutch female squash players Living people 1977 births Sportspeople from Kempton Park, Gauteng