Senior player of the year award for Rory
Perthshire squash star Rory Stewart can reflect on a memorable 2019.
And now the Crieff ace’s achievements have been officially recognised after being named Scottish Squash’s senior player of the year.
Promising signs were evident as early as March when Rory worked his way to the quarter final of the Swedish Open.
But his season really kicked into life with a special performance in May’s European Team Championships, which were held in Birmingham.
He defeated French duo Baptiste Masotti and Victor Crouin, both ranked in the world’s top 100, to help Scotland win a memorable bronze medal.
The former Crieff High student was displaying some of his finest ever squash and the momentum continued on his tour of South America.
Within a week he had won his first ever PSA World Tour title at the $5.5k Mar del Plata PSA Open in Argentina.
Then Rory reached the quarter-final of both the Regatas Resistencia Open and Colon Open before a semi-final finish at the $11.5k Paraguay Open.
He came tantalisingly close to reaching the final in Paraguay. Later in the summer, he made the semi-finals of the Russian Open.
Rory was thrilled to pick up his award at the Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre in Edinburgh.
The 23-year-old said: “I’m delighted to have won this award. It was a really strong second half of the season and I was very happy with it.
“Off court I tried to change things, like going to bed at a decent time, waking up earlier before training and changing my diet.
“I also spent a lot more time on court training with Paul Bell.”