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🎾Heather McKay

Ranked #2 of 12 · Squash

Heather McKay
Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
#2GOAT Rankings
AustraliaCountry
1960-1979Career

Why they rank here

The most complete domination in the history of any racket sport. McKay lost exactly two competitive matches in her entire career, both in 1962, and was never beaten again — a run of roughly nineteen unbeaten years. She won sixteen consecutive British Opens from 1962 to 1977, when the British Open was the sport's world championship in all but name, and then won the first two Women's World Opens in 1976 and 1979, giving her eighteen major titles. She also won the Australian championship fourteen times. Her superiority was so absolute that contemporaries struggled to describe her weaknesses, and when she retired she switched codes and won the women's world racquetball championship as well. The standard argument against her is field depth: women's squash in the 1960s was smaller and less professional than the men's game. The standard answer is that she never lost to anyone, for two decades, in any of it.

Career profile

World Championship titles
2
British Open titles
16
Combined major titles
18
Elite career span
20 years
Longest unbeaten run
19 years, 2 career losses

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