Biography

Nathan started his squash career when he was just 10 years old - stumbling upon the game at his Dad's rugby club, hitting around on the court as a way to pass the time while his Dad was out on the pitch. Having fallen in love with the game, Nathan continued with his squash at the Old Pats Rugby Club, learning under Gary Powell. This period saw him transform from a chubby teenager, narrowly being selected for the U13 inter-county team, to becoming the King of Europe, winning the European Junior Championships when he was 18.

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Nathan Lake joined the PSA World Tour in 2010. After a short stint in Manchester, training at the National Academy, Nathan opted for a more personal, individualised training regime, with former PSA player, Rob Owen, in Birmingham. In his first season on the PSA World Tour the Englishman reached the semi-finals of the Progetto 6 Open, where he was defeated in straight games by Abdullah Al Muzayen. Lake was then forced to wait until 2013 for his next semi-final appearance, this time at the Nottingham Open where he lost to fellow Englishman Declan James over four games. This finish helped propel Lake into the World’s top 100 for the first time in his career that year. 

The Englishman continued to build on his growing success, reaching the semi-final of the Keith Grainger Memorial UCT Open Squash Championships in 2014 where he fell to Shaun Le Roux in four games. However, the following year Lake went all the way at the Keith Grainger Memorial Open, downing Angus Gillams in straight games in the final to clinch his maiden PSA World Tour title, only dropping one game en route to the final. Another title soon followed for Lake at the Jersey Squash Classic when he beat Ashley Davies in three games to secure his second Tour title. 

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After floating around the World's top 100 mark for several years, Nathan decided it was time for another shift in his training.  In 2015, after meeting his girlfriend and fellow PSA player, Haley Mendez, Lake began splitting his time between Cheltenham and Brooklyn, New York.  Back at home, at his beloved East Glos, Lake has been working with Jonny Harford, the Wycliffe College Head Coach, and Ben Young, S&C guru to continue to improve his game. Alongside his squash career, Nathan completed a Master’s in Sports Practice and Coaching at the University of Gloucestershire.  He also ran a coaching outreach program that he started in 2015, Gloucestershire's Squash in Schools Project, aiming to give more children exposure to squash. 

 

The 2019/20 season proved to be Lake's best so far, winning events in Houston, Philadelphia and Winnipeg and recording some narrow losses to top 10 players. This lead to Nathan reaching a career high of #44 in the World in September 2020. 

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After the return of the PSA World Tour following it’s six-month suspension to COVID-19, the Englishman made it through to the third round of a Platinum tournament for the first time in his career, doing so at the CIB Egyptian Open. Since then he has gone on to win two more PSA events in Cincinatti and Virginia reaching a new career high of #40.

 

Lake continues to move up the ranks, traveling around the world, playing the game he loves, striving to be part of the squash elite.