"You don't go into being a professional squash player to be famous."
But what cannot be denied is that Madeline Perry has enjoyed a career of immense distinction.
This year, the Co Down-born squash star brought an end to a successful career which saw her peak at World No 3 in the rankings, spend most of her time in the sport among the Top 10 and represent Ireland over 130 times, winning numerous medals at championships.
This Saturday, the 38-year-old will be honoured with a testimonial match at the Fitzwilliam LTC, Dublin, with the encounter underway at 4pm.
Before that special day, she spoke to me about the ups and downs of her career and why she has taken the decision to retire.
"I retired at the end of May and won the Irish Open and that was a great way to finish. I think I just had enough of the intensity of competition and I felt like when I was training, some days I didn't really enjoy it much and I was worried that I wouldn't do myself justice. I felt like I wanted to come out on a high rather as opposed to gradually getting less and less motivated," she said.
M.Perry Testimonial - 21st Nov. See poster. Irish Squash request Items for the auction. Contact [email protected] pic.twitter.com/n2AKl0sYtJ
— Irish Squash (@IrishSquash) November 3, 2015
The Banbridge native first took up squash at the age of 11 - among other sports - but it wasn't until she completed her BSc in Geograph at university in Belfast, that she joined the professional ranks at the age of 22 in 1998.
"Going to university was definitely the better option for me and I really enjoyed it whilst I was there. Then I was able to concentrate on squash after that and its great to have that degree as well."
An Irish Open winner in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (among 15 national titles), she faced the greatest challenge of her career in that latter year in a horrifying incident in Milan when she was mugged and left with serious injuries.
Now time for my testimonial on Saturday. Come and help me celebrate my career or get involved in the online auction via @IrishSquash website
— Madeline Perry (@MadelinePerry77) November 19, 2015
But in one way she was lucky to recover given the severity of the injury: "It's annoying at the time because I was in the Top 10 in the world and its a bit of a setback. But considering the fact that it was a broken temporal bone, bleeding on the brain, I'm fully aware that a lot of people can die from that injury. So I was lucky enough, any effects from the injury were all shorter-term like the concentration issues. About a year later I was back playing to my full potential."
Indeed, her rise to world No 3 came much later in April 2011 with interim successes seeing her win the 2010 Australia Open and also reaching the Qatar Classic final a year later.
"I could never have imagined getting as high as No 3 in the world. That was pretty amazing and pretty proud to look back on that one."
Madeline's testimonial takes place on November 21st.
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