“But from the first world title up until now, every year the level has been so different. The players are so much closer and the depth is so much stronger, and there’s a lot of sports science involved now.”
David calls Amsterdam a “second home” after 10 years there and generally only makes it back to Malaysia a couple of times a year.
However, she remains grateful for the support and funding she has received since squash became part of the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, allowing her to break the dominance of Australian and English women.
“We had a former world junior champion, Ong Beng Hee, who came to England and trained from a very young age,” says David.
“He was the first champion who showed Malaysians we could do something. We got sent overseas to the British juniors and other events, and it sort of progressed from there. That’s now 15, 20 years ago.
“As the publicity grows and the media coverage is getting so much bigger, it’s just been amazing that the public is so supportive.”
The success on court has led to countless awards off it, such as Asian Sportswoman of the Year, UN goodwill ambassador, Malaysian order of merit and Olympic torch bearer. But the one prize that would seal her place among the greatest athletes in the world remains out of reach.
Squash is vying this year with six other sports to gain an Olympic place in 2020, but last summer David had to view the events of London 2012 like most others.