Lisa Aitken: Competition return 'big relief' for Scottish world number 40
- Published
Aitken competed at the 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, missing the 2014 event in Glasgow
A return to the international stage is a "big relief" for Scotland's leading female squash player Lisa Aitken - but she admits uncertainty remains over her future in the sport.
Squash had a six-month Covid-19 shutdown from March.
A limited schedule of events started last month and Aitken, 30, plays at the Egyptian Open in Cairo from Saturday.
"As a professional athlete, your salary or your prize money is purely dictated by having competitions," said Aitken.
"Remove competition from the equation and there is no money coming in so fortunately during lockdown I was able to move back in with my parents [in Montrose] and be supported by them, which was great. Not everybody is in that fortunate position.
"Financially it is a big relief. I would be very surprised if there were squash players with a lot of reserves, so for the months rolling in lockdown it was a bit concerning."
Distillery dream on hold for now
The world number 40 competed in last month's Manchester Open and, despite uncertainty over the international schedule for the remainder of the year, Aitken has yet to ponder a life beyond just squash.
However, she admits that could change if the competition circuit fails to get busier, with her long-term future perhaps lying in the drinks sector as she continues here brewing and distilling degree.
"To be honest no, purely because I started university last year so throwing potentially another job on top of trying to do this job and being a full-time student is just too much," she explained. "But those questions might need to be asked say six or nine months down the line if the tour still hasn't picked up.
"I love whisky, I love all things about whisky. My dad started collecting whisky a number of years ago and to spend some time with him I went along to the auctions not really interested in anything other than being with him doing something he loved.
"But it then became something that I loved so he has taught me a lot and I wanted to take that knowledge and explore it further and when I heard you could study brewing and distilling I thought 'wow that is something I would certainly like to get involved with'."
So could we one day see the Lisa Aitken Distillery open its doors?
"I will need to find a pot of gold for that to happen but hey, dream big, absolutely," she replied.