Rachael has a great pedigree as a squash player. Winner of the World Junior title in 1993 aged 16, she had an opportunity to defend in 1995, but was beaten by Jade Wilson (NZ) in the final. Since joining the WISPA World Tour during 1994, her array of strokes and strong temperament initially took her steadily towards the top 20, a barrier she finally breached in the middle of 1997.

David and Vanessa Atkinson pushed her down to number three in the rankings at the start of 2006, but apart from tilting at WISPA Tour titles, she claimed Commonwealth Games Gold in Melbourne early in the year when she teamed up with sister Natalie to win the Women’s Doubles title and another family final resulted in a silver medal for her with Natalie taking gold in the singles at the same Games.

Finally in October 2006 Rachael broke her run of being beaten in WISPA Tour finals when after a run of four defeats she triumphed at the Weymuller US Open.