Danielle Drady Harte

Danielle Drady (born 13 October 1967, in Sydney, New South Wales) is a former professional squash player from Australia, who was ranked the World No. 2 woman player in march 1990.

Drady became interested in the sport as a young child when she started tagging along with her mother to her twice-weekly social squash gatherings at a local club. She won the Queensland under-12 championship in 1978, and then went on to claim state and national championships and an under-19 world team crown in her junior years.

Drady turned professional in 1987, and began to steadily climb the world rankings. Her relationship with one of the top men's players, Rodney Martin, also attracted attention in the late-1980s and early-1990s.

Having reached the No. 2 ranking in 1991, the World No. 1 spot appeared to be within Drady's reach, but her chances were dashed when she snapped her achilles tendon during a practice match. The injury required immediate surgery and kept her out of the game for some time.

To garner interest and sponsorship for Drady's return to competition after an injury, as well as to publicize the inaugural outdoor squash tournament in 1994, Drady's manager, Phil Harte (whom she subsequently married), orchestrated a promotional stunt by having her play matches wrapped in cling film outside Sydney's Martin Place shopping centre in 1994. Drady played and won the World Outdoor Pro-Am wrapped in plastic, and posed for photographs with a 'For Sale' sign strung around her neck. This created a great deal of media coverage and sparked debate about the lengths female athletes should and need to go to in order to attract funding and sponsors. The publicity soon led to Drady becoming the most sponsored player in squash for a period.

Drady continued to play top-level squash into the late-1990s, but her international career began to take a backseat following her marriage to Harte and the birth of her daughter Tayla.