I’m sure many of you understand the question – why do you play squash? Well for me, it started with another racquet sport, tennis! When I was little I played tennis all the time because I wanted to be like my idols, the Williams sisters. Then at the age of 11, I picked up a squash racquet…and I was hooked! I played every chance I got with my dad, my brother Omar, and my sister Sabrina. Squash came pretty naturally to me and I won my first tournament I ever entered! Over the course of the next year I was playing both tennis and squash. Then when I was 12, I had a big talk with my dad and knew deep in my heart, I wanted to concentrate on squash and I’ve been so happy I did!
As a junior, I won several tournaments including the 2010 World Junior Championships (and on my 17th birthday too!). I got to play at Harvard University where I went undefeated all four years (62-0) at the #1 position and only lost two games the whole time, while also winning four National titles and three National Team titles. Also during my college years, I played in several pro tournaments as an amateur and by the time I graduated, I launched my pro career in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) ranked #10 in the world!
Life on the PSA tour has been filled with plenty of excitement with tons of learning, self-discovery, and amazing people along the way. I made history at the 2015 Pan-American Games by becoming the first squash player ever to win three Gold medals (Women’s Singles, Doubles, and Team Championships). I got to the finals of the 2016 Tournament of Champions at NYC’s iconic Grand Central Station making me the first American-born player to reach the finals of a World Series Event. In 2016, I was also the first American to qualify for the World Series Finals in Dubai. I catapulted to a career high of #6 in the world and was the highest ranked American-born player, man or woman, ever in the history of the PSA!
Things were going pretty well until December 2016 when I was diagnosed with a 30% partial tear in my right plantar fascia. Then a couple months later, I ruptured my left achilles (click here to read all about how I ruptured my achilles)! I spent the majority of 2017 recovering and for once, enjoying life as a normal human being. It took me 10 months to recover and come back to the pro tour and since then, I’ve been steadily getting my ranking back up. (Check out my tournament schedule here)!
My off-court hobbies include music, dancing, playing or watching sports, sports marketing, exploring the outdoors, non-squash related traveling, and trying new food. And here’s some trivia about me: I played the French Horn from the 4th grade until college. I sang the National Anthem at a Brooklyn Nets Game at Barclays Center, at a Boston Bruins game at T.D. Garden, at the Tournament of Champions in Grand Central as well as God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch at a Red Sox game in Fenway Park (click here to hear me perform). And I used to be a daredevil who loved adrenaline activities such as bungee jumping, skydiving, shark cage diving, and flyboarding. My motto in life is to stay true to myself and keep it 100% real, so welcome to my life!
Amanda Sobhy |
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Born: June 29, 1993, Sea Cliff, NY |
Residence: Philadelphia, PA |
Height: 5’8″ |
PSA Ranking: 4 (June 2022) |
Highest PSA Ranking: 3 (Oct 2021) |
U.S. Ranking: 1 |
Coach: Wael El Hindi |
Racket: Head Radical 120SB |