Amanda Sobhy ’15 is one of the most accomplished players in both the history of Harvard women’s squash and in the professional ranks of the sport. This semester, Harvard Athletics highlights Sobhy in the Murr Center’s Hall of History.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard women’s squash alumna Amanda Sobhy ’15 was an extraordinary student-athlete for the Crimson, never losing a collegiate match on her way to winning four individual national championships. Sobhy then embarked on a professional career in which she has established herself as the preeminent American player on the global stage – winning five U.S. national titles and becoming the first American-born player to reach the top five in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings.
A native of Sea Cliff, New York and a product of North Shore High School, Sobhy grew up in a squash family, idolizing Venus and Serena Williams. She played the sport with her father Khaled, sister Sabrina, and brother Omar. Sobhy enjoyed a standout junior career, winning the World Junior Squash Championships in June 2010, on her 17th birthday, as the first-ever American winner of the event.
A social anthropology concentrator at Harvard, Sobhy won the College Squash Association (CSA) individual national championship in all four of her competitive seasons and was named Ivy League Player of the Year four times. She was a four-time First Team All-American and led the Crimson to CSA team championships in 2012, 2013, and 2015. During her time with the Crimson, she compiled a 62-0 match record, dropping only two games in four years.
Sister Sabrina Sobhy was also an outstanding Harvard squash player, graduating in 2019 and earning Ivy League Player of the Year and CSA All-America accolades.
Following Amanda Sobhy’s time as a collegiate student-athlete, she made history at the 2015 Pan-American Games, becoming the first squash player ever to win three gold medals at the event, capturing gold in women’s singles, women’s doubles, and the women’s team championship. She became the first American-born player to reach the finals of a World Series event, making the finals of the 2016 Tournament of Champions.
Sobhy has also persevered through adversity. After tearing her Achilles tendon in 2017, Sobhy returned to competition after 10 months, and in 2018 she captured her fourth U.S. national title.
In 2021, Sobhy reached the semifinals of the PSA World Championship at the University Club of Chicago’s Cathedral Hall, becoming the first US-born player to do so.
Sobhy reached a career-high world ranking of No. 3 in October 2021 after reaching the semifinals of both the 2021 British Open and the 2021 CIB Egyptian Open, and winning the 2021 Oracle Netsuite Open.
Her groundbreaking career has garnered national attention, with The New York Times Magazine featuring her in a May 2022 piece entitled “No American Has Ever Been No. 1 in Squash. Amanda Sobhy Can Change That.”
In a career with an abundance of accomplishments, Sobhy’s love for the game shines through it all. “I love performing, I love grinding it out, I love putting on a show,” Sobhy said.