Amanda Sobhy

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Amanda Sobhy
Country  United States
Residence New York, United States
Born (1993-06-29) June 29, 1993 (age 30)
New York, United States
Height 5' 8"
Turned Pro 2015
Plays Left Handed
Coached by Thierry Lincou
Racquet used Harrow
Women's singles
Highest ranking No. 8 (January, 2016)
Current ranking No. 8 (January, 2016)
Title(s) 14
Last updated on: January, 2016.

Amanda Sobhy, (born June 29, 1993 in New York) is the highest ranking American ever in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings.She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 8 in January 2016 after reaching the semifinals of two World Series PSA tournaments, The Malaysian Open and The Hong Kong Open.[1][2]

On April 24, 2010 she won the Racquet Club International in St. Louis, Missouri, making her the only player in women's professional squash, at the time, to have won three tournaments before the age of 17. In March 2014, Sobhy won The Granite Open. In January 2015, Sobhy reached the quarterfinals of the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions held in Grand Central Terminal after beating Low Wee Wern 11-7 in the fifth game to become the first American ever to reach the quarterfinals of the Tournament of Champions.[3]

On 29 June 2010, on her 17th birthday, Sobhy won the World Junior Squash Championships, thus becoming the first, and only, American winner of the prestigious event.[4] In the final she defeated Egyptian Nour El Tayeb with a score of 3–11, 11–7, 11–6, 11–7 in 37 minutes.[4][5]

After serving a short suspension for issues related to accepting tournament prize money, Sobhy joined the Harvard team as a freshman in January 2012 and finished the 2011-12 college season undefeated. She won the individual championship, and her Harvard team won the team championship. In 2013, Sobhy finished the 2012-2013 college season undefeated, having lost her first game to Trinity's number 1, Kanzy Defrawy. She won her second consecutive individual championship and her Harvard team won the team championship. In 2014, Sobhy finished the 2013-2014 college season undefeated with a perfect 17-0 record. She won the individual championship for a third consecutive year. Sobhy finished the 2014-2015 college season with a perfect record and won her fourth individual intercollegiate title. The only other woman to win four intercollegiate titles is Gail Ramsey, now the Princeton head coach. Sobhy finished her intercollegiate career undefeated in 62 matches, having dropped only two games in her four seasons of college competition.

In December 2014, Sobhy led the US Women’s Team to its best-ever finish in the World Team Championships, when she defeated world no. 6 Camille Serme in the deciding match to clinch fifth place over France.

In March 2015, Sobhy won her second US National Title, defeating Olivia Blatchford 11-7, 11-2, 11-9 in the final. Sobhy won her first National title in 2012, and was runner-up to her sister Sabrina in 2014.

In April 2015, having completed her college squash career, Sobhy won her first paycheck on the PSA tour, winning the Texas Open championship, She graduated from Harvard University in May 2015, having majored in Social Anthropology and Global Health.

In July 2015 in Toronto, Sobhy made history when she became the first squash athlete to win three gold medals in a single Pan American Games, winning the women’s individual singles, the doubles with partner Natalie Grainger, and with teammate Olivia Blatchford, securing the team championships. She claimed her 14th tour title when she won the NetSuite Open in San Francisco in September 2015.

Sobhy is also an accomplished squash doubles player and started her professional doubles career on a winning note when she and partner Fernanda Rocha claimed the Boston Open title in November 2015. Sobhy won the 2013 World Doubles Championship with Natalie Grainger.

Sobhy serves as an Urban Squash Ambassador for the National Urban Squash Education Association, and is a mentor for SquashBusters in Boston,

References

  1. WISPA player profile
  2. SquashInfo Player Profile
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by PSA Women's Young Player of the Year
2014
Succeeded by
Current holder