Mental Health Awareness Week (13th-19th May) opens up conversations about mental health.
We speak with World Number Seven and PSA Foundation Health and Wellness Ambassador Amanda Sobhy about her injury, her rehabilitation process and her role as a Health and Wellness Ambassador.
“I was competing in the Hong Kong Open in early December, and I was in the finals competing in the finals vs Hania El Hammamy.
Five all, on the first game, I hit a deep ball into the back left and she, dropped it into the front left so she had a straight drop and I was on the tee and I basically did a usual split step that I do all the time. I pushed my right foot back to push off and popped my Achilles.
That’s exactly what I did when I tore my left one seven years ago, except the opposite side.
It’s been very different in my approach. I think it helps the fact that, l’m know what I’m in for this time around, whereas when I first did it, I didn’t know what I was doing.
I’m just following the guidance of the PT (Personal Trainer): if you’re not in the right guidance or you’re not in the right care, you’re really going to suffer: that’s unfortunately what happened with my left
I learned so much the first time around of what I can do better, it’s not about the three days a week during PT, it’s about what do you do the rest of the time when you’re not at PT?”
That mindset that just because I’m out playing doesn’t mean I’m not going to take care of myself. Taking care of my health and well-being and mental health. That’s going to help with my overall recovery and just happiness and everything.
I just kind of looked at all the positives with it and sort of just like looked at my life outside of squash. I was like, well, what’s missing here?
What have I kind of been putting on hold for the last, I don’t know, like five years or four years since pretty much like Covid, when the last time I had an extended period of time out.
Since then it’s just been like squash, squash, squash: I’m working like traveling my life is just moving at 1,000,000mph, like going so fast.
I have time to actually, like, chill out, to sit, to enjoy my life outside of squash, to actually address my life outside of squash that has been on hold for like four years.
However, I just lost 75% of my income with the tournaments I can’t play. There needs something to be done for those players who are out injured. Like some support, like financial support I think to be able to allow these players to have that peace and ability to take the time off to rehab, to get healthy with their injuries and then come back on tour and be okay.
I love being a PSA Foundation Health and Wellness Ambassador. I think it’s fantastic the fact that like us, players can speak about it openly.
I think it’s really beautiful the fact that like, you know, we’re top, professional athletes and we’re able to show our vulnerabilities and kind of expose ourselves a little bit that we’re not like these superhuman people, we are humans who go through the same stuff as everybody else.
