We Don’t Like To ‘Boast’ But…

We Don’t Like To ‘Boast’ But…

When Chicago’s Union Station hosted the first ever $1,000,000 professional squash tournament in February, commuters and passers-by couldn’t help but stop to witness the ferocious action and high-octane exchanges as the world’s leading players went head-to-head in the sport’s most prestigious tournament - the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Championships.

The sight of a sport’s pinnacle tournament taking place in a venue as unusual as the Great Hall of Union Station may have been odd to some - but then the low cost of setting up a squash court and the ease of transportation means that squash is no stranger to appearing in some of the most unique locations in the world.

Grand Central, NYC is the largest train station in the world, and has been hosting the J.P Morgan Tournament of Champions since 1995. and it is estimated that over 250,000 commuters are exposed to squash throughout the tournament - a number that pales in significance to the 2,500,000 viewers the tournament attracts during the live TV broadcast of the semi-finals and finals, which gets served to 150 million countries.

J.P. Morgan also sponsored September’s China Open - which took place on top of the Peninsula Shanghai and offered squash fans unparalleled views of Shanghai’s famous Bund. Two further spectacular venues were to come that month, with the Open International de Squash de Nantes mixing sport and culture at the Théâtre Graslin, and the Oracle NetSuite Open taking place on Embarcadero Plaza, right in front of San Francisco’s famous ferry building.

Outside of the professional tour, the World Squash Federation (WSF) Men’s and Women’s World Team Championships will have taken the most distinguished team event to both East Asia and North America by the end of 2020 - both of which are firsts for the event.

Dalian in China hosted the WSF Women’s World Team Championships last September, while Washington D.C. will stage the WSF Men’s World Team Championships for the first time in the event’s 50-year history.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Egyptian Pyramids will host the PSA Women’s World Championships in November 2019, in what promises to be a spectacular showcase for squash as the sport continues to enhance some of the most famous landmarks in the world.

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