Marina Stefanoni and Her Journey to Professional Squash
Early Success and a Love for the Game
Stefanoni comes from a sporty family — both parents played squash, with her mother playing JV at Harvard and her father picking up the sport after graduation. She says she also enjoyed playing soccer but ultimately wanted to focus on an individual sport where she could fully flourish:
“When you’re in the squash court, there’s no restrictions — it’s you against your opponent.”
She began playing squash at age 9 and quickly went on to win the U11 National Championships within just a year. Even more impressively, she won the U19 National Championships at only 13.
Reflecting on that experience, she said:
“They were way more mature than me and had many more life experiences, but I just viewed it as: we are playing a game of squash. I can run around, I can move them, I can be creative and expose some weaknesses. I honestly didn’t think that much about it — I was just on court to do a job and try to do it as well as I could.”
Her career only continued to progress from there. She cites career-defining moments from her junior years, including overturning seedings on the biggest junior stages — such as the British Junior Open and the World Junior Squash Championships — and winning matches that nobody expected her to.
“I am good, even on the international stage.”
Harvard and the Transition to the Pro Tour
Like many U.S. athletes, she chose to continue her squash career in college, attending Harvard and earning her degree while playing both collegiate squash and competing on the PSA World Tour.
After completing her degree, she moved to Philadelphia to train alongside other US Squash athletes at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center — and that’s when she saw the biggest leap in her rankings, which had hovered around #60 during her college years:
“The moment I was free to just play squash and just focus on squash, I started off at 58 in the world and I finished with my highest being 25.”
At the Specter Center, she works with strength and conditioning coach Brigita Roemer, who she says was a major reason she moved there, as well as national coaches Nick Taylor and Karim Ibrahim. She also occasionally returns home to Connecticut to train with Kumail Mehmood.
Role Models and the Rise of U.S. Women’s Squash
With the U.S. Women’s Team performing better than ever, we asked how much of an inspiration the older, higher-ranked players have been. Olivia Weaver (WR #4) is someone Stefanoni describes as a huge inspiration and a leader in U.S. women’s squash.
Competing at the World Team Squash Championships in Hong Kong last season — where Team USA finished runners-up to the dominant Egypt — has given her confidence that the U.S. women’s team is gearing up to:
“Hopefully take over one day.”
“Hopefully it’s inspiring some younger girls who are in college or even earlier to pursue the professional squash lifestyle.”
Looking Ahead
When asked about the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Stefanoni says she tries to be as “zen” as possible about it:
“If I were able to go by 2028, it would mean that I have achieved the trajectory that I want in my professional squash career specifically, so it would be a sign that I have done what I wanted to do — rather than ‘I am working towards that in particular.’”
We believe that Stefanoni is one of the most inspiring and accomplished players of her generation, and we hope she will be one of the leading forces in growing squash in the U.S. — especially for girls and women.