Let’s be frank here. For years, Amanda didn’t like me much and well, I didn’t really enjoy conversing with her. She didn’t like what I wrote and I ended up not writing much about her…
So, why am I now writing an article about her?? Cause now, I admire her and I love her to bits.
Rewind. I saluted her for coming back after her first Achilles’ tendon rupture. Horrific accident. We were in Colombia, 2017, March I seem to remember.
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Opening Up about her depression
In 2021, Amanda talked openly of her eating disorder. I know all about that. That made me see her in a completely different light as well.
“For 10 years, I silently battled an eating disorder. I never got properly diagnosed or sought out treatment because I was in denial about the fact that I actually had one.
“On the outside, I didn’t look like someone with an eating disorder. I was a strong, athletic, high-performing, & high-functioning athlete. However, underneath it all, I was drowning.
“My eating disorder gave me anxiety & depression, and my depression & anxiety fueled my eating disorder in return. I was hopelessly stuck in the toxic binge-purge cycle, thinking this was going to be my life forever.
“Fear, shame & embarrassment kept me silent throughout college and into the early stages of my pro career, so I buried it. I carried the secret alone for years like an invisible weight shackled to my ankle. I hid it in plain sight from my family, my friends, my coaches, my college teammates, and later, my peers on the pro squash tour.
“While I’ve worked hard to recover from my eating disorder, I still struggle. I still get anxious & depressed. I still have poor body image days. Thankfully, I’ve developed the tools over the years to manage my ED & now replace shame, criticism, & guilt with grace, acceptance, & compassion💕🙏🏽
If my story could help even one person feel seen, understood, or brave enough to take a first step toward recovery, it would be worth it.”
HK 2023 – SHE DOES IT AGAIN
She fought back, came back to her best level, calling herself “chicken leg”… But what are the chances of rupturing the second Achille’s tendon? Pretty slim. Trust Amanda to do what nobody else managed to do: breaking the two Achille’s tendons.
So there we are, in december 2023, and she ruptures the right one, playing against Hania El Hammamy in the HK Final.
She writes
“Unfortunately I ruptured my right Achilles last night in my Hong Kong Open final.
I decided to write down my thoughts & emotions while attempting to sleep last night.
In my mind, that was it. Never she would come back from that. Well, that was not knowing Mandy AT ALL. She fought back, once again. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had that courage. But she had.
I remember when she got to play in the glass in the Egyptian Open 2024. She was swept by a clinical Nouran. But I didn’t care. I just bowed to the girl. I was amazed. She was in tears. So was I. Only nine months after her second rupture, she was back playing the world number one in Cairo??? Seriously??? WHO DOES THAT????
A change of Mindset
When Mandy came back on the Tour after , “ChickenLegS” had changed. She was like… a completely different person. I know she has been working for a few years with Jesse Engelbrecht, from SquashMind, on the mental side of her squash and of her life, on top of Wael El Hindi in Florida of course.
When I asked Jesse about the changes in Amanda, he smiled and just said: “Joy’s riding the bus”. It’s Joy that is riding the bus… That was the difference. Amanda was not angry anymore. Not angry with others, not angry with herself, she was just enjoying every single minute of her squash, of her life.
Induction Hall of Fame US
Of course, I need to tell you that Amanda has been recognised by her American Peers, and has been inducted in the College Squash Hall of Fame
Finding the pleasure to fight against Satomi in Optasia
But we now come to the reason I dedicate those little words to the Girl. During her match against the lovely Satomi Watanabe in Optasia 2026 second round, I saw the Best of Amanda on court. I hadn’t seen her play that well since 2019.
And at the match advanced, the better she was playing. Incredible performance from ChickenLegS.
More seriously, as we were both in tears; AGAIN, at the end of the match, her words kept resonating in my blond head, and with her approval, I found her new nickname: Amanda The Phenix Sobhy, rising from the ashes like the Phoenix 🐦🔥…
With love, Fram
