British No1 Georgina Kennedy is playing this week’s London Squash Classic but in another life she might have been preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Kennedy, 26, was an outstanding 1,500m runner as a child and trained at Blackheath and Bromley Harriers alongside future Team GB sprinter Dina Asher-Smith.
But she found the pressure to win races even during practice sessions unbearable, to the point that she would fein injury to escape athletics.
“Because I was so successful from such a young age, even when I was a nine year old girl, I would be terrified before every race,” Kennedy tells City A.M.
“It’s definitely shaped who I am today because I just could not deal with the anxiety and the nerves of everyone assuming that I was going to win a race.
“I remember trying to talk to my friends and my family about how nervous I was. [They’d say] ‘you’re going to win so easily’.
“That was like the worst thing that they could say to me even though they didn’t know that at the time. So I just started faking injuries to get out of the races.
“I never felt that way with squash. It is a shame when I look back but I’m so happy with the way things have turned out.”
Kennedy is something of a polymath, having also played football for Crystal Palace girls and graduated from Harvard with a degree in psychology.
It wasn’t until the end of her second year at the Ivy League college that she resolved to pursue squash full-time after her studies.
I’ve been going to Canary Wharf since I was a young girl, so this is my local tournament
Georgina Kennedy
“I did an internship and the whole time I was working in an office I was just thinking, ‘When can I play squash today?’,” she says.
Athletics, football and academia’s loss has been squash’s gain. After turning pro, Kennedy surged from 170 in the world to the top 10 in just over a year.
A few months later she achieved her career highlight, becoming the first Englishwoman to win singles gold in the sport at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
It was, she says, “massive” and her medal hangs proudly in her flat. “It’s something I look at every day for motivation,” she says.
The young Kennedy had the Olympic rings on her duvet and curtains but accepted the chance had gone after turning her back on athletics.
Last year’s announcement that squash will be part of the LA 2028 Games, however, has revived her schoolgirl dream.
“I always wanted an Olympic gold medal when I was growing up, and I thought the Commonwealth gold was as close as I could get to that,” she says.
Beckenham-born Kennedy is playing this week’s London Squash Classic at Alexandra Palace
“I know that it’s going to be really tough to qualify. So I just want to do everything I can to make sure I get in that team.”
Before then she hopes to climb from No7 in the world rankings, and can take the next step at the new-look London Squash Classic.
The event has relocated from Canary Wharf to Alexandra Palace and for the first time will feature a women’s competition.
“I’ve been going to Canary Wharf since I was a young girl, so this is my local tournament,” says Kennedy, who starts her tournament on Thursday.
“I feel like I’ve been getting closer and closer to the top girls now and London would definitely be a good place to start.”