Olivia Blatchford Clyne–a two-time national champion who has represented Team USA at more Women’s World Team Championships than any other player, won four Pan American Games gold medals and reached a high of world No. 11–has announced her retirement from professional squash effective January 1, 2024.
At thirty years old, Blatchford Clyne ends her professional journey as one of the most decorated U.S. athletes of all time.
A native of Wilton, Connecticut, Blatchford Clyne first picked up a squash racquet at five years old and forged a decorated junior career with four junior national titles and two U.S. Junior Open titles. In 2007, She became just the second American to win a British Junior Open title in the GU15 division. Blatchford Clyne’s first act as a retired player was lending her experience as a part of Team USA’s 2024 British Junior Open coaching staff.
Blatchford Clyne’s career on the PSA World Tour spans fifteen years since her first professional win in 2009 at fifteen years old. She reached a career high ranking of world No. 11 in October 2021, and spent seventy-seven months ranked within the world’s top twenty players from 2017-2023. She won seven PSA titles–the largest of which was the $30,000 Detroit Pro Classic in 2019–and reached fourteen PSA finals.
Blatchford Clyne represented Team USA at four World Junior Championships, including a record setting second place finish at the 2011 Women’s World Junior Team Championship.
On the senior level, Blatchford Clyne has represented Team USA at more Women’s World Team Championships than any other player, and is the second most decorated American at the Pan American Games only behind Amanda Sobhy.
Blatchford Clyne held an unbeaten record in the Pan American Games women’s team competition and earned team gold at the 2015 Toronto Games, 2019 Lima Games and 2023 Santiago Games. Blatchford Clyne added Mixed Doubles Gold to her trophy cabinet with Timmy Brownell this past fall in Chile. She earned Silver medals in the women’s singles competitions in both 2015 and 2019. She made her Pan Am Games debut at the 2011 Guadalajara Games where she earned Team and Doubles Bronze.
Blatchford Clyne won two U.S. Women’s Championship titles in 2017 and 2019, and finished as runner up in 2011, 2015 and 2016.
In 2017, she was the US Squash nominee for the USOPC Athlete of the Year Award.
Blatchford Clyne announced her decision on Instagram Wednesday, December 27:
“I can say with so much certainty that although it hasn’t been the easiest decision, I know in my bones and heart that it is the right one. Being a squash player has been the pillar of my identity for most of my life. It has been my best friend, my worst enemy, and greatest teacher all of these years.
“Since watching from the top of a brick wall in the Grand Central Station all those years ago, I dared to dream. Though I can not promise that I won’t be back to compete, I do know that I’m ready for this relationship to evolve and I’m truly excited to see what that might look like.
“I have been so lucky to have had this incredible journey, surrounded by the most generous and loving people. I have seen the world, made lifetimes worth of memories and wouldn’t change a moment of it.
“I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this chapter of my life is the product of the many people and organizations who have supported me. Many people have taken chances on me over many years and I am truly grateful.
“Squash has given me so much and I can only hope that in this next chapter I am able to give back even a fraction of what has been gifted to me.
“Ultimately, my story originated with one guy on a cold winter’s day when I was five years old. He saw something, then so could I. We set out on this whirlwind adventure and what an adventure it has been. I wouldn’t change a moment Dad, not a single moment.
“To make an end is to make a beginning, and so we begin again.”
