Todd Harrity Question & Answer

Earliest sporting memory:
When I was young, I played many sports including soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis & ran cross country in high school as well. Of course, I played squash from a young age too.  I still remember my first squash tournament. It was just a club tournament at the Merion Cricket Club, where I grew up playing. I guess I must have been 8 or 9 years old & I was so nervous for my first tournament. I think I lost in the semi-finals.

Sports Watched:
Interestingly, I’m not a big sport junky. I don’t follow many sports closely & I don’t watch much sports in my free time.  But I do love watching tennis & the occasional American Football game, but even then, I really just watch the Grand Slam tennis tournaments & maybe the Masters. I do love watching an American Football game on a Sunday afternoon.

Why a life sport, or if it hadn’t happened, what would you have done instead?
Squash became a big focus of mine from when I was about 13 years old. After my junior squash career, I was then recruited to play for Princeton University. As my college career was ending & all my friends were busy doing job interviews, I realised squash had been such a big part of my life for just about as long as I could remember. I couldn’t imagine not playing squash & so with encouragement from my coaches I decided to go for it & join the PSA World Tour.

Squash is such an amazing sport. It is incredibly international, & I now have friends from all over the world. It’s also a life-long sport. There are people at my club that in their 60s & 80s & they’re still playing.

If I wasn’t a pro squash player, I am not quite sure what I would do. It’s something I think about all the time. I studied Psychology at Princeton & loved it & would definitely consider going back to school to get an advanced Psychology degree. I also think I could be a great teacher.

Toughest part of your sporting life?
Definitely the constant travel. I love traveling sometimes, but I’m also a home body. I don’t like the constant bouncing around & the feeling of living out of my suitcase & hotel rooms.

Most memorable sporting moment:
I have a couple. Definitely winning the US College National Championships in 2012 is one of them & winning the US Nationals in 2015 & 2016 were special moments for me as well.

Worst sporting moment:
I once lost in the finals of a tournament after being 2-0 up & having a lot of match balls in the third game. I forget how many, but I think it was at least 5, if not 6 or 7. I then lost the match 3-2.

Sporting heroes:
Definitely Roger Federer. I have so much respect for that man. His style is so smooth & fluid. But more importantly it also seems like he just loves what he does & has enjoyed his career.

Favourite venue & why?
My favourite venue is the Tournament of Champions in New York. It’s such an electric atmosphere & a great way of getting the game more exposure.  It’s great that people who don’t even know what squash is can pass by & watch for a while through the front wall.

What sporting event would you pay the most to see?
For lots of sports, like American Football or Basketball, I’d honestly prefer to relax on my couch & just watch it on TV. I would of course love to have a box seat for the semis or finals of Wimbledon or the French Open.

Question asked most often by the public:
Has anyone ever told you look like Mark Zuckerberg?

And the answer:
Yes, about once a week.

Sporting motto:
It’s hard to fail, but it is worse to never have tried to succeed.

Who would you most like to invite to dinner & why?
It would probably be Roger Federer again. But I also sometimes dream about having dinner with a major historical figure, someone who is a legend, that I’ve read & heard so much about, but have no way of knowing their personality. Perhaps Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln.