If you've been keeping up with the PSA Squash Tour, you might have noticed that Olivia Weaver seems to be on an absolute hot streak at the moment.
She's been performing incredibly well and has really started making progress to the later rounds of bigger tournaments while pushing the few players higher ranked than herself more consistently.
I've been making a point to watch her matches when possible and, although we're still in the first half of the season, judging by the way she's playing, I think she might just be one of the most stand-out players this season.
She's certainly set to make some more waves in my opinion so I thought she'd be a great pro to write up a bit of a profile about.
In this article, I'll talk a bit about Olivia Weaver, who she is, where she's from, her career so far, her performance this season, her style of play, and my predictions for her in the future...
Olivia Weaver And Her Career So Far...
Born in Philadelphia (USA) on September 15th, 1995, Olivia is currently 29 years old. She's 171cm (5ft 7in) tall and weighs 60kg according to her PSA profile.
Formerly known as Olivia Fiechter, Olivia married her longtime boyfriend Bobby Weaver in October 2023.
They both attended Princeton University, however, I'd like to rewind a little bit further first.
Like many prominent squash professionals, Weaver excelled at the junior level. As a teenager, she represented Team USA at the 2012, 2013, and 2014 junior world championships, with her highest finish being a place in the round of 16 in 2014 in Windhoek, Namibia.
Following her strong junior performance, Olivia played at Princeton University from 2014 to 2018, occupying primarily the prestigious number 1 position throughout her career with the Tigers.
In 2018, Weaver officially turned pro (according to a few internet sources) and started on her professional squash journey, however, the PSA website says she has been a professional for 14 years, so perhaps she participated in some pro tournaments pre-2018 without being committed to being a full time professional yet.
Anyway, in her first official year, Weaver won the 2018 Rhode Island Open professional tournament, beating Egyptian Menna Nasser in the final, and was off to a great start.
Anyway, according to the stats I can see on her PSA profile, Olivia has now played 220 professional matches, winning 141 of them, has made 15 finals, and won 8 titles.
Weaver came in around 168 in the World at the start of the 2018 season, by the end of that season she was up to World No.69.
The following season, she got all the way up to 39, then 32 the season after that, then 13, then she was in the top 10 by March 2022 and she's pretty much stayed there ever since, bouncing between 7 and 10 for a while.
But, something seems to have happened this season and she's jumped up those crucial few spots to take her even closer to the top.
Olivia first reached World No.4 in May of this year, dropping down to 5 again in July and August, then jumping back up in September.
Of course, it gets harder to push up the rankings the higher you get, with individual spot jumps being huge wins once you're in the top 20 or 30, so, to go from 7 to 4 in the first half of a season and then hold your ground is a massive achievement.
Weaver still currently sits at her highest ranking of all time at World No.4, but, the big question that everyone is asking (including myself), is can she go further and be the one to break into the big three?
For those of you who are unaware, the big three in women's squash are Nour El Sherbini, Nouran Gohar, and Hania El Hammamy, three Egyptians who have dominated the top three ranking spots for a good while now.
Weaver has certainly had a great career so far, however, this season Weaver has stepped things up yet another level and I think we're on the cusp of seeing some great things from the American.
The big three have been somewhat untouchable for a while, but, change could be on the horizon... but that's something I'll talk about in the second half!
First, I want to talk a bit about Olivia's style as a player!
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
Weaver's Style of Play
The first thing I want to mention when it comes to Weaver's style of play is who she's got in her corner to help mold this...
She's coached by none other than Rodney Martin, an Australian former pro, who is best known for winning the 1991 World Open and becoming the first player to defeat the legendary Khan brothers (Jahangir and Jansher) in the same event.
After retiring as a player due to injury, Martin became a squash coach, working in Australia and the United States, and, needless to say, he's thoroughly excelled in the role, boosting the games of players like Weaver to the next level.
Given his own professional experience, he's an absolute expert in the game and, from what I've heard, his coaching philosophy revolves around fundamental technique being the key to producing your best squash.
Although I couldn't tell you all of the small tweaks and changes he's made to Weaver's fundamental game during their time together, it's clear that it's working.
She's incredibly good at the basics of squash.
Hitting her targets again and again, applying pressure by hitting into open space, taking the ball early at the right time, she can do it all very very well.
Olivia is an expert at holding the T by volleying and punching the ball to the back of the court again and again. She's certainly not one to do anything too risky or flashy too early in the rally, but, by no means is she not exciting to watch either.
Her fast-paced, proactive style of play makes her matches incredibly action-packed and is also what's putting her on par with the likes of El Sherbini and Gohar.
But, something that really sets her apart is her athleticism. Olivia Weaver's fitness, explosivity, strength, and agility are all impeccable.
Of course, all full-time professional athletes are incredibly impressive physically, however, Weaver just seems to stand out that little bit more among the rest. She's been a part of some monstrous five setters and big matches so far this season.
You don't see her getting tired, and, she certainly wouldn't let it show if she was tired. That's something else I love about Weaver's personality on court, she's a ruthless fighter.
She'll roll with the punches and not give anybody an inch. I don't think I've ever seen a decision or unforced error get to her mentally. She seems to be able to just block it out and forget about it to focus on the next point.
She's calm, focused, and still full of fire.
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
Weaver's Performance This Season
To preface this section, I want to touch again on the dynamics at the top of the women's ranking. I've already mentioned the big three who have been ridiculously dominant in those top three ranking spots over the years, however, this obviously leaves that four and five positions to be highly desirable too.
Being in the top 5 in the world is a very big status to reach, but getting to 4 is another massive step. Up until recently that 4 and 5 spot has been contested again between Nele Coll (formerly known as Nele Gilis) and Olivia Weaver.
I'm not sure if I'd call it a rivalry or not, from what I've seen the pair get on well, however, when they historically came up against each other, it was always going to be a huge match.
There was so much at stake in every single tournament that they play, with both players fighting to prove that they deserved that World No.4 position. I believe that Coll reached World No.4 for the first time back in 2023 before Weaver had quite caught up with her.
I think 2023 was Coll's major breakthrough season, and now Weaver is experiencing a similar thing.
It's still very hard to tell who I'd bet on between the two.
They haven't actually faced each other that many times, it's often a case of who can get further in tournaments to win the most points and boost their ranking.
Looking at their head-to-head results, Coll has the edge at 7 wins to 3 against Weaver, however, Weaver took the most recent win in a 3-2 monster against Nele in this season's QTerminals Qatar Classic quarter-finals, it was easily one of the best matches so far in 2024.
With that said, Nele won the five clashes before that which some might say is pretty convincing too. Both are at the absolute top of their games right now so I'm really hoping they come up against each other soon.
More broadly speaking, Weaver has definitely stood out to me the most in comparison to any other player this season so far.
She's had some absolutely awesome results and performances, the most recent of which being at the US Open Championships platinum event. It was this run that prompted me to write this blog post!
Weaver overcame Nour Aboulmakarim 3-0, then she beat Katie Malliff 3-0, then she won 3-1 against a very in form Fayrouz Aboelkheir to become the first American to reach three Comcast Business US Open semifinals in the PSA Platinum era.
She was now up against World No.1, Nour El Sherbini, and Weaver took Sherbini all the way to the fifth in a monsterous battle.
Ultimately, it was El Sherbini who pulled ahead in the fifth to take it 11-4, but what a statement this game was from Weaver!
Another notable result for Weaver was her win at the 2024 Silicon Valley Open.
She beat Nadine Shahin 3-0, then overcame Farida Mohamed 3-0, then had a whopping five setter with Siva Subramaniam who can never be underestimated to reach the final against an also very in-form Satomi Watanabe.
Olivia delivered an almost perfect performance to convincingly win that final 3-0, 11-4, 11-2, and 11-8 and take the title of the gold event.
Prior to that, Weaver also reached the QTerminals Qatar Classic semi-finals, losing in a close 3-1 match against Nouran Gohar (the current World No.2). This was the same tournament in which she had that mammoth match with Coll.
So these back to back big results and performances are what's really put Olivia Weaver in the spotlight. She's making the latter stages of the biggest PSA events and consistently beating players lower down the rankings than herself too.
The season is still young and it's difficult to say what's to come, but I always like to look ahead and try to predict what's going to happen in the future...
Image credit: Steve Cubbins
Future Predictions
I think the biggest thing I would absolutely love to see from Olivia Weaver is for her to beat one of the big three players. So far, she's never managed to fully convert a match against Nour, Nouran, or Hania.
Again going back to that most recent five setter against Nour El Sherbini, these matches against the big three are the ones I'm really rooting for Olivia in.
With the way that she's playing at the moment, I think that Weaver is more than capable of doing this, and, when she does, it could be the mental boost that may take Olivia's game to yet another new level. Once she knows for certain that she can do it, she'll know that she can do it again.
Over the next few months, Olivia will hopefully get a few shots at this achievement, perhaps in the Singapore Open, the Hong Kong Open, or the Tournament of Champions in January.
The next step would be moving up a ranking spot. Pushing up to that World No.3 position is very big step to make, and I'm on the fence about whether I'd put money on Weaver achieving that or not this season.
But we haven't even finished the first half yet, so who is to know what is to come.
If there's one thing we know about squash, it's just how important momentum and mindset are, and, if Weaver can keep up the way she's playing I think she's definitely got what it takes to keep pushing.
The players a little further down the rankings can never be discounted either. The likes of Tinni Gilis, Gina Kennedy, Rowan Elaraby, Siva Subramaniam, and the young up-and-comer Amina Orfi, of course, all pose very real threats.
I don't think Weaver would ever get complacent so that isn't a worry, but, I'm also very excited to see what the result might be if she comes up against Nele Coll in an event this season too. I'll definitely have my popcorn at the ready.
Tournaments wise, I would absolutely love to see Weaver take another few titles, the gold events are certainly within her grasp now. When it comes to the platinum and diamond level events, these are a different story.
Olivia will almost certainly have to beat one of the big three to do so, but, I think a very real prediction that I would put money on is for Weaver to reach a platinum final this season.
I'll definitely be shouting for her if she does!
So, I hope this article has got you hyped up about the American, if you haven't watched her play before, I can highly recommend doing so!
This article was taken from our On The 'T' Newsletter, if you're interested in receiving more content like this, please feel free to sign up using the subscribe section located at the bottom left of this page (or underneath the article if you're on mobile), thanks!
