The record for the most professional tournaments in squash history belongs to a player from the Americas. After 24 years, 332 PSA events and more than 40 countries, Team USA’s Chris Gordon closes his playing career at 40.
Chris Gordon has announced his retirement from the PSA World Tour. He ends his career with 332 professional tournaments played, the most in PSA history, just ahead of Rachael Grinham with 330, making a player from our continent the most prolific competitor the professional game has ever seen. Fittingly for a player who spent two decades on the road, his final event was earlier this month in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Gordon joined the professional tour as a teenager, playing his first PSA event in 2002 and his last in 2026, an unprecedented 24-year run.
“When I achieved that first goal as a teenager by joining the PSA tour I remember thinking that I had to make my career last until I was 30, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would finally be retiring at 40 years old.”
Chris Gordon
A Pioneer for U.S. Squash
A junior prodigy, Gordon won the U.S. U15 title in 2001 and the U19 title in 2004 and 2005. He then became the first American to skip collegiate squash entirely and go straight to the professional tour. At just 13, he moved to Harrogate, England, to train with coach David Pearson, finishing high school online.
He won the U.S. National Singles title in 2013 without dropping a game, reached a career-high world No. 44 in May 2013, and stayed inside the world’s top 100 for 173 consecutive months, more than 14 years of remarkable consistency. Along the way he captured six PSA titles in five countries: the British Virgin Islands, Canada, El Salvador, Japan and twice on home soil.
Among his signature wins, none stands out more than the opening round of the 2012 U.S. Open in Philadelphia, where he beat then top-ten player Hisham Ashour 11-6 in the fifth.
Chris Gordon (purple) against Hisham Ashour at the U.S. Open in Philadelphia.
He also produced two memorable battles with future world champion Tarek Momen in Richmond: an 11-9 fifth-game loss in 2007 and, in 2013, an 85-minute epic in which Gordon saved match ball and took the fourth game 21-19 before Momen closed it out in the fifth.
Chris Gordon battles Tarek Momen in Richmond, Virginia.
Few careers have bridged so many eras of the sport. Gordon arrived on a tour led by legends such as Jonathon Power, Thierry Lincou, Ramy Ashour and Nick Matthew, and was still competing against today’s generation of stars, including Diego Elias, the El Shorbagy brothers and Leonel Cárdenas. Few players can say they shared the court with both the icons of the 2000s and the leaders of the modern game.
Chris Gordon facing former world No. 1 Thierry Lincou.
A Constant Presence in Pan American Squash
For our continent, Gordon was a familiar face for nearly two decades. He represented Team USA at three Pan American Games, Rio 2007, Guadalajara 2011 and Toronto 2015, earning four medals: two bronze in Guadalajara and two silver in Toronto. He also played in a dozen Pan American Championships and in six Men’s World Team Championships, from Islamabad 2005 to Washington 2019, including Paderborn 2011, where the United States achieved its best-ever finish in sixth place.
Chris Gordon with Team USA on the podium at the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, where he won two silver medals.
His professional journey covered the Americas like few others: United States · Canada · Mexico · Guatemala · El Salvador · Costa Rica · Bermuda · Dominican Republic · British Virgin Islands · Barbados · Colombia · Ecuador · Brazil · Paraguay · Argentina. Brazil alone welcomed him fourteen times.
Colombia also became a second home. In the later years of his career, Gordon trained at altitude with the support of the Colombian Squash Federation.
“Marty Knight and the Colombian Squash Federation for giving me a place to train in the altitude and treating me like one of your own.”
Chris Gordon, in his retirement message
“I Never Gave Up”
The word journeyman fits Gordon better than anyone: a couple of million air miles, pro events in twenty U.S. states, seven Canadian provinces and forty-two nations. For him, the travelling was the point.
Chris Gordon at full stretch against Alan Clyne.
“I think when I look back on all these years playing and traveling what I am most proud of is that I never gave up.”
Chris Gordon
What began as a job, in his own words, turned into “the most wonderful adventure”, one that took him to every corner of the world and, on the way to a tournament, led him to meet his wife, Lorena. In his farewell message he thanked the coaches who shaped his path, Richard Chin, David Pearson, Jonah Barrington, Mick Robberts and Andre Delhoste, along with his Team USA teammates, the PSA, US Squash, tournament promoters, referees and volunteers. He signed off in three languages: “THANK YOU! GRACIAS! OBRIGADO!”, a fitting farewell for a career built across the Americas.
Chris Gordon away from the court.
Read his full farewell message:
Still Part of the Game
Gordon is not leaving the sport. He remains a regular commentator for SquashTV and a mentor for Team USA, having coached at the World Juniors, the Pan American Junior Championships and the Pan American Championships over the past two years.
Chris Gordon on commentary duty for SquashTV.
Gordon is also a member of the PanAm Squash Athletes Commission, where he brings the perspective of a player who has seen the professional game from every angle to the development of squash across our continent.
“While this closes the final chapter on my playing career I hope to stay closely connected to the sport we all love and hope to cross paths with you all again soon somewhere in the world!”
Chris Gordon
Relive one of his trademark rallies, shared by the PSA Squash Tour:
At PanAm Squash, we thank Chris for 24 years of commitment, professionalism and example on courts across our continent, and we look forward to crossing paths with him again at our Championships.
Career figures courtesy of US Squash.
