Gigi Yeung is Macao’s top female squash player and currently ranked #252 in the world. The 23-year-old student of Yale University recently won her biggest tournament yet: the City Of Greater Shepparton International Open in Australia, which is part of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour. She is the first player from Macao to win a PSA Tour title, claiming victory over Norway’s Madeleine Hylland (ranked #105).
Yeung started playing squash at age 10, back when the game was in its infancy in Macao. She credits her Malaysian coach, Lim Chee Ming, for nurturing her potential in the sport. Yeung attended the International School of Macao before moving to Canada, alone, for her final year of secondary education. She boarded at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island, where she also became a snowsports fanatic.
[See more: Gigi Yeung becomes the first squash player from Macao to win a PSA Tour title]
At age 17, Yeung was scouted by a squash coach from Yale University. She’s now in her final year of studying mechanical engineering at the Ivy League institute, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Yeung is the first squash player from Macao to play for Yale.
The talented young athlete already had a slew of squash-related laurels going into the PSA tournament. She’s a three-time national junior champion in Macao, for example, and in 2017, Yeung won Macao’s first-ever Asian Individual Junior Championships medal by placing third in the under-17 category. She has also participated in a number of world championships.
Here, Gigi Yeung offers insights into her gruelling schedule as both athlete and student, and advice to local squash players eager to follow in her footsteps.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How does it feel to be Macao’s first PSA Tour title winner?
Well, it took me a while to realise I was the first. My family and friends told me after seeing it on the news, and I was like, “Did I actually achieve this?” I was surprised, but also happy. I knew I could achieve something big, I just didn’t think I would do it this summer.
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What was your state of mind before the tournament?
Six days before the tournament, I was at the Dynam Cup SQ-Cube Open 2024 in Yokohama, Japan. I lost in the quarterfinals against Anahat Singh [the world #111, from India].
Even though I lost that match, I left feeling more confident and prepared for Australia. Singh’s level was pretty high. It was a close match and I could have won it if I pushed myself more.
But still, I didn’t expect to win the PSA competition because I was one of the lowest-ranked among the 20 players. I didn’t have my eyes on the title and just wanted to get through each round.
Were you athletic growing up?
Yes, I was. My parents often signed me up for the Macao government summer activities. I enjoyed swimming and karate and also played tennis and football.
I started squash when I was 10 years old. I was part of the first batch of kids playing squash in Macao. Adults were playing already, but there were no kids. After that summer, the coaches asked if anybody wanted to continue playing squash. Five kids said yes, including me and my younger sister.
Two years later, I stopped all other sports to focus on squash. I became the top junior in Macao at age 12.
What was the squash scene like in Macao back then? What were you like?
In 2013, the Macao government hired Malaysian coach Lim Chee Ming for the Macao Squash Association. He really helped Macao squash develop and brought us to our first tournaments outside Macao. My first junior tournament was in Hong Kong in 2013. Then we competed in places like Malaysia and Japan.
On a personal level, Coach Lim helped me hone my skills and be a better player. He would do anything and everything possible to help each one of us.
I was always very dedicated. I would always spend extra time training by myself on top of the mandatory training, and would always come in early to warm up instead of wasting the training time to warm up. Also, I would still allocate time to play squash even when I was busy with school and had a lot of work or exams. I would still go in to practise even on holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Some people might think that I’m crazy and there’s no need for all that. But if I really want something, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it!
How were you recruited to play for Yale University?
I’d emailed many coaches from top universities in the US, like the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Columbia University. Even Yale’s Coach Lynn Leong. But I never got a reply. So, I thought that joining these universities wouldn’t be possible.
Luckily, Coach Leong ended up seeing me play and was interested. That was at the Hong Kong Junior Open in 2018 – the coaches at Yale went there with their players. In one of the matches, I played against one of the Yale players. Coach Leong saw me play and offered me a vacant spot on the team. We have stayed connected since.
How do you balance squash and studies now you’re at Yale?
It’s really hard. Our season starts in November and ends in March. We have around 13 matches every season, and there’s also the National Team Championships, where you just play other schools. Then there’s the individual National Championships. Especially in January, you have to go somewhere to play matches almost every weekend.
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At the same time, you have school. So during the weekdays, you go to school, and during the weekend, you travel and play matches.
In what ways would you say you’ve grown in the sport?
I always believed I could win games but I used to put a lot of pressure on myself. There were days when I felt I was in good condition and the next, I was tired and slow. I’ve finally found my way of being consistent, through the likes of eating and sleeping right.
Playing for the Yale squash team helped train my mindset. It helped me learn to adapt to different situations. Sometimes, we have to play matches even when we have exams or a lot of schoolwork. And other times we have to play right after getting off a long bus ride. We might not be in perfect condition to play the matches but I learned how to adapt and adjust my mindset to play those matches.
Things can happen now, like I don’t like the courts or everyone is cheering for my opponent, but I can adapt quickly and stay calm.
What’s a normal day like for you?
Training at 7 am. Breakfast. Classes. Lunch. Classes. And then back for more training before dinner. Get some schoolwork done and end my day at 10 or 11 pm.
During my first year, I wasn’t good at time management. Some days I was getting three-to-four hours of sleep and it was not good. But in this past year, I feel like I got a lot better at that.
Do you have time for any hobbies outside of squash?
I love snowboarding and I became a certified L1 snowboard instructor in Canada. But it’s really hard to find the time to go because of squash and studies. I also can’t risk getting injured while snowboarding.
I do enjoy photography and travelling as well.
What advice can you give budding squash stars in Macao, wanting to follow in your footsteps?
They need to be dedicated and willing to put in the work. I don’t see many players coming to the courts and spending extra time on top of the mandatory training hours to practise. Most of them just come to training and do whatever the coach tells them to do and leave when they’re done.
They also need to be patient with their journey and believe in it. I still remember Coach Lim telling me that improvement and success might not come immediately; I have to be patient and it will come someday. And I finally see it now.
What are your goals for the next few years? Are there any specific tournaments you have your eye on?
I want to make the top 100. I can definitely do that. And then hopefully top 50. Tournament-wise, the British Open. It’s one of the most prestigious squash tournaments in the world.
Describe the feeling of playing squash
It’s like a mental break from life. Every trouble I have goes away.
