In our ongoing series on squashplayermag.com, we ask the world's top pros to select the matches that defined their careers and shaped their love of squash.
In this second instalment, we have Swiss champion Dimitri Steinmann, the current world no.17 and the man known as The Jet on the PSA Tour.
1. Swiss National Junior Championships U13 3/4 play-off v Joshua Gutenberg, Lucerne, 2009
I will never forget this match. I was 12 and started as fourth or fifth seed. I really wanted to win a medal.
I had lost to the eventual winner in the semi-finals and in the 3/4 match I was playing the son of my first squash coach, who I had never beaten before. I lost the first game.
My grandparents were there with me and my late grandfather said: "Just go out there, do your best and we'll see what happens."
I ended up winning it 3-1 and beat this guy for the first time. I remember it was on court three. Getting that bronze medal was my most important match as a squash player.
2. Swiss National Championships final v Nicolas Mueller, Langnau, 2020
I had never won the Swiss title before but my feeling going into the match was, 'This is the one I'll win.' But Nicky destroyed me [11-3, 11-7, 11-5] and it was one of the toughest lessons I ever got from anyone in squash.
I took an absolute beating from him. It hurt a lot. It buried me for two weeks. It crushed my whole expectations. I had a real hard time getting over it.
But it was a real eye-opener for me and made me change a lot of things. That's where my squash journey really began. After that, I changed a lot of stuff in my training and approached the game differently.
At that point, I had no clue what I was doing on the court. I knew I had a good backhand and was fast on the forehand, but that was about it. I had no idea how to structure rallies.
I started trying to understand the game properly. And in my training, I stopped just pushing weights like an idiot. You don't need big arms to play squash. It looks good on a beach, but it doesn't really help you on a squash court!
Three months later, I played Nicky again in a PSA on the same court and ended up winning 3-1. Sometimes you need to get hit in the face pretty hard to give you a reality check.
3. 'Friendly' match at 6.30am v Simon Roesner, Paderborn, Germany, 2021
This is my most prized victory ever! Simon had just retired and was working at a fitness club starting each day at 8am, so the only time we could fit in a best-of-five match was by starting at 6.30am.
To put it into perspective, I'm not much of a morning person. I really struggled to get my body moving early. I used to train a lot with Simon, Nicky and Raphael Kandra at Paderborn, but I'd never beaten Simon in any match before.
In that morning match, I won 12-10 in the fifth. He was not too happy about it, but I was so proud because we finished at 7.30am.
Simon was one of my idols when I was growing up. He's my coach now. Everywhere I go in Germany or Switzerland, where we're both well known, they ask about my biggest victory. That is my biggest victory. No trophy or amount of money can replace the pride I had of winning that match.
After I won, there were 25 kids just coming in from a local school and they saw me celebrating and a old grumpy bald man looking very unhappy. They had no clue what was going on!
4. European Team Championships semi-finals v Marwan ElShorbagy, Uster, Switzerland, 2024
Coming into the match, Marwan was a lot better than me. I lost the first game, I came off court, I had Nicky in my corner and the whole tribune was full of my friends. I said, 'I'm either going to get carried off court here, or I'm going to win. I'm not going out of here 3-0.'
It turned into one of the best matches I've ever played. Conditions-wise, I hated it, as it was so hot in there. That day I had a total of about 12 blue Powerades and during the match I think I had about seven.
I lost 11-9 in the fifth, but I gave it my absolute all. Having everyone there standing up at the end was special. It was like a Rocky moment. Even though I lost, I won that match in a sense. It was amazing. I could barely stand the next day!
5. World Championships last 16 v Mohamed ElShorbagy, Chicago, 2025
In this match I was 2-0 up and ahead 9-8 in the third, I had him locked out and hit the tin. I literally could have hit any shot to win the point and I hit the tin.
But it was a brilliant match. We played good squash together. It felt like a real battle. I used to watch Mohammed and Ramy's iconic matches, so to have the same sort of dramatic match was quite a thrill. Obviously I would have loved to win.
I was frustrated afterwards, and it took me a few days to recover from it physically, but mentally not as much. The match took a lot out of both of us (ElShorbagy lost in straight games the day afterwards) and in a very weird sense, I was happy that I was able to live that moment.
I was so happy I was able to experience Mohammed coming back, trying hard and me giving it the absolute best I had. I was struggling going into the event, I didn't know if I was going to be able to produce such a performance. But it was probably one of the most memorable matches for me, even though I lost!
