By Jack Tolson
Born in a country where more than 50 million see cricket as a lifestyle, there’s no wonder Ramit Tandon was always in two minds about taking up squash professionally. But after the 31-year-old swapped Wall Street for the squash court six years ago he hasn’t looked back.
The world number 39 is now hunting for more and admits he’s in is the ‘crunch period’ of his short professional career.
Tandon was born in Kolkota, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, and from an early age always showed an interest in sport. It was his Dad who introduced him to squash – and the current Indian number two said he’s never really looked back. But it’s not been an easy journey for him.
“Back then, India wasn’t as developed as the US and the UK which has national training centres,” he said.
“There’s a lot of sporting clubs here and you went there to hang out because as kids your parents always used to put us into different activities. For me, because my father was playing squash it was something as a five-year-old kid I would do – try and strike the ball and things like that.
“I used to swim a lot as well.”
Ramit describes his love for the sport as an ‘obsession’ – so much so that he would miss family and friend parties to jump onto the court at every opportunity.
“For some reason squash was a sport I’ve always connected with. It was a little hobby and then suddenly I started to enjoy it.
“Most kids have an obsessive nature and that was squash for me. Whenever I had free time I would play – I stopped playing cricket and going swimming.
“And then I got even more obsessed with it – I started skipping time with friends and going to birthday parties.” 
As a junior he won six national titles, several international titles and ended his junior career as India’s highest ranked player, Asia’s number two and the world number five.
He captained the Indian Junior Team to a historic gold medal beating Pakistan in the final and was also part of the u21 World Cup team that secured the silver medal.
But as his illustrious junior career came to an end, that’s when he faced potentially the biggest match up of his career – turning professional or going to university.
And he admits his Indian background had a strong say on his next steps – moving to America and studying at Columbia University in New York.
“It was a tough call,” he explained. “I was one of the best juniors in the world. I was debating whether I wanted to go pro straight away or if I wanted to go to university. I come from a very academic family.
“In India it’s academically-orientated and not completing your education is a big deal. My parents were not ok with me wanting to just go pro.”
And, as it quite often does in India – cricket came into play.
“Deep down the truth is I was very scared about my decision,” he confessed.
“Squash is not a very famous sport and you really have to be at the top of your game to make a living. It’s not easy to just say: ‘ok I’m going to quit everything’.
“If it was cricket then it’s worth the risk because even if you’re not the best you can still make a lot of money. Squash is not like that. But America at that point was a place for the top players.
“I could look at college squash as an opportunity to play and further my skills. I got to further my education and squash – thankfully it worked out pretty well for me.”
And work out it certainly did.
By the end of his studies Ramit was the second-highest ranked player on the college squash scene – and he was named the MVP four times, picking up the Maniatty Award which is given to the best student-athlete.
There was no doubting his quality, especially considering one of his key rivals in the game was now four time World Champion Egyptian Ali Farag.
“College squash was pretty strong,” he said “I had Ali as one of my key rivals. There were a few other top players – the squash was really competitive. That gave me the challenge to keep training and to try and compete with them.
“I had a lot of top players at that time around me who were competing on the PSA at that time. They would use me as a training partner and I would get to play with them.”
Despite his clear willingness to do everything to win whilst at college, Ramit confessed it’s not all about the wins and losses.
“Human beings are very result-orientated – it’s all about promotions, wins and losses.
“But along the way there’s a journey and experiences that help you grow. Winning and losing passes – but as an individual you learn along the way.
“At such a young age, travelling the world and representing your country in front of audiences is great. Having kids looking up to you at a young age, and balancing it with academics, there’s so much going on.
“I would do it all over again if I got the chance to do so.”
And then, after graduating with a BA in Statistics, he encountered the very same question as he did years’ prior – ‘do I go professional?’.
Ramit admitted that this wasn’t an easy decision for him once again, and it’s one he thought long and hard about. However, after much deliberation he chose to try and make his name on Wall Street as a hedge fund analyst.
But why did he make that decision?
“After uni I was in a similar situation where I had to work out whether or not I would go pro. I received a lot of awards for my squash at college. At the same time, once you finish uni you have job opportunities and your friends are applying for banking jobs.
“You have to think about what you want to do with your life.”
And squash and finance have always had an affiliation with one another.
Forbes Magazine once called the racket sport the ‘preferred sport on Wall Street’ because it doesn’t take long to complete a match. Hollywood movies have often shown the two intertwined – and Ramit was able to make a name for himself both on Wall Street and the court thanks to his expertise with a racket in his hand.
“I was considering my options and squash and finance are linked together in America.
“If you’re in the New York squash community you’re surrounded by people in finance. For me, to be very honest, I was beating a lot of people in finance who were giving me their business cards.
“Looking at that situation, I had played squash all my life but I’d never worked before. I thought that maybe I would enjoy it more than playing squash.
“So I got into the world of finance knowing if it was something I didn’t want to do I could quit and walk away from it.”
After spending three years in the world-famous industry, Tandon finally made the decision to turn professional. But why then?
“I enjoyed my time and I learned a lot,” he added “When you first start something, Wall Street was very fascinating – I was hooked.
“At the same time, my hours weren’t the worst and I was getting the chance to practice four or five times a week.
“It wasn’t like my level of squash was far behind – I wasn’t competing but I was still playing top pro players and keeping up my level. Eventually, you start getting a little bored.”
Former US President Barack Obama famously said he wanted to understand why his country’s GDP went down every time cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar went out to bat.
It’s presumably because all the Indian Americans were too busy watching cricket to be productive at work.
But Ramit admits that’s not the sport he would watch. Instead he’d be glued to his screen, watching some of his closest friends and former rivals living his own dream.
“Even when I was at work I would be following the PSA and I would see some of my friends, junior and college rivals competing at the highest level.
“One day it hit me that work was something I could always do – sport is time sensitive. I thought: If I don’t jump in now then in ten years time I wouldn’t have been able to’. It was kind of like a ‘now or never’ moment for me.”
Now, at 31, Ramit is one of the older players on the PSA circuit – but he’s undoubtedly one of the least experienced, so was it a mistake turning pro so late?
“I do feel that I started the professional circuit a bit too late,” he admitted. “Age wise I’m on the older side but if you look at the number of seasons I have under my belt – it’s not like I’ve played a lot of squash.
“There are still people my age who have played three or four times as many games as me. I haven’t been as experienced as some of the people I’m competing against in my ranking bracket.
“But at the same time I feel that I’m in a good place now. The next couple of years is definitely crunch time.”
But despite only turning professional in 2018, he’s already achieved multiple PSA titles – and he’s currently ranked 31st in the world and is the highest ranked Indian player.
Does he think he can achieve even more?
“The reason I’m still playing this sport is because I believe that I can do better than what I currently am doing,” he said. “My goal is to push that and see how far I can go. The day I feel that this is the best I can achieve will be the day for me to move on from the sport.”
“I believe I can do better. Last year was the year I hit my highest ranking – I had an injury as well. Overall I’m still content with how things have played out. I’m still excited about the game and competing on the court.
“I’m living a dream – it’s something I’ve always wanted.”
And despite leaving India as a teenager to move to the United States, Ramit hasn’t forgot about his roots.
“It’s only because of my dad that I started to pick up squash,” he said. “In India, squash isn’t as famous as cricket or soccer.
“You don’t really see it on the streets. If it wasn’t for him I don’t think I’d have known what it is.
“I have a younger brother, Rishi as well who was one of the top juniors in India – he’s also played on the world stage. He played college squash with me at university as well.
Having described this year as ‘make or break’, the 31-year-old is hoping to rise up the rankings – but admits it’s not all about where he’s placed in the PSA.
“I would love to break into the top 15 and move closer to the 20s,” he said. “I’m someone who has always believed that the ranking I have is just a by- product.
“I need to enjoy the process. If I do then I’ll be able to chase them down.”
But most of all Ramit is hoping to continue loving the sport he is so good at and he said he won’t forget how lucky he is.
“I do this because it’s a lot of fun – I enjoy the travel, training and competition,” he said. “There’s not many years of this opportunity left.
“Each season I want to make the most of it. I need to appreciate it. We’re all so caught up in the results and matches, that we forget that just doing this in itself is a blessing.
“I want to enjoy the experience along the way.”
