James Stout, born 16 August 1984, is a world-ranked professional squash, rackets and real tennis player from Bermuda.

Stout was the World Champion of Rackets between 2008 - 2017,World Rackets Rankings, http://www.tennisandrackets.com/racketsranking/default.aspx and is also ranked within the top ten in the world in Real TennisInternational Real Tennis Professionals Association world rankings, http://www.irtpa.com/world-rankings and Squash Doubles.Squash Doubles Association world rankings, http://sdaprotour.ussquash.com/rankings/

He previously played professional squash on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) world tour, achieving a career high ranking of world #116 in 2004.James Stout profile on the Professional Squash Association official website, http://www.psaworldtour.com/page/PlayerProfile/0,,13121~740,00.html

Alongside his pro athlete career, he has been a teaching professional at the New York Racquet and Tennis Club since 2006.James Stout profile on the International Real Tennis Professionals Association official website, http://www.irtpa.com/player-profile/147/

Career

Stout began playing squash in Bermuda at the age of 4. At 13, Stout moved to England to attend boarding school at Cheltenham College, where alongside squash he also began playing the sport of rackets, coached by Mark Briers.

Stout’s early promise in rackets was shown when he won both the esteemed Foster Cup and the First Pairs Cup two years in succession, in 2000 and 2001.

In 2003, at the age of 19, he moved to Belgium to pursue his professional squash career, basing himself in the city of Antwerp and competing on the PSA tour internationally.James Stout profile on the Professional Squash Association official website, http://www.psaworldtour.com/page/PlayerProfile/0,,13121~740,00.html The same year, Stout was part of the Bermuda National Team to compete at the World Team Squash Championships in Vienna, Austria.

In 2006 he represented Bermuda in squash at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne Australia, and later that year at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia. He moved to the United States in late 2006 after being offered a teaching professional position at the New York Racquet and Tennis Club. The same year he also won the US Professional singles rackets championship and the Western Open rackets championship. In 2007, Stout represented Bermuda at the Men’s World Open Squash Championships, and again won the rackets titles at the US Professional singles and Western Open.

He defeated former world champion Neil Smith 3-0 in the U.S. Open rackets final in January 2008, and the following month won the British Open rackets championship defeating Alex Titchener-Barrett 4-1. By virtue of those two victories he was granted the right to challenge then world champion Harry Foster.Gloucester Citizen article, 'Stout hoping to toast world success', 8 November 2008, http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/Stout-hoping-toast-world-success/story-11869609-detail/story.html The World Championship match against Foster was held in late 2008; Stout defeated Foster by a score of 6-1 (4-1 in the first leg in New York, and 2-0 in the second leg in London) becoming the second youngest ever rackets World Champion at the age of 24.SquashTalk article, 'James Stout of Bermuda wins World Rackets Title', 1 December 2008, http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news08/nov/news08-11-649.htm

In 2009, Stout was awarded Bermuda Male Athlete of the Year in the Bermuda Government Sports Awards,Bermuda Squash article, 'James Stout voted athlete of the year', 9 March 2009, 'http://www.bermudasquash.com/news/news/james-stout-voted-athlete-of-the-year/Bermuda.com article, 'Stout: It was a bit of a shock to win', 11 March 2009, http://www.bermuda.com/articles/share/2009/march/stout-it-was-a-bit-of-a-shock-to-win.aspx and again became the British Open rackets champion.

The following year, Alex Titchener-Barrett challenged Stout for the rackets World Championship title which Stout successfully defended, winning 4-0 in the first leg in New York, and 1-1 in the second leg at the Queens Club in London.Tennis and Rackets Association article, 'Jamie Stout retains World Championship', 21 November 2012, Royal Gazette article, 'Bermuda's James Stout defends World Rackets Title', 22 November 2010, http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20101122/SPORT/311229924

In 2010, Stout also became the US Open rackets champion and US Open real tennis champion, defeating several higher seeds, including the defending champion, to win the title.Tennis and Rackets association article, 'Jamie Stout wins US Open tennis', 5 March 2010, http://www.tennisandrackets.com/NewsItem.aspx?id=429SquashTalk article, 'Squash Doubles stand out is also current World Rackets Champ : Stout captures US Open Court Tennis title', 6 March 2010, http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news10/mar/news10-02-124.htm

Stout retired from competitive singles Rackets following the 2019 season and relinquished his world title. Stout continued to play competitive doubles and won the World Championship with Jonathon Larken in 2016 and again in 2018 before losing it to Tom Billings and Richard Owen in 2021. Recently Stout has played with new partner Peter Cipriano and they were the holders of the US open doubles where they defeated Benjamin Cawston and Mike Bailey 3-1 in New York, losing to the same pair in Detroit in 2023.

Stout began playing professional squash doubles on the Squash Doubles Association tour in 2012,James Stout profile on the Squash Doubles Association official website, http://sdaprotour.ussquash.com/2012/05/james-stout and won the Graham Cup with his partner Greg McArthur SDA Pro Tour article on 'Stout and McArthur earn Graham Cup Challenger title', 10 March 2013, http://sdaprotour.ussquash.com/2013/03/stout-and-mcarthur-earn-graham-cup-challenger-title and the William White tournament during the 2012-2013 season.Royal Gazette article, 'Back to back titles for Stout in Philadelphia', 16 March 2013, http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20130316/SPORT/703169977

References